Hacker News Reader

Comment by tus88 | Hacker News Reader

...in the middle of the cold war.

And as soon as the cold war ended, in 1989, the USA invaded Panama to put their own man as president. In the process, the USA killed more than 3000 civilians. The man who ordered the invasion was George H W Bush, a former director of the CIA.

And if you're looking for more recent cases, the USA supported the military coup in Egypt in 2013. The government even refused to call it a coup because of legal implications. This was an important blow to democracy in the region. The authoritarian evolution in Turkey is partly due to this.

I'm not saying other democracies are better than the USA. I'm French, and my country still cannot face its past in Algeria. And France still supports dictators, like a 2018 bombing in Chad recently proved. But over the last couple of decades, I don't think any country killed more foreign civilians than the USA did, by a large margin. Even Saudi Arabia and UAE, with their wars in Yemen and Lybia, can't compare.

As recently as last year a USA backed coup removed the president elected by more than 50% in Bolivia because they nationalized gas and were exploiting lithium themselves.

No. Evo Morales is a would-be dictator who ignored term limits and rigged an election to stay in power. He was forced out of power because the Bolivian army refused to kill Bolivian people to suppress protests against him.

The facts to counter the propaganda:

- https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/11/16/was-there-a-cou...

- https://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp?sCodig...

No. Constitutional Tribunal allowed Evo to participate in the elections because of an international treaty that allows anyone to participate in elections. Also, right wing local magnate Camacho confessed to conspiring with police and military to oust Evo. The OAS is a know USA puppet organization and presented no proof of any wrongdoing in the election.

Confesión Camacho https://www.pagina12.com.ar/238942-luis-fernando-camacho-con...

Convencion Americana sobre Derechos Humanos 23, b) de votar y ser elegidos en elecciones periódicas auténticas http://www.oas.org/dil/esp/tratados_B-32_Convencion_American...

Evo Morales is the legitimate president? Where are the thousand dissapeared persons? Where are them? We want them alive! What about the 50 persons who died in the protest against the regime installed by USA?

The USA issued statements supporting the ousting of Morales. That was the extent of USA's involvement. That does not really make it a "USA backed coup". Unless you believe it just because that's what Morales claimed.

For starters the OEA central role in sustaining the hypothesis of electoral fraud without any proof, setting this discourse and mantaining it with the help of mainstream media. You can see Pompeo and others telling Evo not to participate, then calling fraud, then supporting the coup. This was already setup and known by many in advance. There are audio proofs of that since before the election.

Then through the Escuela de las Americas "educating" and controlling the military and police. For example Williams Kaliman who asked Evo to resign left immediately after the coup to USA and lives now there. There's also many politicians from the previous era who live in the USA, some of whom have capture orders for the killings that happened before the Morales era.

Finally by financing local groups to cause caos and "effect campaigns", like attacking local politicians, humiliating them and later publishing videos or making them march nude in the streets or covered in paint. You can see how the modus operandi is the same as the "guarimbas" in Venezuela, young groups, travelling by 2 in motorcycles, hitting and running.

Of course this supports on local groups and politicians without whom it would be harder or more evident to do.

https://www.hispantv.com/noticias/opinion/442254/rol-embajad...

Panama was ruled by a dictator who was in fact leaning towards the Soviet block. He also ignored election results against him. And in the world of realpolitik the US was not going to ignore the strategic value of the Panama Canal. The Soviet Union was very aggressive at winning over other nations with military aid, similar to China today with financial aid. And Panama was a lot cleaner than the mess in the Middle East today.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com