OP
OP
It's not being reported in any local media, there's plenty of fake news around, careful. I've also seen people posting on twitter news reports about Morales having asked the Venezuelan and Cuban armies to intervene, also untrue.
The political opposition does not have any need to organise a coup d'etat because the electoral fraud was evident, so much so that for the first time since coming to power in 2005, Evo Morales has been forced to rectify and now new elections have been called.
Also, the opposition leaders (Carlos Mesa included) are having a rather minor role in the whole affair; they did start the protests but now the civic leaders of each department plus the syndicalised social groups (miners, peasants, university students, civic leaders) are the ones that have been carrying the whole thing.
The two most prominent leaders in the whole movement have been Luis Fernando Camacho (leader of the civic Pro Santa Cruz Committee) and Marco Pumari (Potosí Civic Committee), neither of which are politicians. They have been followed by the civic leaders of almost all departments. Civic organisations and syndicalist leaders have historically had a lot of prominence in this type of movements. The Andean civic leaders and miner and worker syndicalists were who overthrew the right-wing government in 2003-04 (which led to the first victory of Evo Morales) and it's them who are organising this now.
They've been given support by most of the indigenous leaders of the different native tribes of Bolivia, including the Aymaran red ponchos, who were traditionally big Evo Morales supporters.
Indigenous representative of the Aymaran Ponchos Rojos embracing civic leader of Santa Cruz:
The whole thing has managed to become this big because Morales has lost the support of most of the indigenous peoples, peasants and workers outside of rural La Paz (where they still support him).
There's also a lot anger among Andean indigenous peoples, as they say Morales has appropriated their symbols and culture and use them as political symbols.
The ayllu (indigenous administrative unit) leader of Potosi and of the Qhara Qhara nation, among other Aymaran, Quechuan and Guarani nations have also showed their opposition to Morales:
It's funny, because when all this started, Morales played the card of 'the racist mestizos and criollos hate the indigenous'. But in fact the indigenous peoples were among the first to join the protests.
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