Quid Pro Quo is a term we have all been hearing about lately.  Mostly in reference to the Ukranian/Trump saga of the famed orange one wanting the world to know that his hands are larger than he thinks. Or rather, he wants the world to know that his is bigger than the President of Ukraine.  So, the “boy” king pushes the sand around the sandbox until he moves the catshit over to some other leader to deal with.

We all seem to be concerned about Russia and their continued involvement into the election process of the United States.  However, we must understand that this kind of action is nothing new to global politics and the United States has pretty much written the book on the subject.  We have been involved in the elections of other countries for years.  The most notable might be the 1953 coup in Iran when we ousted the democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953.  We replaced their government with an authoritarian monarchy that was more favorable to Washington’s interests.

Then, in 1954 we unseated Guatalmala’s left-wing President, Jacobo Arbenz, who seemed to have the conviction to challenge the vast control of the United Fruit Co., a United States Corporation, with agrarian laws that made life much better and fairer to the Guatemalan farmers.  During this time in 1954, a young man named Che Guevara was traveling through Guatemala and was deeply affected by Arbenz’s overthrow.  This action would create the foundation of his conviction for the need for radical revolution.

We could also discuss the removal and assassination of the Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba in 1961.  Then, in 1964, the CIA distributed nearly $4M dollars on 15 different covert action projects and funding certain political parties to prevent then Chilean President Salvador Allende from winning an election in 1964.  Later, as the CIA was exposed in their role in overseas elections, and yet couldn’t defeat Allende at the ballot box in 1970, the United States government decided to remove him anyway.  So, Washington D.C. helped with the Sept. 11, 1973 violent removal of the socialist President Allende, whose civilian democratic government was ended with a coup led by the ruthless and murderous General Augusto Pinochet.

Not withstanding its instigation of coups and alliances with extremists and right-winged juntas that would do America’s bidding abroad, Washington also participated in much more subtle influences of elections in all points relevant to United States interests throughout the planet.  And, we might add, so did Moscow.  “These two powers intervened in 117 elections around the world from 1946-2000, or an average of once in every nine competitive elections” says political scientist Dov Levin.  And we are all well aware that they both continue to do so today.

Peter Kornbluh, currently the director of the National Security Archive Chilean and Cuba Documentation Project, which is affiliated with George Washington University, said in a 1997 interview with the New York Times regarding the late 1990’s concerns that China was supplying illicit funds which dominated concerns about Democratic campaign financing, “China has done little more than emulate a long pattern of U.S. manipulation, bribery and covert operations to influence the political trajectory of countless countries around the world.”

When we look at the current state of Bolivia and their most recent elections we might not need to look too far to find the hands of the United States, Russia and China involved in some ways to the political unrest there.  Bolivia holds over 9 million tons of lithium, which is the highest in the world per individual country and is 22% of the world’s total lithium deposits.  Both Chile and Argentina, hold 18% and 16% respectively.  We shouldn’t leave out the lithium deposits in Afghanistan which appear to be valued at over $1 trillion dollars.  This was once noted in the early 2000’s as the mother lode of lithium and was quoted in a Pentagon memo that “Afghanistan could become the Saudi Arabia of lithium .”  And we wonder why we invaded Afghanistan in 2001, after 9/11, despite no known evidence that anyone from Afghanistan had anything to do with that travesty. However, all eyes are now turning to Boliva.

On November 4, 2019, the leftist democratically elected Morales government of Boliva made a move to cancel the December 2018 agreement with a German firm ACI Systems Alemania for developing lithium for batteries like those in electric cars.  This move by the just resigned Evo Morales came following weeks of protests throughout Bolivia with protesters chanting “Bolivia’s lithium deposits belong to the Bolivian people. Down with the multinational corporate cabals!”  ACI System Alemania provides batteries to Tesla, among other clients.  Telsa’s stock rose on Monday, November 11, 2019, after the weekend, the same day Morales was removed from his office to be exiled in Mexico.

Morales had been working to create a publicly-owned lithium industry to help diversify his country’s economy and raise more of its people out of poverty.  His canceling of the contract with the German firm was over concerns that not enough of the financial benefit would be reaching the indigenous people who live near the untapped Salar de Uyuni salt flats, located high in the Andes mountains, which are home to the worlds largest known lithium reserves.  It was only days after the re-election of Morales, who beat his right-wing opponent and former President Carlos Mesa by over 10 points, back in October, 2019, when the right-wing demonstrations began.  The vocal and impoverished protesters supporting Morales gained ground eventually urging the military to make a move. The military then demanded that the leader leave office in order to “maintain stability”.  The actions of the military and the coup was received with approval from the Trump administration and the Trudeau government of Canada.  This only exposes the delicate task it is for any small country that is rich in resources that tries to move themselves forward to help their poor and working class over the needs and demands of the rich, corporations and the corporate imperialist states.  Make note that Russia and China still hold contracts with Bolivia at this time.

The following video is Bolivian President Evo Morales delivering a scathing address directly to President Trump at the UN in Feb. 2019 regarding the political promises and practices of the United States and its relation to countries such as Bolivia.

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