Don’t be fooled by those who say that Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, resigned over an electoral fraud dispute. This is the same excuse the Organization of American States (OAS) has been using for years to try to justify its shameful role as the ‘United States ministry of colonies.’

And don’t be fooled by those who say that what happened in the Andean nation was not a coup. What is it then when the Armed Forces chief “suggests’ that the nation’s elected president resign and fascist armed groups carrying bibles in one hand and rifles in the other kill, burn and torture the population with the complicity of the oligarchy and the police? 

Morales, whose socialist government was in power for almost 14 years, was granted asylum in Mexico. He was not only the most successful president in the history of Bolivia but probably in all of South America. He achieved social and economic reforms that helped lift millions of Bolivians from poverty and improved the rights of indigenous communities. So, don’t be fooled by those who say that a majority of Bolivians oppose him when in fact he has solid support.

And last but not least, don’t be fooled by the aberrant Christian discourse of those who violently subverted the constitutional order of the South American nation with Washington’s active complicity or at least its hypocritical consent. Racism is perhaps their greatest motivation and the source of the despicable violence and hate displayed these past few days.

 "Aquí no mandan los gringos, aquí mandan los indios" (“here native people, not foreigners, govern”), Morales had famously said, and the gringos and their servants could not tolerate such insolence.

Don’t be fooled: The Bolivian coup d’état is a terrible tragedy for Latin America and for real democracy.