In a letter to the minister for foreign affairs, Simon Coveney, Cuba Support Group Ireland, Venezuela-Ireland Network and Nicaragua Solidarity Ireland condemned the coup d’état in Bolivia and the forced resignation of President Evo Morales and declared full recognition of the constitutional legitimacy of his presidency.
They called on Coveney to clearly condemn this coup d’état and immediately demand the reinstatement of the elected president, without precondition. They also called on him to clearly state that the Irish Government would not recognise any regime that would emerge from this illegal action.
Clearly laying the charge of complicity, the groups stated: “We believe that this coup results from the long-term, concentrated interference and financing by the United States and by other members of the Organisation of American States. This relentless interference—including by Ireland as part of the European Union—in the internal affairs of other countries in Latin America has led only to instability, economic destruction, and wholesale abuse of the human rights of ordinary people.
“We believe also that the Irish Government’s continuing support for the recent attempted coup d’état in Venezuela has directly contributed to the coup in Bolivia.”
In the Dáil, Maureen O’Sullivan TD asked the minister to condemn the coup. Instead Coveney stated every reason the United States, the EU and the Organisation of American States could think of to avoid any condemnation of the events taking place. Instead of accepting the constitutional position as it existed—Evo Morales is still the president, as a result of the undisputed previous election—Coveney questions the result of the election that gave Morales another term, beginning in January 2020.
He then stated that Morales had resigned but failed to acknowledge that that “resignation” was at the point of a gun. Indeed, while ignoring the constitution in relation to the status of Morales, he then invoked the same constitution to recognise the declaration of yet another “interim” president.
This shameless endorsement of lawlessness by Coveney exposed his true position. Rather than being the foreign minister of an independent, neutral state he is nothing but a minor regional mouthpiece of the United States and the European Union and his ministry relegated to the status of a sub-office of the US State Department.
