TROUBLE AMONG THE GORILLAS his resignation, which the armed forces had declined to accept: "I found myself obliged to take this decision because 1 was overwhelmed by lack of understanding. I hope that this will push the politicians, as well as the armed forces and the Bolivian police, to reflect somewhat. Outside of official speeches and declarations, government circles accused Mario Gutierrez* of having provoked the crisis by his statements on elections, which were judged disloyal. What, in fact, did this ex-chancellor of the dictatorship declare? On August 24 the "L" cell of the FSB in La Paz published a resolution signed by FSB regional secretary Alfonso Guzman Ampuero presenting Mario Gutierrez as a candidate for president in the next elections. On August 29 the Santa Cruz cell stated its agreement with this proposal, asserting that this was the right of the FSB but adding the following proposals:
--elections to be held in May or June 1975,
--a broad political amnesty without restrictions,
--the candidate winning the election to be installed in power on August 6, 1975, coinciding with the sesquicentennial of the founding of the Republic of Bolivia (1825). Mario Gutierrez asserted these propositions, adding some comments about how sure he was of winning the elections and on the fact that he would ask to run along with the leader of the MNR, a party with which it was necessary to reach an agreement similar to the one that exists between the conservatives and liberals in Colombia, which has assured seventeen years *Head of the Falange Socialista Boliviana (FSB -- Bolivian Socialist Phalange), which participates in the government along with the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR -- Revolutionary Nationalist Movement).
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BOLIVIA of stability in that country. Finally, Gutierrez declared his recognition of Victor Paz Estensoro and Ciro Humboldt as chief and vice-chief of the MNR because they had been elected at a national congress. These statements opened a debate on elections and caused a real scandal among official sectors, which came forward united around the military government. Gutierrez's proposals attacked the political line adopted by the military cabinet after the abortive coup last June 5 (fomented by Colonel Lopez Mayor Gary Prado). Banzer, as he had already done in the past, had agreed to hold general elections. But this time he divided the process into two stages: First, there would be a referendum aimed at getting approval for a new political constitution, a law on political parties, an electoral law, a new administrative regime, and so on, all of which would provide the features of a new, modern state. Toward this end he created the Consejo Nacional de Reformas Estructurales (CONARE -- National Council of Structural Reforms), which included the most obscure and servile personalities of the dictatorship. Then, there were the elections themselves, the second stage, subordinated to the work of the CONARE and to the referendum. In principle, it was estimated that the elections could take place in December 1975, with the government changing in 1976. It would appear that Gutierrez doubted that the electoral timetable would be held to, so he called for immediate elections, launched his own candidacy for president, and in practice started campaigning, presenting himself as the candidate most in favor of a broad and unrestricted amnesty. He acknowledged the rights of what he calls the "far left, "which he says should not be feared. This position is aimed at influencing the masses and simultaneously establishing certain points of coincidence with the bourgeois opposition to the CONARE and the referendum. But when he declared support to Paz Estensoro and Ciro Humboldt, Gutierrez attacked both the repressive methods used by the dictatorship in the very ranks of the parties that support it and the manipulations of the leaderships of these parties, which are carried out to cover up differences and internal contradictions. Paz Estensoro, a leader of the MNR, was arrested and expelled from the country in December 1973; Ciro Humboldt, accused of having fomented the conspiracy of last June 5, was also expelled but returned to the country clandestinely and is being sought by the police. This support of the leaders of the persecuted MNR represented an indirect defense of the FSB and its leadership, which could also be divided by the government the way the MNR was. The brutal repression against the left has created a method of leadership that tends to be extended to the civilian supporters of the regime. Driven to distraction by its own contradictions, the beast has started devouring its own children. The elections and the army While the statements of the head of the Phalange repudiated certain aspects of the policy of the dictatorship that the Phalange itself has been supporting in the recent past, thus apparently breaking the unity of the official front, they were nevertheless not the principal or determining cause of the August 30 crisis. We must take note on the one hand of the audacity of Gutierrez, hitherto a docile supporter of Banzer, and, on the other hand, of the promptness with which Banzer reacted by renouncing the presidency. 20
After Banzer's retraction, the head of the FSB repeated his proposals during a personal interview with the dictator. Moreover, he proudly declared: "I cannot have any sympathy for any military figure in the present circumstances, but I would vote if it were a question of General Bernardino Bilbao Rioja or any other hero of the Chaco war. " He finds that there are no heroes of that war in the current military hierarchy, which means that he would not vote for any of the present chiefs. The reality is that the contradictions within the armed forces are constantly intensifying. The rebellion last June 5 was an expression of this situation. At that time, the dictatorship was able to pull through by making some concessions: the promise of elections, the military cabinet, pay increases for all officers, etc. But the crisis continued, and the promise of elections intensified it. The audacity of Gutierrez is based on these contradictions and on his links with the agro-industrial bourgeoisie and Yankee imperialism. The Armed Forces High Command does not want elections; it is suspicious of them. Conspiracies and plans for coups are being hatched within the armed forces; but they have gone nowhere because the various tendencies have not managed to reach agreement. Gutierrez demands immediate elections because he believes this is the way to reabsorb the government's internal crisis and win the support of the opposition. But in spite of the declarations it is obliged to make because of the pressures being manifested in its own ranks and the hostile activity of the masses, the army seeks only to maintain its own power and assure its position. The army will thus accept elect -tions if it is assured of a military candidate. That is why the hasty candidacy of Gutierrez and his statements caused such a scandal. The armed forces have no confidence in their civilian allies and therefore have decided to keep control of the regime by replacing Banzer with another gorilla. The supposed constitutionalization is nothing but the legalization of the dictatorship. In the course of this crisis and in response to Gutierrez, the so-called Barrientoist group, led by Edwin Tapa, a member of the Partido de la Izquierda Revolucionaria (PIR -- Revolutionary Left party), hastened to declare: "The candidates ought to have no past record of opposition to the armed forces. " The PIR is a Stalinist party founded in 1940 whose chief, Ricardo Anaya, was later the Bolivian gorillas' ambassador to the USSR. At the same time, Suarez as a presidential candidate. He is the current minister of coordination in the military cabinet, a very close friend of the Yankees, a man who held a post and resided in New York until the crisis of last June 5. If it opts for elections, the military high command will utilize the Barrientoist group and the peasant bureaucracy to present and impose its official candidate. Electoral farce or military coup Such are the choices facing the military dictatorship. But no option will assure stability. The Bolivian people, the worker and peasant masses, are turning their backs on these maneuvers and are continuing to strengthen and assert their political and trade-union class organizations. The dictatorship of the gorillas is rotten to the core and will soon be overthrown by the revolutionary rise of the masses.