“Want a different ethic? Tell a different story.” – Thomas King

The recent U.S.-supported overthrow of Bolivia’s Indigenous president, Evo Morales, is but one example of how endemic anti-Indigenous sentiment is within neoliberal movements. This includes many of us who are influenced by their hegemonic strategies and media, including the Organization of American States, which accepted the legitimacy of right-wing Morales replacement Sen. Jeanine Áñez. In 2013, Áñez tweeted: “I dream of a Bolivia free of satanic indigenous rites” and recently disregarded the comments of Christian right-wing minister Luis Fernando Camacho, who stood next to her when she announced her acceptance of the presidency and said, “Pachamama will never return. Today Christ is returning to the Government Palace. Bolivia is for Christ.”

Morales is a final survivor among the left-leaning Latin American leaders who came to power at the beginning of the 21st century, although his accomplishments as the first Indigenous president of Bolivia represent what is arguably the most remarkable socialist success story of all. However, U.S. corporate-controlled administrations, whether Democrat or Republican, had a hand in the ouster, demise or attempted overthrow of other leaders who supported Indigenous resistance to colonial invasion, such as Hugo Chávez (Venezuela) and his successor Nicolás Maduro, Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua), and Rafael Correa (Ecuador), Jacobo Árbenz (Guatemala), Salvador Allende (Chile), Alan García and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil).