Walter Chavez, an adviser to Bolivian president Evo Morales, has found himself in the centre of a well-orchestrated corporate media campaign aimed at delegitimising the Morales government internationally by linking it to "terrorist" groups. This accusation comes only a week after attempts by the Spanish media to link Morales's party — the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) — with the Basque separatist group ETA.
The campaign was initiated by the right-wing parties in Bolivia, which first raised concerns of Chavez's supposed links to a guerrilla group in Peru. This attack was echoed across the globe as Bolivian and international media outlets spread the false allegation. Within a day, the Peruvian government came out publicly to demand Chavez's extradition on charges of terrorism, and issued an international arrest warrant.
The timing of the charges has exposed the real intent of this campaign. None of the corporate press has asked why the Peruvian government took 15 years to act. Chavez himself has lived in Bolivia since he fled Peru following the 1992 coup carried out by Alberto Fujimori. In 1990, Chavez was arrested on suspicion of being involved with the Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru (MRTA). He was detained for 30 days where he was tortured, then released without charge, because there was no evidence against him.
Having moved to Bolivia, Chavez sought and gained refugee status after presenting his case to the Bolivian government and the United Nations. For 15 years, Chavez made a name for himself in public life as a journalist for numerous newspapers, including La Razon — perhaps Bolivia's most important daily newspaper.
Chavez was also the editor of the Bolivian edition of Le Monde Diplomatique, and founded El Juguete Rabioso, an important fortnightly leftist newspaper with wide circulation among the progressive middle classes.
In 2002, Morales asked Chavez to help with his election campaign, a role Chavez played again in the successful 2005 elections in the face of a dirty war waged by all the corporate media against Morales's candidature.
Last March, Chavez was hired under contract by the government as a communications adviser.
During all this time in public life, not once has any of the seven consecutive neoliberal Bolivian governments, nor Peruvian governments, questioned Chavez's status in Bolivia. On January 31, Chavez requested that Morales grant him "indefinite leave" so he could return to Peru to fight the charges, and "clarify and guide through proper legal channels the unjust and slanderous process against me".
A letter of solidarity with Chavez has been launched to defend him and the Morales government against this right-wing campaign. To read and sign onto the letter (in Spanish and English) visit <http://boliviarising.blogspot.com>.