Jeremy Corbyn has once again found himself siding with a distasteful cabal of communists in defending the now former-Bolivian president, Evo Morales, who has just resigned amid national protests over his corrupt election win. So far only Cuba and Venezuela have come out in support of Morales…

Having initially congratulated Morales’s election victory – despite the Organisation of American States refusing to certify the election due to systematic flaws – Corbyn yesterday doubled down on his support, claiming he had been forced from office by the military. As the Foreign Secretary has said, he’s put Marxist solidarity ahead of democracy…

Corbyn claims the resignation of Morales is a defeat for democracy and social justice; an incredible accusation given a 2010 US State Department report into human rights abuses in Bolivia noted

“killings and torture by security forces; harsh prison conditions; allegations of arbitrary arrest and detention; an ineffective, overburdened, and corrupt judiciary; a ‘partly free’ media; corruption and a lack of transparency in the government; trafficking in persons; child labor; forced or coerced labor; and harsh working conditions in the mining sector“

Similarly, according to Human Rights Watch, Morales is personally responsible for creating a “hostile environment for human rights defenders“.

The Human Rights Watch only aids understanding of Corbyn’s support for Morales, as under ‘Freedom of Expression’ abuses, it reports:

“The Morales administration periodically lashes out at journalists, accusing them, without presenting evidence, of publishing lies and politically motivated distortions.”

Remind you of anybody?…

As Guido pointed out this morning, Corbyn has been remarkably quiet over the US’s successful elimination of ISIS leader, al-Baghdadi. One foreign policy issue Corbyn didn’t keep quiet about this weekend was the re-election of socialist Evo Morales as the President of Bolivia. Got to keep up the Morale of his left-wing supporters… 

Congratulations to @evoespueblo on his re-election as Bolivia’s President.

Evo Morales and his movement have secured indigenous peoples’ rights, halved extreme poverty and presided over impressive economic growth.

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 27, 2019

However, his re-election has sparked protests in the country over claims of fraud the preliminary vote count was suspended due to Morales not leading by a large enough margin (10%) to avoid a runoff. Funnily enough, the subsequent publication of the official count showed Morales winning by more than a 10% margin.

These claims that there were substantial shortcomings in last week’s election were backed up last week by the Foreign Office itself, saying

“notably the unexpected interruption of publication of voting results, undermined their credibility and transparency… We also agree that the best option would be to hold a second round to restore trust in the process and to fully ensure the democratic choice of the Bolivian people”.

Guido suspects this is one second vote attempt Corbyn won’t be a supporter of…

Gaia has been reading through the climate proposals submitted by countries attending the fast approaching Paris Climate Summit, so you don’t have to. Best of the bunch is this offering from Bolivia, which argues:

“to find a lasting solution to the climate crisis we must destroy capitalism… a system of death… leading humanity towards a horizon of destruction”

The report goes on to demand climate reparations, including a twist of which Jeremy Corbyn would be proud:

“Allocate the resources of the military machinery of the imperial powers and the war-mongers to finance the activities of the peoples against climate change.”

To think critics have suggested the Paris Summit is suffering from a crisis of credibility…

Bolivian leader Evo Morales was in Paris on Monday to meet François Hollande:

If you look closely you can actually see him patting down François for “imperial war-monger” cash…