TRADE unions and indigenous interests in Bolivia have come together to form an alliance to defend the progressive government of President Luis Arce from US-backed interventions.

The People’s High Command was established yesterday with its founding document signed by the Mineworkers Union, Gas & Oil Workers Union, trade union confederations CIDOB and CSUTCB and the indigenous Interculturales group.

The new aggregation vowed to defend the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS)-led government from any future US interference against the interests of the Bolivian people, the plunder of natural resources, and any attempt to destabilise the country via political or economic means.

It will continue the “historical struggle of the people and defend the ideology of anti-colonialism, anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism,” a joint statement said.

In November 2019 former Bolivian president Evo Morales was ousted in a Washington-backed coup in what he has since identified as a bid for control of the country’s vast lithium reserves, a resource in high demand.

He was replaced by a brutal right-wing regime headed by Christian fundamentalist Jeanine Anez, who mobilised the country’s armed forces against Bolivia’s indigenous population.

But in October 2020, the MAS and Mr Arce swept to power in a landslide victory in the much-delayed presidential and parliamentary elections.

Along with other leading figures from the coup administration, Ms Anez is now behind bars, facing charges including genocide over the massacre of 20 protesters in the immediate aftermath of the coup.

Last week she attempted suicide, claiming she no longer wants to live. Her health was reported to be stable on Sunday according to director of prisons Juan Carlos.

Last year the Morning Star carried an exclusive report on another plot to destablise the country involving active plans to recruit US-backed mercenaries to block MAS from taking power.