New splits in Bolivian military

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President Gueiler receives the presidential sash of office A week after she assumed office with the declaration that coups had ended for ever in Bolivia, interim President Lidia Gueiler has been faced with her first military revolt.

Army Commander General Luis Garcia who was appointed to the post by short-lived dictator Natusch has refused to surrender his appointment and, claiming he has the support of the entire army, seized the main barracks in Miraflores, La Paz.

Garcia's chances of success are limited since the rest of Natusch's high command have accepted their dismissal.

Held back

But, nevertheless, at least one armoured regiment is supporting him, and the pro-government "Institucionalista" faction of the military has held back from an all-out assault so far, presumably for fear of pracipitating yet another division in the armed forces, this time in open battle.

Garcia's action illustrates not only the continuing danger of another- attempt to impose a military dictatorship but also the critical divisions within the military and its manifest weakness in the face of the popular movement.

It is apparent that, despite all the raptures about the revival of democracy' in Bolivia over the last week, the reformist strategy is on the verge of collapse.

The conditions for revolutionary mobilisation, similar to thöse in 1952 and 1970-71, are becoming more and more auspicious.

Despite the activities of the bureaucratic leadership of the COB (TUC) the workers' movement has made substantial gains in recent weeks and it will be extremely difficult for Gueiler's government to make any more of importance without the support of the working class.

Maoists

Gueiler has appointed a cabinet drawn primarily from the official wing of the MNR led whom she was once a private secretary.

The rest of the ministries go to the Christian Democrats, although the Maoist PCM-L has gained the portfolio for urban affairs-further indication of its total degeneration which has been marked by a serious loss of cadre, particularly in the mines.

The opposition MNR-led by Hernan Siles Suazo-has refused to join the cabinet but says it will, for the time being, support the government in Congress.

This, no doubt, will encourage further 'infighting within the bourgeois political apparatus as the crisis deepens.

The economy is in absolute ruins and it has become apparent that the army finally ditched Natusch when the IMF advised a currency devaluation.

Frightened The last time this occurred, in 1972, the Banzer dictatorship was severely threatened by popular mobilisation and memories of the subsequent repression clearly frightened the Generals, in view of the opposition to Natusch that had already developed.

Natusch himself purloined £1.7 millions to pay his troops bonuses and keep them on the streets to upbold his dictatorship.

But as soon as the extent of the opposition became clear there was a massive flight of capital, reaching $10 millions a day until the banks were closed.

Bolivia is now virtually without foreign resources and has a £1.5 billion foreign debt.

The IMF is demanding that the peso be floated but the regime is resisting, since the reaction of the working class will be uncontainable.

Defence budget

The COB has yet to present its demands; but it has been talking of major cuts in the defence budget. a substantial increase in the minimum wage, workers participation in the state mining corporation (COMIBOL), exchange controis and a moratorium on the external debt.

These demands, if implemented, would push the crippled capitalist economy to the verge of collapse-but they are not in themselves revolutionary demands..

Revolutionary Marxists must fight for transitional demands that clearly reveal the class nature of the economy and the question of próletarian power.

The independence of the working class must be developed through outright rejection of the bourgeois. government and parliament, the establishment of soviets and militias and the building of a mass revolutionary Only in this way will the proletariat be in a position to move to the offensive against the wilting organisation of the capitalist class.