There has been a military coup in Bolivia and the Government of Evo Morales has been deposed.
Of course one could make criticisms of Morales but that is hardly the point now. This is that his Government was too left-wing for Trump and he has found a way to get rid of it.
It is likely to be bloody.
Jeremy Corbyn has rightly done what any democratic leader should do and condemned the coup. Perhaps not surprisingly Dominic Raab is on the side of the coup, a warning to anyone who is even mildly left of centre in Britain of what the Tories might think of if push comes to shove.
Of course its not the first military coup.
On 11th September 1973 the democratic socialist Government of Allende in Chile was deposed in a coup again backed by the US. Mrs Thatcher was a fan of the coup leader Pinochet.
To be fair to New Labour Pinochet was arrested when in London in October 1998 and held under House Arrest.
In September 1973 Tony Benn recorded in his diary what a duty of solidarity looks like:
Friday 14th September
In the evening Stephen (Benn) and I went to see Alvaro and Raquel Bunster. Alvaro was the Ambassador in London for what was Allende’s legitimate Chilean government. The Naval Attache, as admiral, has thrown him out of the Embassy today. We went to see if we could be of any help
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