Bolivia: workers occupy Pepsi plant in Cochabamba in defence of jobs

On 31 March, the Cervecería Boliviana Nacional (CBN) suddenly and without justification announced to the workers at the Pepsi plant in Cochabamba that operations were to be shut down immediately, leaving more than 150 workers without a job. In response, the workers decided that they would not accept such an affront and took over the plant, which remains occupied to this day. The Núcleo Comunista Revolucionario fully supports their struggle.

One of the workers involved in the occupation, Mario López, spoke to our correspondent to explain the situation.

He explained that the occupation began when the workers were scandalously dismissed from their jobs without notice. With no warning, the bosses called all the workers in for a ‘training session’:

“In less than a minute, they told us that there would be a ‘closure of operations.’ Then what we did was take over the plant, which is our source of work, which is the workers' second home.”

Once the plant was occupied, the workers demanded that the bosses open the books to prove that the plant had indeed gone bankrupt, as they had claimed. As Mario explained:

“What we said was: we are not going to allow it. First, they have to prove it. Where are the financial statements? They have to show us the income and expenditure of the company. What has the money been invested in? […]

“They have not shown it. Not that they don't want to. They can't, because there has been no technical bankruptcy. The Cervecería Boliviana Nacional, a transnational company, is not going to go bankrupt, ever. That company will never go bankrupt.”

Owned by the multinational AB InBev, Cervecería Boliviana Nacional (CBN) is the seventh-largest company in Bolivia, with annual profits of over 868 million bolivianos.

“What we do know is that there has been mismanagement. There has been excessive spending of money, and that is where the administrative error lies. So they have mismanaged, and they are passing that error on to us […]

“In other words, on a whim, there are a few managers at the national level who are saying, ‘we'll get rid of them and we'll keep ourselves’. It's a direct power struggle between the administration and the workers. But, legally, we have everything to gain.”

Against this brazen attack, which is a shameful attempt to line the pockets of the bosses at the expense of the livelihoods of the workers, the mood in the plant is extremely defiant.

“We have said that we are going to go all the way. If we have to offer our lives to protect our jobs because we have families to support, we are going to do it. It's not just me who is saying it, it's all the workers […]

“We are waiting for the meeting [between workers’ leaders and representatives of CBN] on Monday, as they have asked for an interval, and from there a fight will begin.

“But we are going to wage an unwavering fight, a frontal fight, to bring the company to its knees. We have said, without wanting to say too much, that if we have to go as far as to demand that the government nationalise the company, we will do it. We will do it…”

If the plant were to be nationalised, our correspondent asked Mario how the workers would like to see it run:

“That is the big question. Many have said that the state does not manage well as a boss. But let's not forget that we, the workers, are not going to leave it on a silver platter and say, ‘Well, gentlemen of the government, you manage this.’ No. We, the workers, are going to be, perhaps, an administrative co-management of the company because we also have to take care of it.”

This shameless, direct attack by the bosses and the heroic response of the workers has provoked solidarity from across the Bolivian labour movement, as Mario explained.

“We have spoken, and the confederation of factory workers has also made its position clear. On Monday, there is going to be a national meeting here on these very steps to demonstrate the unity of the workers. The brewery workers' union has also come. Willy Valencia [general secretary of the union] has come in person. He has made a commitment to us. He is waiting for a decision to be made so that they can also take solidarity action.”

The Bolivian government has also involved itself in the situation, but the workers are sceptical of their intentions.

“The Minister of Labour himself came here, to these facilities, and he has promised to support us, and to issue a resolution [for the reinstatement of the workers] as soon as possible, ‘in less than 48 hours’ [...]

“I hope it's not just for photo opportunities and publicity, because the situation is pretty fucked for the government…”

This scepticism has arisen from the repeated betrayals of the ruling Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), which came into power in 2006 after an insurrectionary struggle of the workers calling for the nationalisation of the country’s gas resources. MAS promised the nationalisation of the country’s raw materials and to kick out the multinationals, while appealing to the working class.

This scepticism has arisen from the repeated betrayals of the ruling Movimiento al Socialismo / Image: UN Geneva, Flickr

Since then, the government, under Evo Morales and now Luis Arce, have carried out a policy of class collaboration, and have made deals allowing foreign multinationals to continue making a profit by exploiting Bolivian resources. The government could maintain its popularity by granting certain reforms while the world economy was booming, but now that has come to an end. As Mario explained:

“The government has postponed its promises, it has postponed again and again. It is a government that does not represent the workers […] It is with private companies, with the transnationals. It is not for nothing that they have liberalised some exports. The cost of the basic basket of goods has skyrocketed! […]

“They talk to us about nationalisation. What nationalisations are they talking about? There has been no nationalisation, for me, personally. There have been some contract reforms, yes. But nationalisation as such? There have been none. Telling me this has been a social government is a lie. It's not a social government. To me, it is still a neoliberal government…”

The cynicism of the workers towards the regime extends to leadership of the Bolivian Workers' Centre (COB), the main federation of Bolivian trade unions, which has become dominated by lackeys of MAS:

“What Evo Morales has done is to use his political operatives to infiltrate social organisations and trade unions in order to break them up and fragment them, not to ask for their support […]

“Look, the COB, unfortunately, through this Mr Huarachi [current Executive Secretary of the COB], is, for me – excuse the word – a prostitute. Worse… What has he done? How has he fought for the workers? Nothing. Nothing at all. He's been with Añez [Jeanine Añez, briefly installed as president by a right-wing coup in 2019-2020], with everyone, just to protect himself. He's done nothing! Where is the COB? Where are the organisations, the CODs [Central Obrera Departamental, regional workers’ trade union organisations]? There is no longer a clear ideology. It's just that everything, as I was saying, has fragmented through Evo’s operators. […]

“Evo, by giving gifts to many leaders, has bought them off. That's why the COB has fallen, nobody believes in the COB any more. I was secretary general of the COB, the press was after us every day. Where are the CODs? They call press conferences, and nobody goes. That's because there's no clear ideology; they're not carrying out that permanent struggle that we've called for to defend the working class.

“Where is the political independence of the working class? Where are the Pulacayo Theses that we have proclaimed in our political documents? Where is the document of the 1971 Popular Assembly? Nobody talks about that. Why? Because it doesn't suit Evo.”

The documents Mario mentioned are part of the rich revolutionary tradition of the Bolivian working class. The Pulacayo Theses were written by the Trotskyist Revolutionary Workers' Party and were adopted by the Union Federation of Mine Workers of Bolivia (FSTMB). They were inspired by Trotsky’s Transitional Programme and the theory of the permanent revolution, and called for the dictatorship of the proletariat in Bolivia. The 1971 Popular Assembly was convened by the COB during an attempted military coup as a “body of workers’ and peoples’ power”. Today, those traditions have been abandoned by the leaders of the labour movement.

In particular, he discussed the Water Wars, an uprising which erupted between 1999 and 2000 in Cochabamba in response to the IMF’s suggestion that the water supply should be privatised. It was in the wake of this and similar struggles that Morales was able to come to power.

“The workers have fought since the Water War to change the system.

“Evo Morales has taken advantage of the struggle of the workers, of the people. He has barricaded himself in the palace [of the president, Palacio Quemado], saying that the MAS has been [fighting with us].

“This is a lie. The MAS has not fought. It has been the people who have fought since the Water War, with the workers of the Confederation of Factory Workers here in Cochabamba at the forefront. That's where it started.

“What has Evo Morales done? He has taken some of those who were there, including former officials who have worked with the right and with liberal governments, and he has climbed up [into power] with those people.

“But he has pushed aside the people who really fought. Where is Jaime Solares [the then leader of the COB]? Where is Oscar Olivera [Cochabamba trade union leader at the head of the Water War struggle]? Where are the great leaders who fought?

“In the Water War, we triumphed. We won the Gas War after that. And who has taken over? Evo Morales. Some bad leaders have also [used the movement for] their own personal ambitions.

“Where is the class identity? Where is the class consciousness? Where is that principle that they have fought for out of conscience, and not for personal ambitions? So many people have also fallen.”

Instead of a career ladder for the leadership of the MAS, that movement, and those that followed it, could have led to a revolution. In 2003, the Gas War toppled President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (Goni). Power was in the hands of the COB, and the working class could have taken control of Bolivia had there been a revolutionary leadership that could have acted decisively. But there was no such leadership, and instead the COB leadership supported the succession of the former Vice President to power.

“Look, when Goni escaped, before Carlos Mesa was appointed by succession, at the assembly in La Paz, when Jaime Solares was the COB executive, I was here with Oscar Olivera in the confederation of factory workers. We went to La Paz to support that movement. People said: ‘Now's your fucking chance, COB, take it.’ Jaime Solares didn't want to: ‘No, comrades, let's go to the succession.’ There's the succession. There are the results of the succession [gesticulating to his surroundings]. And if the working class had taken power at the time, this country would be different. This country would be different.

“I think now is the time to stand up again and dust off that desire to fight, that thirst for struggle to benefit the working class, the impoverished class. And that's what we have to do. We have a long task ahead of us. We have to do it. We have to work.”

Bolivia is headed towards a general election in October. Looking to the future, Mario said:

“Difficult days await us. Everyone in the liberal system is reorganising themselves. They're also fighting among themselves. Why? Because they're greedy for power. They want to make it a federal country. They say we need to free up exports. What does that mean? It means inflation. And what about the poor? What about people from the middle class and below? Nothing.

“All these people do is look after capital, the pockets of the rich, and not the hunger of the poor. So these elections, for me, are another formality. And they are very dangerous for the working class. Very, very dangerous for the working class.

“The Arcists, the Evistas [i.e. the supporters of Luis Arce and Evo Morales, the different factions of MAS], everyone is fighting. What's the solution? For me, a revolution. Not the Arcists, not the Evistas, not the rightists, nothing. Damn, a revolution here, and let's see, the working class, the lower middle class, take the power. That's the solution.”

Since this interview was recorded, the leaders of the occupation met with representatives of CBN. There, the representatives of the bosses reiterated their decision to close the plant. The workers remain firm that they will fight to reopen it. Concrete measures to fight back will be decided by the workers in the coming days. The Núcleo Comunista Revolucionario will also stand firm in its support for the workers.

No to the closure of the plant!

The company must open the books!

For democratic control by the workers!

For the mobilisation of the whole working class in solidarity!

For a workers' government to confront the global capitalist crisis!

Messages of solidarity can be sent to the workers by contacting the NCR: via email (comunistas.bo@gmail.com) or via Instagram.