Just over a year ago there was a coup in Bolivia. Early votes in the 2019 Bolivian election favoured the conservative opposition, but as counting continued, the left wing incumbent, Evo Morales, took the lead. In the view of the Organization of American States (OAS), the primary election-monitoring body of the Americas, this reversal of fortunes was deeply irregular. The OAS released a press statement to that effect, opposition protests erupted, and soon after the military asked Morales to resign.

In the weeks that followed, the OAS, The New York Times, The Economist, and the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo all doubled down on the claim that Morales had committed election fraud. The trouble was that, as repeated studies have now demonstrated, no evidence existed to justify that assertion. The swing to Morales was to be expected—the rural votes, which strongly favour Morales’ party, were simply counted later in the day. In June of this year, The New York Times sheepishly ran an article with the headline A Bitter Election. Accusations of Fraud. And Now Second Thoughts.