Supporters of Evo Morales denounce a “political persecution” of their leader, who wants to return to power but cannot run again in the 2025 presidential election because he has already served two mandates at the head of the country.
Published on 03/11/2024 07:50
Reading time: 2min
Supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales are holding back “more than 200 soldiers” hostage in Bolivia, after the assault on three barracks as part of the anti-government demonstrations which began in the country around twenty days ago, according to the authorities. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs attributes these hostage-takings to “irregular groups”claiming that they are also “seized weapons of war and ammunition”.
In the same region, the Bolivian government sent the army to help police clear roads blocked by supporters of Evo Morales, who denounce a “political persecution” of their leader. The former Bolivian president, who is also the subject of a criminal investigation for accusations of rape of a 15-year-old girl, is prevented to run for the 2025 presidential election by the Bolivian justice system, because he has already served two terms at the head of the country between 2006 and 2019.
Initially, the authorities reported the occupation of a regiment's barracks by demonstrators on Friday in Cochabamba. A Defense source then reported to AFP a “twenty” of detained soldiers. In a video broadcast by the Bolivian press, we saw 16 soldiers surrounded by peasants brandishing pointy sticks. These peasants were identified as belonging to the Tipnis, indigenous territories of Chapare, where Evo Morales, former coca farmer and first indigenous person to govern Bolivia (2006-2019), has his strongest political base.
The former president announced Friday that he was starting a hunger strike to demand dialogue with the government of President Luis Arce so that he “set up (…) discussion committees” political and economic. The former president assured that his hunger strike would continue “until the liberation of all (ses) comrades” arrested by the police. According to the authorities, 66 people were apprehended on Friday, in addition to around fifty others since the unrest began on October 14.
