“Irregular armed groups” seized a barracks, “taking soldiers hostage” and seizing “weapons and ammunition,” the armed forces said in a statement. A Defense source told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that around “twenty” soldiers had been taken hostage.
In a video broadcast by the Bolivian press confirmed by this source, we see 16 soldiers surrounded by peasants brandishing sticks.
“The regiment of Cacique Maraza was taken by groups from Tipnis, they cut off our water and electricity, they took us hostage,” says a soldier in the video.
The Tipnis are known as the indigenous territories of Chapare, where Evo Morales has his strongest political base.
Former President Evo Morales also announced this Friday evening that he would begin a hunger strike to demand dialogue with the government.
Since October 14, his supporters have blocked the country’s main roads to protest what they consider a “judicial persecution” against him.
Evo Morales is the target of an investigation for the alleged rape of a fifteen-year-old girl while he was at the head of the country. He denies the facts, while his lawyers claim that the case was already examined and closed in 2020.
The public prosecutor’s office in Tarija (south) ordered his arrest in September, but the warrant was canceled after a legal appeal favorable to the former president.
Economic crisis
Today, his supporters are also calling for the resignation of President Luis Arce, who they say is incapable of managing the economic crisis caused by a shortage of foreign currencies.
This former ally, president since November 2020, is now a rival for the candidacy of the ruling party for the 2025 presidential election. Despite a judgment disqualifying him, Mr. Morales, 65, wants to stand in the ballot.
Mr. Arce demanded on Wednesday “the immediate lifting of all blocking points”, threatening an intervention by the armed forces in order to put an end to “pressure measures which are strangling” the country.
“If he brings the army, we are ready to fight. We will continue until his resignation,” Carlos Flores, a 45-year-old agronomist among the demonstrators blocking a road not far from Cochabamba (center), assured AFP.
Since the start of the blockades, clashes between the police and demonstrators have left at least 70 injured, including 61 police officers and nine civilians, according to a latest report from the authorities.
Mr. Morales’s supporters still maintain around twenty blockades in the country, most of them in the state of Cochabamba, stronghold of Mr. Morales, a former coca farmer whose supporters are mainly indigenous peasants.
These road blockages have exacerbated fuel shortages and led to long lines of vehicles in cities. The prices of basic products have also skyrocketed in the markets.
