Supporters of former President Evo Morales in Bolivia have taken more than 200 soldiers hostage, the country's government reported Saturday, as unrest sparked by an investigation into the ex-leader's abuses continues for a third week.
Bolivia's Foreign Ministry in a statement identified those involved in the hostage-taking as members of “irregular groups” and accused them of also stealing weapons and ammunition. He did not identify the groups or explain how the soldiers were taken hostage. But a day earlier, President Luis Arce said the protesters and attackers of military units were supporters of Mr. Morales.
Mr. Arce called the capture of three military barracks in a coca-growing area in central Bolivia “an absolutely reprehensible criminal act that is far from any legitimate social demands of the indigenous peasant movement.”
The conflict erupted three weeks ago when Bolivian prosecutors launched an investigation into accusations that Mr. Morales had a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2016, calling their relationship statutory rape. The former president refused to testify in court.
He has been holed up in the rural area of Chapare, in central Bolivia, since reports of a possible arrest warrant against him. Loyalist coca farmers stand guard to prevent his arrest, and his supporters threaten to take control of police and army barracks, demanding an end to legal cases against the former president.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that it was open to dialogue with “all social sectors of the country” but warned that the process “cannot be implemented as long as the Bolivian people continue to being a victim of abuse by these groups who are not interested in the national and popular economy, and who only seek to materialize the personal and electoral interests of a former president.
Last week, 30 police officers were injured and more than 50 protesters were arrested after a clash between security forces and supporters of Mr. Morales.
Minister Arce and former President Morales are engaged in a bitter battle for control of the ruling party, which remains divided among their supporters as the 2025 elections approach.
