In Bolivia, the former president who wants to return to power has started… a hunger strike. Objective ? Force the authorities to negotiate while an anti-government revolt rages in the country.
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales, whose ambition is to return to power, announced Friday that he was starting a hunger strike to force the authorities to negotiate, while an anti-government revolt has raged for more than two weeks in the country.
Also on Friday, “irregular armed groups” seized a barracks in the department of Cochabamba (center), epicenter of the revolt, “taking soldiers hostage” and seizing “weapons and ammunition”, indicated the armed forces in a press release. A Defense source reported to AFP, on condition of anonymity, that around “twenty” soldiers were being held.
In a video, broadcast by the local press and confirmed by this source, we see 16 soldiers surrounded by peasants brandishing pointy 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, a former coca farmer and the 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.
“I am going to start a hunger strike until the government sets up (…) political and economic discussion committees,” he told the press from the Chapare region.
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