Bolivia’s toppled president flies out of Mexico for what his former health minister says is a medical appointment
Bolivia’s recently toppled president, Evo Morales, has left Mexico for Cuba as part of what some observers suspect is the first step in a bid to stage a dramatic political comeback.
On Friday night, less than a month after being forced into exile in Mexico, Morales flew out of the country on a plane bound for Havana.
Continue reading...The crisis that toppled Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, last month has – for now, at least – settled into a political conflict rather than a struggle on the streets. But Bolivia’s prospects depend upon the rightwing interim government’s swift delivery of free and fair elections and its willingness to reach out to all communities.
Though the government has now pulled back to some degree, its initial actions instead made its leading figures and supporters look vindictive, ruthless and bigoted. Interim president Jeanine Áñez vowed to unify the country when she took power – but packed the cabinet with members of the conservative elites and boasted that “God has allowed the Bible back into the palace” of a secular country. She exempted the military from criminal prosecution when maintaining public order; at least 17 indigenous protesters died after security forces opened fire. Police cut the indigenous Wiphala flag from their uniforms and anti-Morales demonstrators set fire to it. The interior minister has vowed to jail Mr Morales, in exile in Mexico, for 30 years for terrorism and sedition.
Continue reading...Events in Bolivia – including the killing of indigenous protesters – contain echoes from Bolivia’s past dictatorships
Indian massacres have returned to Bolivia. There is a history — a blood feud, to be precise — behind this tragedy. The self-declared “presidency” of Jeanine Áñez has revived the old oligarchy’s race hatred and the barbaric practice of Indian killing, the collective punishment of the nation’s Indigenous majority for daring to defy a centuries-old racial order of apartheid and oppression. Since the ousting of Bolivia’s first Indigenous president Evo Morales, security forces have carried out at least two massacres of Indigenous people protesting the military coup.
Only two weeks since seizing state power, the evidence is clear: this is a rightwing, military dictatorship. The telltale sign for a country like Bolivia is the outright Indian killing.
Continue reading...Ousted Bolivian president says he renounced his candidacy ‘in the name of peace’
Bolivia’s ousted and exiled president, Evo Morales, says he has ruled out standing in his country’s next elections to stop the existing crisis sliding into a broader civil or ethnic conflict.
He told the Guardian: “This is what I am afraid of and it is what we have to avoid, which is why I am renouncing my candidacy. In the name of peace, sacrifices have to be made and I am sacrificing my candidacy even though I have every right to it.”
Continue reading...Rightwing government claims former president is guilty of terrorism and sedition
The interior minister of Bolivia’s rightwing interim government has vowed to jail the former president Evo Morales for the rest of his life, accusing the exiled leftist of inciting anti-government protests that he claimed amounted to terrorism.
In an interview with the Guardian, Arturo Murillo claimed that Morales had been orchestrating efforts to “strangle” Bolivian cities by ordering followers to erect roadblocks that would starve its residents of fuel and food.
Continue reading...The barricades blocking the road to Alto Lipari are fashioned from every conceivable object: telegraph poles and tree trunks, wheelie bins and wooden crates, a bed frame and even a shipping container daubed with insults aimed at Bolivia’s “sell-out” police. Their message is unambiguous. “Evo de nuevo” reads a demand written on to the ground at the blockaded entrance to this rural farming community an hour’s drive south of La Paz. “Bring Evo back.”
A 20-minute hike further on, a group of Evo Morales loyalists, armed with sticks of dynamite used to deter unwanted visitors, keep watch from a mountainside observation point.
Continue reading...Álvaro García Linera concedes mistakes pair made but branded the toppling of Morales as an anti-indigenous, rightwing ‘coup’
Evo Morales’s closest political adviser has admitted that the Bolivian leader’s failure to groom a successor contributed to the political crisis engulfing the South American nation but slammed the “racist backlash” he blamed for the toppling of its first indigenous president.
Continue reading...The former president was a victim of his own refusal to hand over power
Broadly speaking, Evo Morales was a successful leader of Bolivia. A trade unionist with familial roots among the country’s indigenous peoples, he was first elected president in 2005 and was twice returned to office with substantial majorities. Morales is credited by the IMF with achieving a drastic reduction in poverty among farmers and coca growers and a societal revolution that, among other things, transformed the standing of Bolivia’s numerous ethnic minority groups.
A convinced socialist, Morales identified with the late Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela and with other leftwing leaders such as Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s former president. He championed a “plurinational” constitution that guaranteed equal rights and opportunities for all citizens, effectively ending the monopoly on power previously enjoyed by Bolivians of European descent. His time in office also saw a big increase in women’s political participation.
Continue reading...Toppling of Bolivian president reignites movement to remove leftist ally Nicolás Maduro
Venezuela’s flagging opposition movement has hit the streets for its first major protests in months, as leaders sought to reignite their campaign to force Nicolás Maduro from power after his leftist ally Evo Morales was toppled in Bolivia.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Saturday morning in towns and cities across the crisis-stricken south American country, hoping the dramatic sea change in Bolivian politics might portend similar change in Venezuela.
Continue reading...Bolivia’s controversial new interim president has unveiled a new cabinet which critics say could further increase polarization in the country still deeply split over the ousting of her predecessor, Evo Morales.
To the applause of military top brass, lawmakers and senators, Jeanine Áñez vowed to “reconstruct democracy” and “pacify the country” at a late-night ceremony in the “Palacio Quemado” (Burnt Palace) presidential building.
Continue reading...Fresh clashes have broken out in Bolivia’s main city as the newly declared interim president Jeanine Añez faced challenges to her leadership in the senate and the streets from supporters of the exiled leader Evo Morales.
Related: Bolivia: Jeanine Añez claims presidency after ousting of Evo Morales
Continue reading...The Bolivian senator Jeanine Añez declared herself the country’s interim president on Tuesday, swearing in to loud cheers and applause after the resignation of Evo Morales, who flew to Mexico under pressure from police and the army.
The move is expected to pave the way for fresh elections after a fiercely disputed election which the Organization of American States found was rigged in Morales's favour.
The Bolivian senator Jeanine Añez has declared herself the country’s interim president after the resignation of Evo Morales, even though lawmakers from his party boycotted the legislative session where she assumed office.
Añez, 52, took temporary control of the Senate late on Tuesday. “I will take the measures necessary to pacify the country,” she said, swearing on a bible to loud cheers and applause. The move is expected to pave the way for fresh elections.
Continue reading...Former president says it hurts to leave ‘for political reasons’ as foreign minister confirms he has left for Mexico
Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales has boarded a plane bound for Mexico where he has been granted asylum, the Mexican foreign minister has announced.
Earlier on Monday evening Morales tweeted a farewell after his resignation in the wake of a disputed election, saying that he would be take up the offer of asylum in Mexico but would soon “return with greater strength and energy”.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary lambasts Labour leader for saying Evo Morales was forced out by coup
Dominic Raab, the UK foreign secretary, has accused Jeremy Corbyn of putting Marxist solidarity ahead of democracy after the Labour leader said Evo Morales had been forced to resign as Bolivia’s president due to a military coup.
Morales stood down on Sunday after 14 years in power following a report by the Organization of American States found that “clear manipulations” of the voting system in the first round of elections on 20 October had occurred. The findings prompted the military and civilian police to call on him to stand aside.
Continue reading...President quits after nearly 14 years in power, hours after promising fresh elections
Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, is to resign after the military called for him to step down and allies fell away following a fierce backlash over his disputed re-election.
Morales, the leader for nearly 14 years, said in televised comments that he would submit his resignation letter to help restore stability, though he aimed barbs at what he called a “civic coup.”
Continue reading...Officers in country’s main city join colleagues across Bolivia in declaring support for protests
Police in Bolivia’s main city, La Paz, have declared themselves in mutiny, joining anti-government protests and fellow officers in at least six other cities. The move puts in serious doubt the president Evo Morales’ ability to hang on to power after weeks of unrest over disputed election results.
Local news reports on Saturday indicated that groups of police in the cities of Tarija, Oruro and Beni had joined their colleagues in Santa Cruz, Sucre and Cochabamba in rebelling against Morales’ government.
Continue reading...Groups of officers in major cities join protests over disputed presidential election result
Police in at least three Bolivian cities have declared mutinies and joined anti-government protests – a possible indication that parts of the security forces may be withdrawing their backing for President Evo Morales after weeks of unrest over disputed election results.
Bolivia’s defence minister, Javier Zavaleta, said on Friday that no military action would be taken against the police involved for now and the government would not mobilise troops as tens of thousands of Bolivians took to the streets in cities across the country.
Continue reading...From Chile to Ecuador and Bolivia to Haiti police and protesters are clashing on the streets, but what are the common threads and will they lead to change?
Tanks on the streets in Chile. Barricades and bloodshed in Bolivia. Weeks of unrest that have pushed Haiti to the brink and forced Ecuador’s president to relocate his government.
“This is a social revolution,” said Andrea Lyn, a 61-year-old actor who took to the streets of Santiago this week. “It is us saying: ‘No more’.”
Continue reading...President said in a televised speech the right ‘prepared the coup’ with foreign powers amid growing tensions over the election
Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, has accused opposition leaders and foreign powers of attempting a “coup” against him amid growing tensions over the result of Sunday’s desperately tight election.
In an angry televised speech on Wednesday, Morales said: “A coup d’etat is under way. The right wing prepared the coup with international support.”
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