Evo Morales to proceed starvation strike amid political dispute

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LAUCA N, Bolivia — Bolivia’s transformative and divisive former president Evo Morales mentioned Sunday that he would press on with a starvation strike till the federal government of his protege-turned-rival agreed to a political dialogue. His act of dissent goals to defuse road protests which have paralyzed the nation in latest weeks over what Morales’ supporters condemn as his political persecution.

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Morales, a larger-than-life determine nonetheless towering over Bolivian politics 5 years after his fraught ouster, spoke on his third day with out meals from the misty tropics of Chapare, Bolivia’s rural coca-growing area that serves as his stronghold.

“My struggle is to enhance the scenario within the nation and to start out a dialogue with out situations on two fronts, one financial and one political,” Morales instructed The Related Press from the workplace of the coca growers’ federation that he lengthy has led.

The ex-president mentioned he started his starvation strike Friday in hopes of “worldwide organizations or pleasant governments” facilitating talks together with his political nemesis, President Luis Arce.

Tensions have surged over the previous three weeks since pro-Morales supporters arrange crippling roadblocks geared toward rebuking Arce — Morales’ former financial system minister with whom he’s now vying to steer Bolivia’s governing socialist occasion into subsequent yr’s elections.

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Protesters have choked off main highways in defiance of an try by Arce’s authorities to revive a 2016 statutory rape case towards Morales, an ethnic Aymara who was the primary member of an Indigenous neighborhood to turn into the president of Latin America’s solely Indigenous-majority nation.

Morales has denied any wrongdoing. “My crime is being Indigenous,” he mentioned on Sunday.

The AP reached Morales after an arduous 11-hour journey by automobile, motorbike and foot over hills and thru the highlands, circumventing street blockades, crisscrossing routes suffering from particles and toppled timber and squeaking by over a dozen safety checkpoints, in some instances manned by profiteers.

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Roadblocks are a standard protest tactic in Bolivia, the place the mountainous terrain means just a few strategically positioned checkpoints can isolate main cities and produce the entire nation to a halt.

That’s precisely what occurred earlier this month, marooning tons of of hundreds of residents within the highlands, elevating fears of meals and gasoline shortages and mountain climbing up the costs of primary items in main cities, together with the capital La Paz.

“I see folks rising up much more,” mentioned Eusebio Urbano, a farmer protesting in assist of Morales at one of many street blockades Sunday. “I don’t know what this authorities thinks. … They don’t attempt to resolve something. We now have to maintain pushing till it leaves.”

Beneath public strain to quell the unrest, Arce’s authorities despatched some 3,000 law enforcement officials armed with tear fuel and backed by helicopters to interrupt up the blockades by pressure.

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Eduardo Del Castillo, a senior cupboard minister, mentioned safety forces had arrested dozens of protesters in clearing the principle street linking Cochabamba, Bolivia’s third-biggest metropolis, with La Paz. Authorities transferred over 50 of the demonstrators to pre-trial detention within the capital on expenses associated to violating public order, he mentioned.

“What occurred was very inhumane,” Morales mentioned of the crackdown, including that his refusal to eat was additionally geared toward pressuring authorities to launch the 66 detainees. “These are humble individuals who have been introduced as terrorists.”

It was the newest flip in Bolivia’s long-running political disaster, which escalated final week when gunmen ambushed Morales’ convoy in what the previous president claimed was a government-led assassination try. Officers in Arce’s authorities denied this, alleging that police opened fireplace as a result of Morales’ van had barreled by a safety checkpoint.

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“They’ve been utilizing any tactic they will, politically, legally, morally and now, bodily, to finish my life,” Morales mentioned.

From there, protests in defence of Morales solely intensified. On Friday, Arce’s authorities accused his demonstrators of occupying army barracks in Chapare, a flashpoint for battle for the reason that U.S.-backed battle on medicine within the Nineties. Authorities mentioned that Morales’ extra radical loyalists seized weapons and held some 200 troopers hostage Friday.

Morales and his supporters rejected studies of a violent hostage scenario, with the chief’s Kausachun Coca radio station airing footage that confirmed protesting union members and troopers negotiating calmly whereas munching on coca leaves.

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“Please, it’s not a takeover of army barracks,” Morales mentioned. “They’re holding vigils till their financial and political calls for are met.”

Del Castillo mentioned Sunday that the federal government is, in precept, open to negotiating a decision to the political disaster with Morales. However he mentioned authorities didn’t belief Morales’ motives.

“Morales doesn’t care in regards to the nation, he cares about himself,” Del Castillo mentioned. “He’s in search of new confrontations.”

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The disaster stems from a bitter rift on the highest rungs of Bolivia’s long-dominant Motion Towards Socialism occasion, which deepened final month when authorities introduced their intention to arrest Morales on expenses that he fathered a daughter with a 15-year-old woman in 2016 when he was 56 years previous and president.

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Morales and his supporters have decried the case as a political witch hunt geared toward blocking his candidacy within the 2025 election.

Arce insists that the present structure — which allows simply two consecutive phrases — forbids Morales, who held energy from 2006-2019, from operating subsequent yr, anyway. It was Morales’ quest for a fourth time period that led to his ouster, which he and his supporters view as a coup.

“It’s a betrayal of the folks, of the occasion activists, of the revolution,” Morales mentioned of Arce’s efforts to undercut him.

In neighbouring Argentina, the federal government of far-right President Javier Milei on Saturday introduced it had lodged a grievance accusing Morales of kid abuse dedicated throughout the former president’s months-long political exile in Argentina, from 2019 to 2020.

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At the moment, Morales’ contested re-election sparked mass protests that prompted him to resign underneath strain from the army and flee to Mexico earlier than in search of asylum in Argentina.

Now, years later, the charismatic populist — who continues to evince intense assist from the Indigenous inhabitants — has seized upon rising public discontent together with his chosen successor.

“It’s not that I, Evo, wish to be president. The folks have requested me to return,” Morales mentioned. “Throughout my administration there was stability. When there’s financial and political stability, there’s happiness.”

Many within the nation have soured on Arce over the collapse of Bolivia’s once-prosperous financial system constructed on low-cost {dollars} and gas. They appear again fondly on the tenure of Morales, credited with lifting hundreds of thousands out of poverty and drastically narrowing Bolivia’s wealth divide throughout the nation’s pure fuel increase.

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“Now with extra expertise, we’re prepared to save lots of Bolivia,” Morales mentioned. Conscious that the financial mannequin that led to Bolivia’s exceptional progress had fairly actually run out of fuel, Morales mentioned he would reverse the nation’s financial downturn by having Bolivia be a part of BRICS, a bunch of rising economies in search of to counter western dominance of the world order, and collaborate extra carefully with China.

The previous president, now 65, isn’t certain how lengthy his starvation strike will final. However he mentioned he’s ready for the deprivation.

“I do numerous sports activities,” Morales mentioned. “Immediately I awakened at 4 a.m. and did 1,015 sit-ups.”

— DeBre reported from Buenos Aires. Related Press journalist Carlos Guerrero in Lauca N, Bolivia, contributed to this report.

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