Supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales stormed into multiple military barracks and took around 20 soldiers hostage. The country have been embroiled in turmoil for months due to Morales’s tussle with the ruling regimeread more
Supporters of Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales barged into the military barracks in the central Chapare region and took around 20 soldiers hostage. The military sources confirmed the news to AFP on Friday. The whole ordeal marked a dramatic escalation in their standoff with the state.
The hostage situation came three weeks after backers of Morales began blocking roads to prevent the arrest of the country’s first indigenous president. Morales claimed that the Bolivian authorities are pushing “trumped-up rape charges” that are aimed at thwarting his political comeback.
The 65-year-old served as the South American nation’s president from 2006 to 2019. He eventually had to resign due to pressure from the military and was accused of committing election fraud. On Friday, the Bolivian armed forces released a statement in which they said that “irregular armed groups” had “kidnapped military personnel” and seized weapons and ammunition in the Chapare.
Morales seeks to challenge an ‘old friend’
In the videos that are circulating online, 16 soldiers were seen surrounded by protesters holding pointed sticks aloft. “The Cacique Maraza Regiment has been taken over by Tipnis activists. They have cut off our water, and electricity, and are keeping us hostage,” a uniformed man was heard saying in the video.
Hundreds of civilians took over a military base in the Cochabamba area and took captive the soldiers who were there. They also stole weapons and ammunition.
The… pic.twitter.com/gaHe9yzYqi
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It is pertinent to note that despite being barred from contesting in the polls, Morales expressed his intention to challenge his former ally turned rival, President Luis Arce, for the nomination of the left-wing Mas party. The country is scheduled to hold presidential elections in August 2025.
Earlier, Morales led a march of thousands of mainly Indigenous Bolivians on the administrative capital, La Paz, to protest against Arce’s policies. Soon after the demonstrations, prosecutors announced that the former president is being investigated for rape, human trafficking, and human smuggling over his alleged relationship with a 15-year-old girl in 2015. In the case, Morales was accused of fathering a daughter with the girl. However, he has denied all the allegations hurled against him.
President calls for an end to the protests
Amid the chaos, on Wednesday, Arce demanded an “immediate” end to the roadblocks and said the government would “exercise its constitutional powers to safeguard the interests of the Bolivian people” if the protesters did not comply.
Many Bolivians took the country’s president’s warning as a threat to use the military to end the blockade, which has caused widespread food and fuel shortages and prompted prices of basic goods to soar. Interestingly, Chapare is the same place where Morales claimed that he was a victim of an assassination attempt last week.
The government at that time noted that police fired on the vehicle after coming under fire from Morales’s convoy at a checkpoint set up to combat drug trafficking in the Chapare.
With inputs from agencies.
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Publish date : 2024-11-01 16:13:00
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Publish date : 2024-11-02 03:31:27
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