Bolivia’s Evo Morales takes up asylum offer in Mexico

Ousted president Evo Morales left Bolivia on Tuesday for Mexico, which has granted him political asylum.

Evo Morales posted a picture of his makeshit camp at an undisclosed location. Picture: AP

Evo Morales left Bolivia on Tuesday for Mexico, which has granted him political asylum, as the armed forces agreed to help police curb violence that has erupted after the president’s resignation left a power vacuum.

The senator set to succeed Mr Morales as interim president, Jeanine Anez, pledged to call fresh elections to end the political crisis.

The UN and the Organisation of American States voiced fears of a breakdown in security in a country that appeared increasingly rudderless after dozens of officials and ministers resigned along with Mr Morales, some seeking refuge in embassies.

Mr Morales called Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Tuesday to request asylum and later tweeted that he was “heading to Mexico”.

Mr Ebrard tweeted that a Mexican military plane carrying the former president had “already taken off ... with Morales aboard”.

“According to international conventions, he’s under Mexico’s protection. His life and integrity have been saved,” he said.

Mr Morales thanked Mexico for protecting him and vowed to come back to his country “stronger and more energetically”.

The events came a day after Mr Morales’s shock resignation after he lost the backing of the military following three weeks of street protests over his disputed re-election for an unconstitutional fourth term.

“The military command of the armed forces has arranged for joint operations with the police to prevent bloodshed and fighting amongst the Bolivian family,” said General Williams Kaliman in a televised address.

Three people have died in clashes since the disputed election. Earlier, La Paz police chief Jose Barrenechea called on General Kaliman to “intervene because the Bolivian police have been overrun”. Some small police barracks around the country were torched or looted.

“We are going to call elections,” Senator Anez said in La Paz. She said there would be “an electoral process that reflects the will of all Bolivians”.

Mr Morales claimed that two of his homes had been attacked by “vandalism groups”.

Hundreds of Morales supporters marched on La Paz from its satellite town El Alto as opposition leader Carlos Mesa claimed on Twitter that “a violent mob” was heading for his home to ­attack it. Soon afterwards came the police plea for military help.

Morales supporters arrested by civilians and police in La Paz were made to kneel in the street, hands behind their backs. Some were bloodied. Shops and offices in La Paz were shut in the wake of looting that broke out on Monday in La Paz and El Alto. The police — largely confined to barracks since riots broke out at the weekend, with many units joining the protests — were returning to the streets, police chief Vladimir Yuri Calderon said.

Several of Mr Morales’s ministers and officials resigned after his announcement — including many who sought refuge at the Mexican embassy — raising the question of who was in charge, given that vice-president Alvaro Garcia Linera also resigned.

Under the constitution, power then passes to the president of the Senate and the Speaker of the lower house of congress, in that order. But they have resigned, too.

Senator Anez, 52, stepped in to say she would assume the presidency, given her position as deputy Senate leader.

Mr Morales, 60, announced his resignation in a televised address on Monday after 13 years in power. The former coca farmer and Bolivia’s first indigenous president said his opposition rivals, Mr Mesa and Luis Fernando Camacho, would “go down in history as racists and coup plotters.”

US President Donald Trump hailed Mr Morales’s resignation as a “significant moment for democracy in the Western Hemisphere,” and praised the role of the country’s military.

AFP