Evo Morales accused the current leader, President Luis Arce, of carrying out the attack.
advertisementFormer Bolivian President Evo Morales claimed he survived an assassination attempt on Sunday after an unidentified man opened fire on his car.
He was not injured in the alleged attack, which became the latest flashpoint in a power struggle between the former leader and his successor, current President Luis Arce.
Morales blamed President Arce’s government for the outbreak of violence, saying it was part of a systematic campaign by Bolivian authorities to exclude Arce from politics.
Arce’s government has criticized Morales, claiming he attacked him to boost his political fortunes ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Both sides have rejected the claims against them.
Morales claimed the shooting occurred while he was driving in Chapare, Bolivia’s coca leaf growing region. Chapare is the former president’s rural stronghold, where residents have blocked the main east-west highway over the past two weeks in a show of defiance and solidarity. A new legal threat has emerged against Morales.
Roadblocks and mass protests have led to major cities being shut down and food and fuel supplies cut off, further worsening the country’s economic crisis.
‘Self-attack’?
Morales, who served as Bolivia’s first indigenous president from 2006 to 2019, described Sunday’s shooting of his car as part of a plot by Arce’s government to force him out of politics.
On Sunday, Morales emerged unharmed and appeared in his usual calm manner on his weekly radio show to talk about what happened. He told the radio host that as he was leaving his home to go to the radio station, hooded men fired at least 14 shots into his car, wounding the driver.
“Arce will go down in history as the worst president,” Morales said. “Shooting a former president is the last straw.”
Roberto Rios, the Arce government’s deputy security minister, insisted that police had not carried out any kind of operation against the former president.
He said authorities were investigating the theory that Morales had committed “possible suicide.”
“Morales is pursuing confrontation and violence on the streets for political gain and impunity,” Rios told reporters.
Arce government officials have not yet responded to requests to elaborate on the controversial claims.
political persecution
Even before the shots were fired, the country’s political atmosphere was filled with personal attacks and sometimes violence.
advertisementEarlier this month, Bolivian prosecutors opened an investigation into accusations that Morales fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2016, labeling the case as statutory rape. Morales has refused to testify in court, dismissing the attempt at a new prosecution as politically motivated.
The former president has been hiding in the Chapare region of central Bolivia since reports surfaced that a warrant might be issued against him.
Last month, in a show of political muscle, Morales and his supporters launched a highly anticipated multi-day march from rural towns to the capital, La Paz, to pressure Arce to address severe shortages of fuel and dollars.
A march demanding authorities allow Morales to run in next year’s elections despite being disqualified by the electoral commission quickly led to street clashes with counter-demonstrators.
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