Politician and former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, reported that his car was shot by current president Luis Arce, his political opponent. Footage posted online shows the driver was injured.
Evo Morales, the former president of Bolivia and head of the country's ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) party, said on Sunday that his car had been shot at.
– Those who were shooting had hoods (…). The car I arrived in has 14 bullet holes. It was planned. The aim was to kill (me), said the former leader.
Morales: The bullet missed my head by centimeters
The politician posted a video on Facebook from inside the car showing bullet holes in the windshield. A woman can be heard screaming in the background, who was filming the whole incident from the back seat. Morales himself was sitting in the passenger seat. The driver was injured, records show.
As Morales reported in a radio interview on Sunday, two cars stopped his car and fired at him. He added that the bullet missed his head “by a centimeter”. – I don't know if they were soldiers or policemen, – he said. According to Morales, the current government is to blame for the attack on him.
Reuters says it cannot confirm the authenticity of the video or Morales' claims about the attack at this time. The Bolivian government did not respond to the agency's request for comment.
Reuters speculates that a possible attack on Morales could deepen social unrest and political instability in the South American country.
Accused of “destabilizing” the situation in the country
On Saturday, the Bolivian government criticized Morales for “destabilizing” the country and “undermining the democratic order.” Morales' supporters have been blocking roads for two weeks, cutting off the supply of food and fuel across the country.
In its statement, the government warned against acts of violence and emphasized that some groups allied with Morales are armed. In particular, it was reported: about 14 policemen were injured when they tried to break the roadblock.
Evo Morales and President Luis Arce – a former economy minister in Morales' government – are members of the same party, MAS (Movement of Socialism), but disputes between them have grown over the past year. Morales, who resigned as president in 2019 and fled the country, still enjoys strong support in the country. In 2020, he supported Luis Arce in the elections, but then returned to Bolivia and announced his intention to compete with him in the 2025 presidential elections.
Bolivia is also grappling with a deep economic crisis, which is putting additional pressure on the ruling party and causing intense political infighting.
Coup in Bolivia
On June 26, a failed coup took place in Bolivia. Army forces under the command of General Juan Jose Zuniga, backed by armored vehicles, occupied the central square of La Paz, and soldiers stormed the presidential palace next door.
As the media explained, this event may be remembered as the shortest attempted coup d'état in this country, as it lasted only three hours. By this time, President Luis Arce was able to call the Bolivians to “mobilize” to defend democracy and appointed new commanders who ordered the soldiers to retreat and they returned to their barracks.
Soon after, General Zuniga was arrested. Speaking to reporters the same day, he accused President Arcego of ordering him to stage a fake coup to shore up his faltering popularity. However, as commentators have noted, the military has not provided any evidence in this regard. However, the arrested commander's words provoked strong reactions both in the government and in the opposition.
Accusations of coup d'état were raised by the opposition and they demanded a parliamentary investigation against them. Among the group of politicians accusing Arcego were: Eva Morales. At the beginning, he called the action of the army a rebellion and demanded the punishment of the culprits, but then he accused the current president of the republic that he himself organized this action in order to gain the support of the voters.
Main photo credit: Jorge ABREGO/EPA/PAP
