Bolivian Senate head assumes interim presidency; loyalists object
LA PAZ/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The head of Bolivia’s Senate, Jeanine Anez, took office as interim president on Tuesday as former leader Evo Morales pledged to keep up his political fight from exile in Mexico after resigning in what he has alleged was a coup.
Anez, 52, assumed leadership before other lawmakers in Congress, invoking a constitutional clause that dictates that she would be next in line to rule after Morales and his vice president, Alvaro Garcia, resigned on Sunday.
A parliamentary session scheduled to formally appoint her was boycotted by lawmakers from Morales’ leftist Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) Party, who said it would be illegitimate.
“Before the definitive absence of the president and vice president... as the president of the Chamber of Senators, I immediately assume the presidency as foreseen in the constitutional order,” Anez, a right-wing opponent of Morales, said to applause from opposition lawmakers.
It was unclear if the move would quell unrest in the highland capital, La Paz and other cities, unleashed by Morales’ disputed bid for a fourth term. Video footage on Tuesday showed police battling supporters of Morales in the city of Cochabamba and masked protesters calling for civil war.
A senator with Morales’ party called for protests starting on Tuesday until he returns to finish his mandate in January.
In Washington, a senior Trump administration official said: “Morales’ departure is indeed a positive step to begin calming the situation on the ground in Bolivia.”
The US ordered family members of US government employees on Tuesday to leave Bolivia – due to the unrest – and warned American citizens against traveling there, the US
State Department said.
Morales’ resignation came after the Organization of American States (OAS) declared there were serious irregularities during the Oct. 20 election, prompting political allies to quit and the army to urge him to step down.
Morales, the longest-serving leader among a wave of Latin American leftists who dominated the region in the early years of the century, resigned after weeks of protests over the disputed election and pressure from security forces on Sunday.
Morales called Anez’s move to replace him part of “the most cunning and disastrous coup in history.” Earlier on Tuesday, he thanked Mexico for saving his life as he arrived to take up asylum, repeating his accusation that his rivals had ousted him in a coup.
“As long as I am alive, we will remain in politics. As long as I am alive, the fight continues,” Morales told reporters after disembarking from the plane in Mexico City, dressed in a blue shortsleeved shirt. He was met by Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard.
The former president was then whisked away in a military helicopter, television footage showed. Mexican officials have not said where he will stay, citing security concerns.
Morales arrived in Mexico after taking off from the central Bolivian town of Chimore, a stronghold of his supporters to where the country’s first indigenous president retreated as his 14-year rule imploded.
The journey was far from simple. Takeoff was delayed, with supporters surrounding the airport. Then the plane was denied permission to fuel in Peru, Ebrard said, so it diverted to Paraguay, a stop he said Argentine President-elect Alberto Fernandez helped arrange.
Ebrard had earlier tweeted a photo of Morales alone in the jet with a downcast expression, displaying Mexico’s red, white and green flag across his lap.
At the Organization of American States in Washington on Tuesday, a group of 15 countries including Brazil, the United States and Canada, called for new elections and an end to violence.
“Yes, there was a coup d’etat in Bolivia: It occurred on Oct. 20, when electoral fraud was committed that resulted in the victory of the ex-President Evo Morales in the first round,” said Luis Almagro, the OAS secretary general.
Morales was a charismatic 60-yearold former coca leaf farmer – beloved by the poor – when he won power in 2006. He achieved steady economic growth in one of the region’s poorest nations and was hugely popular for many years.
But he angered many Bolivians by insisting on seeking a fourth term. He defied term limits and aroused accusations of autocracy when he won a legal challenge to a 2016 referendum in which Bolivians voted against allowing him to run again.