New leader bars ousted president from vote
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales cannot run as a candidate in any new elections, but his political party can, the country’s interim leader said Thursday.
Jeanine Añez Chavez, a Senate deputy leader who claimed the interim presidency, also criticized Mexico’s government for allowing Morales to rally support from asylum in Mexico City.
“We have to let the Mexican government know that cannot be happening,” said Anez, who says she wants to restore stability in Bolivia but has been accused of a power grab by Morales supporters.
In a country gripped by turmoil, it was unclear whether election officials would have to formally bar Morales from running in a new election.
Bolivia’s first indigenous president resigned on Sunday at military prompting following massive nationwide protests over alleged fraud in an Oct. 20 election in which he claimed to have won a fourth term in office. An Organization of American States audit of the vote found widespread irregularities.
Much of the opposition to Morales sprang from his refusal to accept a referendum that would have forbidden him from running for a new term.
The proMorales Movement Toward Socialism party “has all the right to participate in elections, they can look for candidates,” Añez said.
But she said Morales and Alvaro Garcia Linera, the former vice president who also resigned, cannot participate, she said.
Bolivia’s new interim government has begun winning some international recognition but faced challenges to its legitimacy at home.
Mexico welcomed Morales this week after he resigned. Mexico’s government referred to the ouster as a coup d’etat, as have other leftleaning administrations in Latin America. But Añez has gained recognition from other regional governments, including Brazil, Guatemala and Colombia, as well as the United States and United Kingdom.
Añez also announced she would recognize Venezuela’s U.S.backed opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as that country’s legitimate leader, joining the U.S. and 50 other countries in repudiating socialist President Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Morales.
But members of the new Bolivian leadership were focused on challenges continuing at home.
Members of the Movement Toward Socialism party, who dominate both houses of Congress, began holding legislative sessions Wednesday aimed at questioning the legitimacy of Añez, who had been no higher than fifth in the line of succession before Morales resigned. She won recognition because those above her, all Morales backers, also announced their resignations — though some later tried to recant their resignations.
Violent clashes erupted between Morales loyalists and police in Bolivia’s capital on Wednesday. His supporters also flooded into the streets of La Paz’s sister city of El Alto, a Morales stronghold, waving the multicolored indigenous flag and chanting, “Now, civil war!”
Barricades blocked some streets into El Alto on Thursday and some gas stations ran out of fuel.
In addition to accusing Morales of inciting violent dissent, the new government also took aim at some of his allies at home.
U.N. SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres is sending a personal envoy to Bolivia to support efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.
The new envoy, Jean Arnault, was traveling to Bolivia on Thursday, according to U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric.