Ousted Bolivian leader Morales arrives in Mexico
LA PAZ, Bolivia – Evo Morales, who sought to transform Bolivia as its first indigenous president, flew to exile in Mexico on Tuesday as thousands of his supporters clamored for his return in the streets of the Bolivian capital.
Military fighter jets flew repeatedly over La Paz in a show of force that infuriated Morales loyalists who were blocked by security forces from marching to the main square.
“We’re not afraid!” shouted demonstrators, who believe the ouster of Morales following sweeping protests was a coup d’etat as well as an act of discrimination against Bolivia’s indigenous communities.
“Evo was like a father to me. We had a voice, we had rights,” said Maria Apasa, 35. Like Morales, she is a member of the Aymara indigenous group.
Despite their anger, the demonstrators were peaceful. The march followed weeks of clashes and protests against Morales, who was accused by his many detractors of becoming increasingly authoritarian and rigging an election. His resignation Sunday led to a power vacuum in the Andean nation.
Morales was met at Mexico City’s airport by Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard after a flight from Bolivia on a Mexican government plane and repeated his allegations he had been forced to resign by a coup.
“The president of Mexico saved my life,” Morales said, thanking President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for granting him asylum. He vowed to “continue the struggle.”
Ebrard said Mexican diplomats had to scramble to arrange a flight path for the plane because some nations initially closed airspace to it.
Urged to resign by the military, Morales quit following widespread outrage fed by allegations of electoral fraud in the Oct. 20 presidential election that he claimed to have won. Resignations by all other constitutionally designated successors left unclear who would take his place and how.
The Senate’s second vice president, opposition politician Jeanine Añez, declared herself interim president, prompting clashes to break out in the streets. Añez had positioned herself to become interim president by taking temporary control of the Senate and moving into a spot to succeed to the presidency.
Morales’ resignation still needed to be approved by both houses of Congress. And lawmakers failed to get the quorum for an assembly session Tuesday. Añez also needed to be approved as president of the Senate, but she said that lawmakers loyal to Morales declined to be part of the session and that Bolivia could not be left in a power vacuum.
Morales’ departure was a dramatic fall for the one-time llama shepherd from the Bolivian highlands and former coca growers’ union leader who as president helped lift millions out poverty, increased social rights and presided over nearly 14 years of stability and high economic growth in South America’s poorest country.
His downfall was prompted by his insistence on holding on to power. He ran for a fourth term after refusing to accept the results of a referendum that upheld term limits for the president – restrictions thrown out by a top court that critics say was stacked in his favor.