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04-11-2024
LA PAZ: At least 200 soldiers are being held hostage by armed supporters of Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales, the foreign ministry has said.
Bolivia’s military reported that the armed group had taken control of a military facility near the Bolivian city of Cochabamba.
In an update Bolivia’s foreign ministry said the group had “seized weapons and ammunition”, adding that three military units were “assaulted by irregular groups”.
Images of a row of soldiers with their hands behind their backs, surrounded by members of the armed group, were shown on local television.
Cochabamba is in central Bolivia and is home to many supporters of the former president.
Shortly after the facility was taken over by the group, the military announced the evacuation of personnel and their families, local media reported.
One of the soldiers being held in the facility said, in a message to his command centre, that the group were demanding that authorities stop interfering with blockades, Bolivian news agency ANF said.
Morales’ supporters have created blockades around the country for 19 days, demanding an end to an investigation into the former president for alleged statutory rape and human trafficking, which he denies.
On Sunday, Morales shared a video of his car being shot at, in what he called an “assassination attempt” against him.
The Bolivian government rejected Morales’ claims that it ordered a targeted attack on him.
His supporters had clashed with followers of his rival, current President Luis Arce, on several occasions earlier this year. Both men intend to run as candidate for the ruling Mas party in the country’s 2025 presidential elections.
Morales, who was president from 2006 to 2019, was declared the winner of the 2019 election but resigned weeks later after nationwide protests triggered by claims of election fraud.
Last week, Bolivia’s government has rejected claims by the former president, Evo Morales, that it ordered a targeted attack on him.
Morales says his car came under sustained gunfire on Sunday night in the Cochabamba region, in what he condemned as an attempt on his life but Bolivia’s Interior Minister, Eduardo del Castillo, said the former president’s convoy had fled an anti-drugs patrol, during which his security team fired at police and ran over an officer. Evo Morales is involved in a power struggle with President Luis Arce over who should be the Movement for Socialism (Mas) party’s candidate in next year’s election.
On Sunday, Morales posted a video to social media which appeared to show at least two bullet holes in the windscreen of a car in the front seat of which he was sitting.
In a statement, a pro-Morales faction of the Mas party said men in black had fired on the vehicle when it passed by a military barracks. The faction said it held President Arce’s government responsible but on Monday, del Castillo told a news conference an anti-drug trafficking unit was on a standard highway patrol when Morales’ convoy shot at police and ran over an officer.
“Morales, nobody believes the theatre you have staged,” he added.
Morales has disputed this account, saying in a post on X that he had been shot at “more than 18 times”. He had shot back after the police opened fire, he said.
Morales, who was president from 2006 to 2019, is facing legal issues including investigations for alleged statutory rape and human trafficking, which he denies. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
