The shooting of Sunday, October 27 to the car in which Evo Morales was traveling has risen one more step the fight that the former president of Bolivia wages against his political dolphin, Luis Arcetoday president. Although there is no official explanation for what happened and Arce has promised a “thorough investigation,” the hypothesis that contains most of the evidence is the one proposed by Bolivian journalist John Arandia, based on police sources: a failed arrest operation that ended in an armed attack. Morales is wanted by the prosecutor’s office in an investigation for “statutory aggravation with human trafficking,” because he allegedly He had a daughter with a minor in 2016, something that, according to the accusation, he “paid for” and hid through positions and political favors for the mother and other relatives of the teenager. Morales denies it.
The former president was traveling at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday between two nearby cities within Chapare, the coca growing area of Cochabambain the center of Bolivian territory, when he was intercepted by two trucks that, as they could not block his path, shot at his vehicle. Then, according to the former president, a chase ensued in which there were more shots. He was unharmed, but “a bullet passed inches from my head,” he recalled in a later interview. His driver suffered a superficial wound to the back of the head.
The attack occurred near the headquarters of the Ninth Army Division, stationed in Chapare. According to photographs shown by journalist Arandia, a Police helicopter had landed there with a group of officers equipped with long weapons.
After Morales’ complaint, dozens of coca growers surrounded this barracks to demand explanations, since there were witnesses that the trucks with which the operation had supposedly been carried out had entered it. A soldier was recorded while acknowledging to the protesters that the owners of the vehicles “were pacos” (police officers) and had already escaped in their helicopter. In the end, the military handed over the suspicious trucks to the people who demanded it. They were burned. Thus a worse conflict was avoided.
“If Luis Arce did not give the order for this assassination attempt, he must immediately dismiss and prosecute Eduardo del Castillo and Edmundo Novillo, ministers of Government (Security) and Defense, along with all the police officers who participated,” Morales posted in X. The indigenous leader also directly accused the military and police of trying to eliminate him.
The Armed Forces responded with a statement in which they “strongly deny the false accusations related to the alleged attack on former President Evo Morales” and urged the population of Chapare to stay away from the barracks to “avoid painful situations.” They recommend that “these facts must be clarified within the framework of a rigorous and exhaustive investigation carried out by the competent bodies.” The Police have not commented so far.
The organized lies of the government and its paid media still strive to divert the truth about the criminal attack that we suffered this Sunday in the Tropics from which, thanks to God, my parents RIP and our Pachamama we managed to save our lives. Now…
— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) October 28, 2024
The peasants who live in the political bastion of “evismo” took over the local airport, in Chimoré, to avoid air operations that could lead to more attempts to arrest their leader. And they massed the roadblocks that have been carried out for the same purpose for 15 days and that have generated great rejection from the population of several cities that suffer from food and fuel shortages in the midst of the country’s economic crisis.
Evo Morales is the most popular Bolivian politician and at the same time the most unpopular, depending on which social sectors are consulted. After the dissemination, a few minutes after the shooting, of the videos in which he is seen in the passenger seat while the driver drives next to him at high speed, with the windows of the truck riddled and his assistants in the back of the vehicle yelling at him to get down, a part of the population began to doubt and criticize him. Social networks were filled with memes lamenting that the alleged attack had not been successful. But the most common disqualification was that of the “self-attack”, further encouraged by pro-government spokespersons and “anti-evista” media.
On the networks, the face of the former president was superimposed on the photo of an actor with an Oscar statuette and other similar allusions to his “great performance.” Some media associated what happened in Chapare with the publication of an article about cases of relationships with minors in which the former president has been involved, suggesting that the shooting was a smokescreen to divert attention.
The response of “evismo” has been to ask the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for a “precautionary measure” to protect the life of the former Bolivian president and for an international group of independent experts to investigate what is happening in Bolivia. He has also requested that the European Union and the United Nations get involved. The Organization of American States called for an investigation and rejected all forms of violence in Bolivian politics.
The presidents of Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba and Honduras, in addition to former Argentine president Cristina Kirchner and other leftist personalities have rejected the “attempted assassination,” which is how Morales’ communication presents the event. So far there have been no public messages from the leaders of Brazil, Mexico or Chile, which are also part of the continental left.
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