Bolivia’s government on Monday accused former president Evo Morales of falsely claiming he was the victim of a state-backed assassination attempt, saying police fired on his vehicle after he ran a highway checkpoint.
Morales, who is engaged in a tense standoff with his former ally-turned-rival President Luis Arce, said his car was riddled with bullets Sunday by assailants with their faces covered while he was traveling to an interview in the city of Cochabamba.
He said his driver was wounded but he was unharmed and that the car had 14 bullet holes.
The incident marked a dramatic escalation in the weeks-long standoff between Morales and Arce, whose government has accused Morales of raping a teen member of his political youth guard while he was president.
A video shared by Morales on social media taken from inside the vehicle showed three bullet holes in the windshield, more in the shattered rear window, and the driver with blood on his head.
A woman in the back seat can be heard screaming to Morales in the front passenger seat to “duck, president, duck” and urging the driver to accelerate.
– ‘Theater’ –
On Monday Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo dismissed Morales’ claim to have been the target of an assassination attempt.
Del Castillo said the car in which Morales was traveling failed to stop at a checkpoint set up by police to combat drug trafficking in central Chapare province, one of Bolivia’s biggest producers of coca, the raw material for cocaine.
Del Castillo said police motioned for the approaching vehicle to slow down but the driver ignored the order.
“Rather than slow down, they speed up, take out guns” and “shoot from inside a car” at police, the minister said.
Del Castillo said an officer was run over but survived, before a police patrol gave chase to Morales’s car and fired on it.
Labelling Morales’ account of events as “theatre” he said the 65-year-old Indigenous ex-president would “have to answer… for the crime of attempted murder” of a police officer.
– ‘This was planned’ –
The incident was expected to add to tensions in the Cochabamba region, where supporters of Morales have been blocking roads for two weeks to try prevent Morales’ possible arrest.
“This was planned. The idea was to kill Evo,” Morales said Sunday.
“Lucho has destroyed Bolivia and now he wants to eliminate our process by killing Evo,” Morales, using the president’s nickname, said of his own attempt to regain the presidency.
The attack happened outside a military barracks in Cochabamba and that men dressed in black opened fire with rifles at his truck, his MAS party said in a statement.
Bolivia’s army denied any involvement and called on Morales’ supporters to remain calm after they threatened to take over the barracks.
Arce, writing on X, said that he had ordered “an immediate and thorough investigation to clarify the facts” surrounding what he called “the alleged attack” on Morales.
“Any violent practice in politics must be condemned and clarified,” Arce added.
Morales has filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, based in Costa Rica, formally accusing “government agents” of trying to assassinate him.
– Former coca grower –
Morales, a former coca grower who was Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, was highly popular in the Andean country until he tried to bypass the constitution to seek a fourth term.
He was forced to resign after losing the support of the military following an election marked by allegations of fraud, and fled to Mexico.
He returned to Bolivia in 2020 seeking political resurrection.
He and Arce are both vying for the nomination of the ruling MAS party in August 2025 presidential elections, although Morales is legally barred from running again.
He is being investigated for rape, human trafficking and human smuggling over his alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old supporter in 2015.
The girl had a child in 2016, whom prosecutors say Morales fathered. He has called the claims “a lie”.
Arce on Saturday overhauled the military leadership as part of what he called a drive to restore order.
jac/vel/cb/dw
