Peru Bars Bolivia's Ex-leader Morales

Lima, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jan, 2023 ) :Peru said on Monday it had barred entry to Bolivian ex-leader Evo Morales, who stands accused of seeking to "interfere" in its affairs amid ongoing protests following the ousting of former president Pedro Castillo.

Nine Bolivians, including Morales, were barred until further notice from entering "through all immigration checkpoints," the interior ministry said in a statement.

"In recent months, foreign nationals of Bolivian nationality were identified as having entered the country for political activities," it added, citing a threat to "national security and the internal order of Peru." Morales, who was his country's first indigenous president, expressed his support for the protests against President Dina Boluarte, especially in the ethnic Aymara Puno region which borders Bolivia and is the epicenter of the demonstrations.

"While right-wing oligarchic groups in Peru try to intimidate us with lies and unsustainable denunciations, the brutal repression of indigenous brothers demanding justice, democracy and recovery of their natural resources continues," Morales said on Twitter over the weekend.

"Peru has awakened," said the former president, who was last in Peru in November.

Boluarte was Castillo's deputy and took over his duties after his impeachment and arrest on December 7.

Last week, she urged Morales to stop seeking to "interfere" in Peruvian affairs.

Castillo was arrested after a failed bid to dissolve Congress to rule by decree. His ouster sparked nationwide protests that claimed 22 lives in clashes and injured more than 600.

After a two-week break over the holiday period, the protests resumed last week, with hundreds demonstrating in six of the South American nation's 25 regions.

Puno is in the grips of a general strike, and a march is being planned from there to the capital, Lima.

Bolivia is South America's only indigenous majority country, with about 60 percent of its people in its largest groups, the Aymara and Quechua peoples.

Peru, which has Aymara, Quechua and smaller lowland groups, is about 25 percent indigenous.