Bolivia's Morales Warns Of Trouble If Blocked From Seeking Presidency

Cochabamba, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Jul, 2024) Former Bolivian president Evo Morales warned of potential violence if he is blocked from running for office for a fifth term in a 2025 presidential election, in an interview with AFP.

"I am not calling for anything, just in case, but it would be fatal, I feel, I know my people," the 64-year-old said.

Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president, was extremely popular until he tried to bypass the constitution and seek a fourth term in office in 2019.

The leftist won that vote but was forced to resign amid deadly protests over alleged election fraud, and fled the country.

He returned after his former ally Luis Arce won the presidency in October 2020, but since then a power struggle has grown between the two men and the ruling Movement Towards Socialism wants Morales as its candidate.

Morales has increasingly criticized the government and is trying to get back into power, despite being disqualified by the Constitutional Court.

He is currently pushing for the election of new judges who he hopes will reverse the decision blocking him from running again.

"Those who are trying to disqualify me are obeying the new plan of the United States," Morales said, without giving more details.

"So, I feel that there may be a reaction, obviously. But, in 2002, when they expelled me from the Chamber of Deputies, the people automatically mobilized, without a call (and now) I don't know how it will turn out."

The former leader, who has shed a few kilos, said he had undergone 12 operations in recent years, mentioning medical interventions to his nose, knee, collarbone, and gallbladder.

Bolivia is still reeling from a mysterious failed coup in June, in which soldiers and tanks briefly deployed in the heart of La Paz and tried to break through a door of the presidency, before retreating.

Morales has questioned the official version of events, suggesting it was set up by Arce to boost his popularity.

- 'Youthful spirit' -

He told AFP he was "disappointed" with Arce's presidency.

"There is a democratic crisis, there is an economic crisis, therefore, there is a political crisis. And second, I'm afraid that we're going to enter a food crisis. And that scares me."

The Andean nation is battling a severe economic crisis due to a shortage of US Dollars prompted by a dramatic drop in exports of natural gas -- once a mainstay of the economy.

The shortage of dollars in Bolivia has led to severe fuel shortages, which has increased the cost of living and led to mass protests.

Morales said that if elected in 2025, it would be his last term in office.

"Age is advancing. Although I have a youthful spirit."

The former coca grower and union leader also weighed in on elections this Sunday in Venezuela, where he said a plot was being hatched overseas to prevent his close ally Nicolas Maduro from being reelected.

"Maduro is fine, he is going to win the election. What they are preparing is an international action to say that there was fraud, that there was violence.

"They are going to mobilize... there could evidently be confrontation. There may be deaths, of course."