Madrid Decries Bolivian Military For Meddling In Political Crisis, Urging Morales To Quit

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published November 11, 2019 | 10:13 PM

Madrid denounces the actions of the Bolivian armed forces who pressed then-President Evo Morales into stepping down despite the fact that he had called new elections, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said on Monday, qualifying the military's move as interference in the political process

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th November, 2019) Madrid denounces the actions of the Bolivian armed forces who pressed then-President Evo Morales into stepping down despite the fact that he had called new elections, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said on Monday, qualifying the military's move as interference in the political process.

On Sunday, Morales stepped down after the national armed forces had urged them to do so amid the ongoing unrest against his October re-election win, which opposition contested. The army de-facto sided with protesters even though Morales pledged earlier that same day to call new elections and reshuffle the electoral board after the preliminary report of the Organization of American States (OAS) found "grave" irregularities in the vote. His decision was not supported by the opposition, which demanded he abandon post.

"Spain condemns that the process launched yesterday to hold new elections was disrupted by the interference of the armed forces and police, who demanded that President Evo Morales resign, which he did later," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It also urged all parties to the conflict to refrain from violence and "overcome the current institutional vacuum" as soon as possible, in accordance with the procedures outlined in constitution.

After the resignation of Morales and other top officials, the power was assumed by the opposition vice speaker of the senate. Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico and Nicaragua have described the events in Bolivia accompanied by violent rallies, attacks on officials, arson incidents and occupation of buildings as a coup. Russia has similarly said that the opposition's steps resembled an "orchestrated coup."