Bolivian president denounces that “armed groups” linked to Evo Morales attacked three military barracks

The President of Bolivia, Luis Arce, reported this Friday that “armed groups” linked to former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) they took three military barracks inside Tropic of Cochabamba, the union and political stronghold of the also official leader of the center of the country, and described this act as “betrayal of the country”.

“We denounce before the Bolivian people and the international community that armed groups linked to Evo Morales have stormed three military units in the tropics of Cochabamba, hold soldiers and their families hostage and threaten their lives“, wrote Arce on the social network

The president argued that the takeover of a military installation “by irregular groups anywhere in the world is a crime of treason against the Fatherland” and an “affront” to the Constitution, the armed forces and “the Bolivian people themselves”which firmly rejects the criminal blockades of Evo Morales, as well as these criminal actions.”

Maple He deplored the retention of soldiers in these regiments, because they do not intervene “in any operation” and are content to protect their units. “They are of popular origin, and many also have original indigenous roots, like the police officers at whom these irregular groups shoot with deadly weapons and throw dynamites,” he explained.

That day, a military and police operation was carried out in the central region of Cochabamba to remove roadblocks that the followers of Evo Morales have been accomplishing for 19 days.

The sectors linked to Evo Morales carry out this measure of pressure so that the legal proceedings against him are withdrawn for trafficking and rape, to demand a solution to the economic situation in the country and to defend the presidential candidacy of the official leader in the 2025 elections.

Arce also denounced that the occupation of military units includes the taking of the spaces “where the military weapons are located in these units, which constitutes an absolutely reprehensible criminal act and far from any legitimate social demands of the original indigenous peasant movement.” “.

“These actions economically suffocate the Bolivian people (…) seeking to disrupt the legally constituted public order and our democracy, with the sole objective of shortening our mandate, imposing an unconstitutional candidacy and obtaining impunity in the legal processes,” he said.

He added that “as a democratically elected government”, will continue to act to “restore public order” protect the lives of Bolivians, social peace, as well as the people’s right to free movement, work, access to fuel, food and medicine.

Hours earlier, Morales told Arce in an open letter that “no one imagined that the final months of his administration would be so dark and regrettable.” He compared him to former interim president Jeanine Áñez for the use of violence against him, and whom he accuses of having carried out a “coup d’état” in 2019. And he warned Arce that if they unblocked the roads, he would be “responsible for injuring and divide Bolivia.

Arce and Morales have been separated since 2021 due to differences in the state administration that deepened due to the need to renew the government’s national directive Movement towards Socialism (MAS) and elect the official candidate for the 2025 elections.