The rise and fall of Evo Morales: Bolivia's first indigenous president flees his crisis-torn country to Mexico after deadly clashes over allegations of electoral fraud, ending nearly 14 years in power. Morales has called it a coup by the opposition.
This photo released by by Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard shows Bolivia's former President Evo Morales holding a Mexican flag aboard a Mexican Air Force aircraft, Monday, Nov. 11, 2019. Morales has been granted asylum in Mexico after he resigned to the presidency on Nov. 10, under mounting pressure from the military and the public after a disputed re-election victory that triggered weeks of fraud allegations and deadly protests.
His flight from the country was a dramatic fall for the llama shepherd from the Bolivian highlands and former coca growers’ union leader who as president helped lift millions out poverty, increased social rights and presided over nearly 14 years of stability and high economic growth in South America’s poorest country. In the end, though, his downfall was marked by his insistence on holding onto power.
Angry supporters of the socialist leader set barricades ablaze to close some roads leading to the country’s main airport Monday, while his foes blocked most of the streets leading to the capital’s main square in front of Congress and the presidential palace. Police urged residents of La Paz to stay in their homes and authorities said the army would join in policing efforts to avoid an escalation of violence.
As tensions grew, local media reported that Morales supporters were marching on La Paz from the nearby city of El Alto, a Morales stronghold, to try to break the street blockades thrown up by his opponents and reach the capital’s main square. Morales stepped aside only after the military chief called on him to quit, saying that was needed to restore peace and stability. His vice president also resigned as did the Senate president. The only other official listed by the constitution as a presidential successor, the head of the lower house, had resigned earlier.
“There’s nothing here that remotely mirrors a traditional military coup,” Gamarra added. “Perhaps this is a time that the military is playing a role that it should play. It’s not intervening in what are essentially civilian affairs.”
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