Bolivia Issues Arrest Warrant For Exiled President Morales On “Sedition & Terrorism”

Turmoil intensified inside Bolivia on Wednesday as the country’s top prosecutor issued an arrested warrant on “terrorism” charges for former President Evo Morales, also accusing the recently ousted leader of encouraging sedition from abroad.

First given political asylum in Mexico, but now in Argentina, Morales has claimed he was target of a military coup with the orchestration of Washington and regional enemies of Bolivia. 

Interior Minister Arturo Murillo first brought the charges following fierce clashes in the capital and other cities between police and his supporters. Ratcheting violence in the wake of his ouster early last month has left at least 35 dead, according to prosecutors. They blame the deaths and continuing violence on Morales’ continued “seditious” speeches and messages from abroad.

This also after interim president Áñez said he must “answer to justice” over alleged election fraud and government corruption, following the mayhem of his last reelection, where an independent body charged him and his administration with being behind mass irregularities. 

Morales is being blamed for stoking the mayhem, which allegedly involved him giving orders from exile to blockade cities to force to removal of interim President Jeanine Áñez. Evo supporters say she had illegally seized power in a unilateral power move to control the Senate and secure her leadership over the country. 

The former president has since been blocked from running for office again, though Áñez’s administration has voiced concern that he plans to use Buenos Aires as a political headquarters to eventually bring himself back into power. 

Sr. @evoespueblo para su conocimiento pic.twitter.com/1KrAFcevjQ

— Arturo Murillo (@ArturoMurilloS) December 18, 2019

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Interior Minister Arturo Murillo shared a photo of the arrest warrant on social media and has in prior statements personally vowed to put him behind bars “for the rest of his life”. He’s further called the former leader a “terrorist” for actions before and after leaving office. 

At the start of the counter-protests led by Evo backers the US embassy was forced to evacuate all non-essential personnel after the socialist demonstrators vowed to reject the “right-wing coup”. Washington immediately voiced support for Evo’s ouster, calling it a major advancement of Democracy in Latin America.

From Buenos Aires, the left-wing populist leader Morales who has been praised by Venezuela’s Maduro, vowed to “continue fighting for the poor” as leader of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party inside Bolivia.