Former Bolivian President Evo Morales announced on Sunday that he would go on a hunger strike until the government agreed to engage in dialogue with him.
Morales has now completed the third day of his hunger strike, demanding that “international organizations or friendly governments” facilitate talks with President Luis Arce. Arce, a political rival and member of Morales’s own party, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), has yet to respond to these demands.
Morales was removed from office five years ago, and tensions have recently resurfaced, with his supporters blocking highways to protest the government’s attempt to reopen a 2016 rape case against him.
Case against Morales
Morales is under investigation for alleged sexual relations with a minor, human trafficking, and trafficking in persons related to an alleged relationship with a 15-year-old girl in 2015.
Morales, 65, denies all wrongdoing, asserting that the charges are politically motivated to prevent his return in the upcoming elections. He also claims that he is being targeted due to his Aymara indigenous background.
The former president, Bolivia’s first indigenous leader, served from 2006 until 2019, when he resigned under military pressure amid election fraud allegations.
Protests against the government
Morales accuses the Bolivian government of ignoring calls for dialogue in light of the protests related to these charges. His supporters have been blocking roads since last month, with the government accusing them of detaining soldiers as hostages on Friday.
Morales currently resides in the Chapare region, a rural coca-growing area considered his political stronghold.
“I called for urgent dialogue… and the government’s response was to arrest our comrades and take them to La Paz,” Morales told AFP. He later posted on X (formerly Twitter) that President Arce’s response was “repression, an attack on our lives, judicial persecution, and the detention of dozens of our comrades taken hostage to La Paz.”
In La Paz, some 3,000 security forces reportedly used tear gas to disperse protesters. Morales has demanded the release of 66 people detained during the demonstrations.
Vice President says he ‘accepts dialogue’
Morales clarified, “It’s not that I, Evo, want to be president. The people asked me to come back. Under my government, there was stability. Where there is economic and political stability, there is happiness.”
He also claims to have survived an assassination attempt last month, alleging that the Arce administration was responsible.
Vice President Maria Nela Prada has stated that the government is open to dialogue but limited to issues within the executive branch’s purview, excluding matters involving other branches of government.
Morales, who resigned in 2019 after election fraud allegations, is barred from running again but has announced his intention to challenge his former ally Arce in the 2025 elections.
