Arce stressed that “any use of violent practices in politics” is condemnable.
Evo Morales himself said earlier that his car had been shot at and his driver wounded, blaming Arce, his opponent in Bolivia’s next presidential election in 2025.
“The vehicle I came in received 14 bullets. I was surprised. Fortunately, today, we are alive (…) Hooded men opened fire (…) It was pre-planned, it was done to kill Evo,” he said in an interview he gave to the Kawsachun Coca radio station, in Cochabamba, his stronghold.
According to Morales, the attack took place in this city in central Bolivia.
President Arce “destroyed Bolivia and now he wants to eliminate our movement and finish with Eva. We will see how we prepare (…) It is a state of siege,” he added.
A video released by the radio station shows three holes in the windshield of the vehicle, with Morales sitting in the passenger seat. The driver has blood on his head and a woman tells him to “hurry up”.
“We also have footage that, after what happened, a helicopter from Cimore airport is transporting six people (…) We don’t know if they were soldiers or police but the only thing they really want is to kill Evo Morales,” he said Anielo Cespedes, a member of parliament close to the former president. “Yesterday, the top leadership of the army changed and today they are trying to kill Evo Morales,” he noted, referring to the appointment of new leadership to the armed forces by President Arce.
Arce announced the appointments overnight and asked the new military leadership to “safeguard the interests of the country, such as the security of the state and the restoration of public order.”
Security Undersecretary Roberto Rios said authorities would investigate the report of an armed attack but were also looking into the possibility that it was a “self-attack”.
According to the statement of the Movement for Socialism (MAS), the party founded by Morales, the events unfolded at the entrance of a Cochabamba camp, where some gunmen dressed in black began shooting at the vehicles of Morales’ motorcade.
“Louis Arce, you crossed the red line. We call for mobilization. If possible, we will occupy airports,” Vicente Choque, the head of the CSUTCB union, which had led protests in January against the court ruling barring Morales from the 2025 presidential election, told a news conference.
However, Morales wants to run for office and is trying, with the support of a wing of his party, to bring the case before the courts. He is being investigated for “rape and human trafficking” because he had a relationship with a 15-year-old girl, with whom he had a daughter in 2016. His lawyers say the case was investigated and filed in 2020. Prosecutors said a few days ago weeks that an arrest warrant was going to be issued against him, but since then there has been no news.
Morales himself says he is the victim of a “judicial prosecution” orchestrated by Luis Arce, his former ally and current political rival. Supporters of Bolivia’s first indigenous president have blocked several main roads since October 14 and there have been several clashes with security forces, in which 14 police officers were injured and 44 civilians arrested. In total, more than 20 roadblocks have been recorded, most of them in the State of Cochabamba.
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