Bolivia enmeshed in chaos as Morales heads to Mexico

Chaos has struck Bolivia following the resignation and departure of President Evo Morales for Mexico under pressure from the military and political opponents.

According to Press TV, Morales announced in a tweet on Monday that he had boarded a plane to Mexico, where he had been granted asylum after his resignation.

The announcement came after the Organization of American States (OAS) delivered a report alleging irregularities during the October presidential election in Bolivia, which Morales had won.

That prompted some of Morales’ ruling party allies to relinquish power and the army to urge the leftist leader to resign, which he agreed to do even as he stressed that his electoral victory had been valid.

Morales secured an outright win in the presidential election on October 20, while his rival and the head of the Civic Community opposition party, Carlos Mesa, refused to recognize the results of the vote.

Mesa’s refusal to concede defeat initiated weeks of violent protests in the administrative capital La Paz, El Alto and other Bolivian cities.

Still, and after Morales’ departure, Bolivia’s military and security forces were deployed in major cities on Monday night following a day of violence and looting, with scuffles reported on the streets.

Clashes between police and Morales’ supporters reportedly left some 20 people injured.

The 60-year-old president earlier urged his supporters to resist the “dark powers” that had forced him to step down.

Aymara, a group from the indigenous community of Red Ponchos, said they were marching to La Paz to express their support for Morales, the country’s first indigenous president.

Morales’ opponents, however, celebrated across Bolivia, setting off fireworks and waving national flags, according to local media reports.

The commander of Bolivia’s armed forces ordered troops to conduct joint operations with police to prevent violent clashes.

Meanwhile, people took to the streets of the Argentinean capital, Buenos Aires, on Monday to protest against Morales’ forced resignation.

Nicaragua and Venezuela also expressed solidarity with the leftist leader.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said a “wave of violence unleashed by the opposition” had prevented the “presidential mandate of Evo Morales” from being completed.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel said in a tweet that what happened in Bolivia had been “a violent and cowardly coup d’etat against democracy.”

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the United States of financing a “coup” against the former Bolivian leader, saying, “We denounce the coup against Evo Morales in Bolivia, financed and directed from the White House, just like all the coups in Latin America and the Caribbean in the last 100 years and more.”

Maduro’s supporters also took to the streets in the capital, Caracas, in support of Morales and chanted, “Evo. People. Friend. We are with you.”

ME