Sat 23 November 2019:
Bolivia’s caretaker government on Friday filed a complaint accusing Evo Morales of “sedition and terrorism” after the ex-president allegedly called on supporters to maintain blockades in the crisis-hit country.
Interior Minister Arturo Murillo referred the case to federal prosecutors in La Paz, which has been choked by road blocks for weeks, causing food and fuel shortages in the seat of government.
In a separate announcement late Friday, the interim government said it would hold talks with protest groups Saturday in the hope of striking an agreement “to pacify the country” and end its worst political crisis in 16 years.
“We are seeking the maximum penalty for sedition and terrorism,” Murillo told reporters after launching legal action against Morales.
Murillo also accused Morales’ former top minister Juan Ramon Quintana, whose whereabouts are unknown, of the same crimes.
If Morales — who fled to Mexico after resigning on November 10 — were charged and convicted, he would face a maximum penalty of 30 years in jail.
The legal action against Bolivia’s first indigenous president comes as Congress debates when to hold new elections seen as crucial to quelling weeks of unrest that erupted after the disputed October 20 ballot.
Morales, who had been seeking a fourth term, claimed he won the vote, but opposition groups said it was rigged.
A poll audit by the Washington-based Organization of American States found irregularities in the results.
At least 32 people have been killed since the election, including 17 in clashes with security forces as anti-government protesters block main roads.
– ‘Let us govern’ –
Morales has accused Bolivian security forces of engaging in “genocide” against his indigenous supporters, and called for action by the international community.
The legal action comes after Murillo played a telephone recording to journalists on Wednesday, allegedly of Morales issuing instructions to a leader of the opposition movement in Bolivia.
“Don’t let food into the cities, we’re going to block, really encircle (the cities),” says the voice Murillo attributed to Morales.
Morales’s order was a “crime against humanity,” Murillo told reporters Wednesday, accusing the ex-president of “terrorism.”
Bolivia has lodged a formal protest to Mexico over Morales’s remarks, saying they “contravened” his political asylum status, the foreign ministry said Thursday.
Morales, who claims to have been a victim of a coup after losing the support of the security forces, tweeted Friday — several hours before Murillo filed the complaint — that the investigation was based on “planted evidence and manipulated recordings.”
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
