Bolivia\u2019s former president Evo Morales said his car was fired on in what he claimed was an \u201cassassination attempt\u201d amid simmering political tensions in the South American country. <\/p>\n
Morales, who was not injured, blamed the government for the attack, which he called a \u201cfailure\u201d that adds to the \u201cpolitical defeat of a government that has lost legitimacy in the eyes of the Bolivian people.\u201d The government denied any involvement and said that an investigation had been opened. <\/p>\n
Morales said he was heading to the radio station in the central Bolivian department <\/strong>of Cochabamba, where he hosts a weekend program, when two vehicles intercepted his car and \u201cfour hooded officers dressed in black with weapons in their hands, got out and began to shoot.\u201d <\/p>\n Fourteen bullets hit the car, injuring his driver in the head and arm, Morales said during his radio show. <\/p>\n Morales posted a cell-phone video on Facebook which he claimed shows the alleged attack. It shows the driver\u2019s bloodied head and several bullet holes in the car\u2019s windshield. Morales is seen in the passenger seat as they frantically drive away. <\/p>\n Morales posted to his Instagram profile a statement from his party, Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), blaming the attack on current Bolivian President Luis Arce and two of his government ministers. The statement did not provide evidence supporting this claim. <\/p>\n Bolivia\u2019s Deputy Security Minister Roberto Rios\u00a0said\u00a0that there had not been a police operation against Morales and that his department would investigate the claims, including the possibility of a \u201cself-attack\u201d staged by Morales, state-run news agency Agencia Boliviana de Informaci\u00f3n (ABI) reported. <\/p>\n Morales, Bolivia\u2019s first indigenous president, led the country for more than a decade before he\u00a0resigned\u00a0from his office in November 2019 due to mounting accusations of electoral fraud, which he has denied. Ultimately, the leader claimed he was forced out in a coup and fled to Mexico, where he was granted political asylum. His resignation was followed by\u00a0deadly clashes\u00a0between Bolivian security forces and Morales supporters. <\/p>\n After a year of exile in Argentina, Morales\u00a0returned\u00a0to his home region of Chapare in central Bolivia in 2020, while stating his intention to remain involved in politics. <\/p>\n Throughout the past year, Morales has clashed with sitting president Arce \u2013 his fellow MAS party member and former ally \u2013 as both politicians battle for reelection in 2025. <\/p>\n The power struggle has unfolded during a period of acute economic strife in Bolivia. In recent weeks,\u00a0blockades\u00a0set up by Morales\u2019 supporters on major highways have led to food and fuel shortages in some cities. <\/p>\n The blockades were established after the government announced a judicial\u00a0investigation\u00a0into the former president over an alleged case of human trafficking. Morales denies having committed any crime and attributed the investigation to political persecution by Arce. <\/p>\n The Bolivian police have said the blockades involve \u201cviolent armed groups.\u201d In a statement, Bolivia\u2019s foreign ministry denounced the \u201cdestabilizing actions\u201d from Morales, who they said encouraged the blockades in an attempt to \u201cdisrupt the democratic order.\u201d <\/p>\n The political turmoil in Bolivia reached a flashpoint in June with the\u00a0arrest\u00a0of a general\u00a0accused of orchestrating a coup against the government. Armed soldiers and armored vehicles led by Gen. Juan Jose Z\u00fa\u00f1iga attempted to occupy government offices and break into the government palace to oust Arce. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Bolivia\u2019s former president Evo Morales said his car was fired on in what he claimed was an \u201cassassination attempt\u201d amid simmering political tensions in the South American country. Morales, who was not injured, blamed the government for the attack, which he called a \u201cfailure\u201d that adds to the \u201cpolitical defeat of a government that has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Power struggle<\/h2>\n