October 31, 2024

On the morning of Sunday, October 27, former Bolivian president Evo Morales was targeted in an assassination attempt while driving between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. A group of men without uniforms opened fire at two cars, injured one of the drivers, and nearly hit the former president.

The incident was met with international outcry, with political leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean condemning the violent act against the former president. Honduran President Xiomara Castro, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, expressed their solidarity with Morales and condemned the act of violence that he suffered on Sunday. Former heads of state Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, who suffered an assassination attempt in 2022, and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, also condemned the violence faced by the Bolivian leader. Trade union leaders and social leaders from across the region also voiced their support to Morales, who himself came out of the trade union movement.

The sequence of events in the assassination attempt remains contested, with different and sometimes contradictory versions of events emerging. Notably, the violent act takes place in a context of high political tension in the country and within the left in Bolivia which has seen deep divisions form amid the internal struggle between political sectors represented by Morales and current President Luis Arce.

According to a statement released by the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS-IPSP), when Evo Morales was traveling to Lauca Ñ at around 6:30 am on Sunday to record his radio program, the cars he was traveling with were ambushed by two vehicles with heavily armed men. “The incident took place at the entrance of the military barracks of the Ninth Division of the Armed Forces. The armed men were armed with long weapons, dressed completely in black and shot at the vehicles in which Evo Morales was traveling,” MAS-IPSP declared in the statement.

They added, “According to witnesses of the events, the cars that transported the troops who perpetrated the attack against Evo Morales, subsequently entered the military barracks and then a helicopter that was waiting for them at the airstrip. We hold Luis Arce Catacora, Eduardo del Castillo, Minister of Government, and Edmundo Novillo, Minister of Defense, directly responsible for this attempt on the life of Evo Morales and the comrades who were with him.”

On Sunday, in the wake of the assassination attempt, Bolivian President Luis Arce stated: “The exercise of any violent practice in politics must be condemned and clarified. It is not with the search for dead people that problems are solved, nor with tendentious speculations. For this reason, in view of the denunciation by former President Evo Morales of an alleged attempt on his life, I have ordered an immediate and thorough investigation to clarify this fact.”

Morales has called on ALBA-TCP or CELAC to carry out an independent investigation.

Meanwhile the Minister of Government, Eduardo del Castillo, has attempted to present a different version of the events. According to statements made by del Castillo in a press conference, it was not an assassination attempt but the response of police to Evo’s vehicles not stopping at a police checkpoint. Further, del Castillo accused Morales and his team of firing on the troops and officers at the checkpoint and not stopping when told to. This version of the events has been met with a certain degree of skepticism.

While much uncertainty hangs over the situation, what is clear is that the incident has brought tensions in the country to an all-time high and the series of strikes and road blockades organized by parts of the peasant movement against the government have intensified. The high level of conflict between the two sectors which had initially been united to defeat the right in the 2020 elections which brought an end to the coup regime, has sparked deep concern amongst progressives in Bolivia and across the region. With elections approaching in August 2025, many hope that the divisions between these sectors can be overcome in order to achieve the unity necessary to defeat the right once again.

Source: Peoples Dispatch