Blocked from Bolivia's election, ex-leader Morales not sure how to respond to threats of arrest
Bolivia's charismatic, long-serving ex-President Evo Morales told The Associated Press on Saturday that he didn't know what to do about threats by the right-wing presidential candidates to arrest him if they came to power.
From his stronghold in Bolivia's tropics of Chapare, where he has been holed up for months under the protection of die-hard supporters, he repeated his call for voters to deface their ballots in Sunday's high-stakes elections in defiance of the race from which he is barred due to a contentious constitutional court ruling.
'What are we going to do? Not even I know,' he said in response to questions about how he would respond if either of the right-wing front-runners, multimillionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina and former president Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, wins the presidential election and fulfills their threats to arrest him. 'I am in the crosshairs of of the right-wing empire.'
Morales, 65, was charged last year with human trafficking and accused of impregnating a 15-year-old girl when he was president.
While he has not outright denied having sexual relations with the underage girl, he has described the charges as politically motivated. A judge issued the arrest order as he and his former finance minister, President Luis Arce, bickered over the control of their long-dominant Movement Toward Socialism Party.
As a result of their bitter power struggle, the party splintered. With the Bolivian economy undergoing its worst crisis in around four decades, the implosion of the MAS party has given the right-wing opposition its best shot at winning at the ballot box since Morales first came to power in 2006.
'Look, it's an election without legality, without legitimacy …. without the Indigenous movement, without the popular movement,' Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president, contended in his interview with the AP at his political organization's headquarters, where he broadcasts a weekly radio show.
The null-and-void vote, he said, 'isn't just a vote for our political movement.'
'It's a protest vote, a vote of anger.'
He insulted Doria Medina and Quiroga, who have both run for president three times before, losing at least twice to Morales, as 'eternal losers.'
Citing widespread voter disillusionment with the options, he expressed confidence that the election outcome would reveal an unusually high proportion of invalid votes.
'No one is going to win. It will be the spoiled vote, which is Evo's vote,' he said, speaking in third person.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Egypt Independent
a day ago
- Egypt Independent
Serbia's populist leader vows tough response to protesters following riots
Belgrade, Serbia AP — Serbia's Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic on Sunday announced tough measures against anti-government protesters following days of riots in the streets throughout Serbia that have challenged his increasingly autocratic rule in the Balkan country. Thousands of people defied Vucic's threat of a crackdown and protested later on Sunday in various Serbian towns, including the capital Belgrade. Shouting 'Arrest Vucic,' the protesters demanded that all those detained in the past days be released. No incidents were reported. In one of his frequent TV addresses to the public, Vucic accused the anti-government demonstrators of 'pure terrorism' and reiterated his claims that months of persistent protests against his rule have been orchestrated in the West and aimed at destroying Serbia. 'Our country is in grave danger, they have jeopardized all our values, normal life, each individual,' Vucic said, alleging an elaborate scheme that would eventually install 'anarcho-leftist' authorities in the future. He did not offer any concrete evidence for his claims. 'Unless we undertake tougher steps it is a question of days when they (protesters) will kill someone,' Vucic said. 'I am saying this for history.' The stern warnings came after five consecutive nights of clashes between the protesters on one side and police and Vucic's loyalists on the other. Angry protesters on Saturday evening torched Vucic's governing Serbian Progressive Party offices in a town in western Serbia, and of other ruling coalition allies. The demonstrators on Saturday evening also clashed with police in Belgrade, the capital, and in the northern city of Novi Sad. Riot officers used tear gas against demonstrators who hurled stun grenades, flares and bottles at them. Vucic did not specify what will be the state response that he said would come within a week. But he stressed that a state of emergency is not imminent. Scores of people already have been detained and injured in the past days while police have faced accusations of excessive force and arbitrary detentions of protesters. 'You will witness the determination of the state of Serbia,' Vucic said. 'We will use everything at our disposal to restore peace and order in the country.' The clashes this week marked a major escalation following more than nine months of largely peaceful demonstrations that started after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in Serbia's north, killing 16 people. Many in Serbia blamed the tragedy on alleged widespread corruption in state-run infrastructure projects that they say fueled poor renovation work. The Serbian president has faced accusations of stifling democratic freedoms while allowing organized crime and corruption to flourish. He has denied this. Serbia is formally seeking EU membership, but Vucic has maintained strong ties with Russia and China. On Sunday, he praised Russia's backing for his government against what he called a 'colored revolution' against his government.
Egypt Independent
2 days ago
- Egypt Independent
Blocked from Bolivia's election, ex-leader Morales not sure how to respond to threats of arrest
AP — Bolivia's charismatic, long-serving ex-President Evo Morales told The Associated Press on Saturday that he didn't know what to do about threats by the right-wing presidential candidates to arrest him if they came to power. From his stronghold in Bolivia's tropics of Chapare, where he has been holed up for months under the protection of die-hard supporters, he repeated his call for voters to deface their ballots in Sunday's high-stakes elections in defiance of the race from which he is barred due to a contentious constitutional court ruling. 'What are we going to do? Not even I know,' he said in response to questions about how he would respond if either of the right-wing front-runners, multimillionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina and former president Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, wins the presidential election and fulfills their threats to arrest him. 'I am in the crosshairs of of the right-wing empire.' Morales, 65, was charged last year with human trafficking and accused of impregnating a 15-year-old girl when he was president. While he has not outright denied having sexual relations with the underage girl, he has described the charges as politically motivated. A judge issued the arrest order as he and his former finance minister, President Luis Arce, bickered over the control of their long-dominant Movement Toward Socialism Party. As a result of their bitter power struggle, the party splintered. With the Bolivian economy undergoing its worst crisis in around four decades, the implosion of the MAS party has given the right-wing opposition its best shot at winning at the ballot box since Morales first came to power in 2006. 'Look, it's an election without legality, without legitimacy …. without the Indigenous movement, without the popular movement,' Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president, contended in his interview with the AP at his political organization's headquarters, where he broadcasts a weekly radio show. The null-and-void vote, he said, 'isn't just a vote for our political movement.' 'It's a protest vote, a vote of anger.' He insulted Doria Medina and Quiroga, who have both run for president three times before, losing at least twice to Morales, as 'eternal losers.' Citing widespread voter disillusionment with the options, he expressed confidence that the election outcome would reveal an unusually high proportion of invalid votes. 'No one is going to win. It will be the spoiled vote, which is Evo's vote,' he said, speaking in third person.
Egypt Independent
3 days ago
- Egypt Independent
This military junta is rebranding itself to hold elections. But a UN probe has found evidence of intensifying atrocities
As evidence mounts of intensifying atrocities, including the torture of children, being committed in Myanmar, the country's military generals are rebranding their junta regime and planning stage-managed elections in a nation they only control parts of. They've rescinded a four-year state of emergency order, imposed during their 2021 military coup, and formed a caretaker administration to govern the war-torn Southeast Asian country until a new parliament is assembled following a national vote. But it is merely a cosmetic change, analysts say — designed to give the appearance that it's playing by the democratic playbook while remaining firmly in power, something Myanmar's military have a long and notorious history of doing. The election, to be held in stages over December 2025 and January 2026, is resoundingly regarded as a sham and a tool used by the junta to give it a veneer of legitimacy as it seeks to entrench its rule and gain international recognition. The junta's notoriety, though, is only growing. UN investigators have gathered evidence of systemic torture against those detained by the military, summary executions of captured combatants or civilians accused of being informers, children as young as two being detained in place of their parents, and aerial attacks on schools, homes and hospitals. Here's what to know: How we got here For more than four years, Myanmar's military rulers have waged a brutal civil war across the country, sending columns of troops on bloody rampages, torching and bombing villages, massacring residents, jailing opponents and forcing young men and women to join the army. The United Nations and other rights groups have accused the military of war crimes as it battles democracy fighters and longstanding ethnic armed groups to cling to power. Military officers march during a parade to commemorate Myanmar's 80th Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, on March 27, 2025. Aung Shine Oo/AP At the head of this junta is Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the army chief who seized power in 2021, overthrowing the democratically elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and installed himself as leader. The military, which had previously ruled Myanmar with an iron fist for decades, sought to justify its takeover by alleging widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, which was won in a landslide by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party. The claims were never substantiated. Min Aung Hlaing has been sanctioned and spurned by the West, the country's economy is in tatters, and his military has lost significant territory in its grinding, multi-front civil war. Evidence of 'systemic torture' The UN's Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar has said that the 'frequency and intensity' of atrocities in the country has only escalated over the past year. Children as young as two years old were often detained in place of their parents and some were also abused and tortured, the group found. It has collected evidence of 'systemic torture' in the military-run detention facilities, including rape and other forms of sexual violence. Some detainees died as a result of the torture, according to the IIMM. Protesters sit in the middle of the street during the demonstration to protest against the military coup on February 1, 2021 in Yangon, Myanmar. Santosh Krl/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Inmages/File Those responsible include specific members and units of security forces involved in operations as well as high-ranking commanders, according to the group. The military has repeatedly denied committing atrocities and says it is targeting 'terrorists.' The junta has not responded to media requests for comment. 'A sham election' The junta said its election objectives are for a 'genuine, disciplined multiparty democratic system and the building of a union based on democracy and federalism.' But with most of the country's pro-democracy lawmakers in exile or jail, and the military's widespread repression and attacks on the people, such a vote would never be considered free or fair, observers say. 'It's a sham election… It's not inclusive, it's not legitimate,' Mi Kun Chan Non, a women's activist working with Myanmar's Mon ethnic minority, told CNN. Many observers have warned that Min Aung Hlaing is seeking to legitimize his power grab through the ballot box and rule through proxy political parties. 'He needs to make himself legitimate … He thought that the election is the only way (to do that.),' said Mi Kun Chan Non. The United States and most Western countries have never recognized the junta as the legitimate government of Myanmar, and the election has been denounced by several governments in the region – including Japan and Malaysia. A soldier from the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF), a main armed group fighting the military, walks to a reconnaissance mission. Thierry Falise/LightRocket//Getty Images A collective of international election experts said a genuine election in Myanmar 'is impossible under the current conditions,' in a joint statement released by the umbrella organization International Idea. The experts pointed to 'draconian legislation banning opposition political parties, the arrest and detention of political leaders and democracy activists, severe restrictions of the media, and the organization of an unreliable census by the junta as a basis for the voter list.' Others say they cannot trust the military when it continues its campaign of violence, and when its history is littered with false promises of reform. Voting in a war zone Details on the election process are thin, but many citizens could be casting their votes in an active conflict zone or under the eyes of armed soldiers – a terrifying prospect that some say could lead to more violence. Junta bombs have destroyed homes, schools, markets, places of worship and hospitals, and are a primary cause of the displacement of more than 3.5 million people across the country since the coup. There are fears that those in junta-controlled areas will be threatened or coerced into voting. And some townships may never get to vote, given the junta's lack of control over large swathes of the country outside its heartland and major cities. One of the country's most powerful ethnic armed groups, the Arakan Army, has said it will not allow elections to be held in territories it controls, which includes most of western Rakhine state. In pictures: Aung San Suu Kyi 37 photos Aung San Suu Kyi poses for a portrait in Yangon, Myanmar, in 2010. A month earlier, she had been released from house arrest. Drn/Getty Images And the National Unity Government, an exiled administration which considers itself the legitimate government of Myanmar, has urged the people to 'oppose and resist' participating in the poll, saying the junta 'does not have the right or authority to conduct elections.' There are also signs the military is moving to consolidate its power in those parts of the country it does not control. As it rescinded the nationwide state of emergency, it also imposed martial law in more than 60 townships – giving the military increased powers in resistance strongholds. 'The military has been pushing hard to reclaim the territories it has lost, but regaining consolidated control — especially in the lead-up to the elections — will be a near impossibility within such a short timeframe,' said Ye Myo Hein, a senior fellow at the Southeast Asia Peace Institute, based in Washington DC. 'Instead, holding elections amid this perilous context is likely to trigger even greater violence and escalate conflict nationwide.' Already, there are moves to further quash dissent ahead of the poll. A new law criminalizes criticism of the election, threatening long prison sentences for those opposing or disrupting the vote. And a new cybercrime law expands the regime's online surveillance powers, banning unauthorized use of VPNs and targeting users who access or share content from prohibited social media sites. Like 'putting old wine in a new bottle' Min Aung Hlaing recently formed a new governing body, the National Security and Peace Commission (NSPC), replacing the previous State Administration Council. The junta chief also has added chairman of the new regime to the roster of titles he now holds, which includes acting President and chief of the armed forces. And the new interim administration is stacked with loyalists and active military officers. The move was 'nothing more than an old trick — putting old wine in a new bottle,' said Ye Myo Hein. 'The military has used such tactics many times throughout its history to create the illusion of change… The military junta, led by Min Aung Hlaing, remains firmly in the driver's seat.' It has been here before. Myanmar has been governed by successive military regimes since 1962, turning a once prosperous nation into an impoverished pariah state home to some of the world's longest running insurgencies. A military soldier (L) stands in front of a pile of seized illegal drugs during a destruction ceremony in Yangon on June 26, 2025. Sai Aung Main/AFP/Getty Images In 2008, the military regime pushed ahead with constitutional reform that paved the way for a semi-civilian government to take power, while preserving its significant influence on the country's politics. What followed was a decade of limited democratic reform and freedoms that brought greater foreign investment –- including the return of global brands like Coca-cola – and engagement with western nations. A generation of young Myanmar nationals began to dream of a different future to their parents and grandparents, as investment and opportunities poured in. But the military never really gave up political power. When state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi's party stormed to a second term victory in the 2020 election, it came as a surprise to some military figures, who had hoped their own proxy party might take power democratically. The former democracy icon was detained during a coup the following year, tried by a military court and sentenced to 27 years in prison. The 80-year-old's exact whereabouts is still a tightly guarded secret, and the junta has sought to ensure Suu Kyi and her popular, but now dissolved, NLD party would be politically wiped out. International recognition By presenting itself as a civilian government, analysts say the military will also try to convince some countries to normalize ties. Russia and China are two of Myanmar's biggest backers, and Thailand and India have pushed for more engagement with the junta to end the crisis on their borders. China's foreign ministry last Thursday said it 'supports Myanmar's development path in line with its national conditions and Myanmar's steady advancement of its domestic political agenda.' In recent weeks, Min Aung Hlaing had unexpectedly good news from the US. A letter from the Trump administration detailing its new tariff rates was spun domestically by the junta leader as increased engagement. Then, the Trump administration dropped sanctions on several companies and individuals responsible for supplying weapons to Myanmar, prompting outcry from the UN Special Rapporteur for Myanmar Tom Andrews who called the moved 'unconscionable and a major step backward for efforts to save innocent lives.' Members of Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) receive military equipment after getting special combat training in a secret jungle near Namhkam, Myanmar's northern Shan State on November 9, 2024. Stringer/AFP/Getty Images Myanmar's Ministry of Information has also signed a $3 million a year deal with Washington lobbying firm DCI Group to help rebuild relations with the US, Reuters news agency recently reported. The group, as well as the US Treasury Department, the US State Department, and Myanmar's Washington embassy did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Democracy supporters opposed to the junta have warned the international community against falling for the military's election plan, and say such a poll will never be accepted by the people. Min Aung Hlaing and his junta 'have sucked all the resources and money than can and the country has nothing left,' said Mi Kun Chan Non, the women's activist. 'Everything has fallen apart … The education system has collapsed; the healthcare system has collapsed. Business is just for the cronies.' So, any future peace negotiations that follow the elections, 'we can never trust,' she said. 'And the situation of the people on the ground will not change.'
