A group of coca-chewing demonstrators form a barricade of tree trunks at a traffic stop on the road to the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba.

For more than two weeks, supporters of former president Evo Morales have been blocking roads across the country, particularly in his political stronghold of Cochabamba, to prevent his potential arrest on rape charges.

The barricades are the latest escalation in the intensifying political atmosphere in the South American country.

On Sunday, the feud between Morales, who resigned unceremoniously in 2019 but is now trying to stage a comeback, and his successor, Luis Arce, escalated further after Morales accused state officials of attempting to assassinate him.

A video shared on social media showed a pickup truck full of bullet holes and the driver with blood on his head.

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The government said police opened fire on Morales’ vehicle after it passed a checkpoint and after police opened fire from a vehicle in his convoy.

Wider anti-government movement

“How can they attack him? We will not allow this kind of situation here in Cochabamba. We will intensify our mobilization,” 40-year-old wheat farmer Jose Loayza, who was among the protesters at the traffic stop, told AFP. angrily.

Supporters of Bolivia’s first indigenous president, who ruled from 2006 to 2019, say the 65-year-old is the victim of “judicial persecution”.

Over the past few weeks, protests have morphed into a broader anti-government uprising and tensions with security forces have reached boiling point.

On Tuesday, 12 police officers were injured in clashes with demonstrators near the town of Mairana; This was the second incident in four days as security forces attempted to clear the roads.

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Bolivia’s 12 million population has been struggling with fuel shortages and rising food prices since the government cut oil imports last year to offset a decline in natural gas exports.

Annual inflation reached its highest level since July 2014, at 6.2 percent in September.

The roadblocks have increased food and fuel shortages across the country and have shaken people deeply. economy deeper into the chaos.

The economy ministry estimates millions of dollars in losses in the transportation sector alone.

‘Our pockets are empty’

“Our earnings are not enough to pay for all the things that have increased in price: rice, sugar, cooking oil,” a woman who asked not to be identified told AFP in Sipe Sipe, a village near Cochabamba.

“Our pockets are empty and we cannot feed our children,” he said.

Near Sipe Sipe, demonstrators formed a line to pass heavy rocks collected from the dry riverbed to block the bridge above.

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A poster of Arce had been defaced with black paint.

“The country is getting worse,” truck driver Grover Torrico said.

“We are blocking the roads to get the things we need (food, fuel, dollars),” he added.

Morales, a former coca grower, was extremely popular until he tried to get over it. constitution and look for the fourth period.

Although he is barred from running again, he wants to challenge his ministerial rival Arce for the candidacy of the left-wing MAS party in the country’s August 2025 presidential election.

Days after Arce led a march of thousands of mostly Indigenous Bolivians to the capital La Paz to protest his policies, prosecutors announced that Arce was being investigated on charges of rape, human trafficking and human trafficking for an alleged affair with a 15-year-old girl in 2015. .

Morales is accused of being the girl’s father.

Morales called the accusations “lies” and directly accused Arce of trying to assassinate him to prevent his return to power.

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Loayza said, “We want the resignation of President Luis Arce. He needs to call new elections.” he said.

He vowed that Arce would suffer the same fate as former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who fled the country in October 2003 after ordering a bloody crackdown on protests against free market policies that drew dozens of people. people was killed.

“We have already sent Sanchez de Lozada away, what is there to stop? We “Are you doing the same for Arce?” he asked.

Source: AFP