The Bolivian Foreign Ministry wants the Argentinian government to condemn the recent comments made by the democratically elected President Evo Morales about defending civilians defending themselves against the brutality of the de facto regime in La Paz.
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In an interview last Sunday with Reuters, Morales told the news agency that Bolivians have the right to organize and defend themselves, without the use of firearms, against the brutal crackdown carried out by the regime of the Jeanine Anez.
“We ask the Argentine government to repudiate the practices of Evo Morales, at odds with the law and international public order,” Bolivia’s government said, adding it had sent a diplomatic letter to Argentine Foreign Minister Felipe Solá.
The de facto regime in La Paz has brutally cracked down on the supporters of the legitimate President Evo Morales, as they often use live gunfire and tear against protesters.
Bolivia’s interim government has done little to hide its anger that Morales has continued to play a key and vocal political role with his Movement for Socialism party ahead of new elections called for May 3.
A spokesman for Argentina’s Foreign Ministry said the country did not recognize Bolivia’s interim government and was waiting for “transparent elections to recognize the next government of Bolivia.”
Argentina’s center-left Peronist President Alberto Fernandez has previously supported Morales’ rights to speak freely. Granting him asylum has, however, created tensions between his new administration and the United States.
Bolivia’s interim President Jeanine Anez is rallying opposition to Morales ahead of the May election. Morales is not running but is orchestrating the campaign of his party.
Anez has also rekindled Bolivia’s relationship with the United States. Mauricio Claver-Carone, a senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, is currently visiting Bolivia, a sign of warming relations between the two countries.
Bolivia’s top court also agreed to extend the term limit on Anez’s caretaker government which had been due to expire later this month, local media reported, defusing some tensions after Morales had urged her to step down.