The Bolivian government has accused former president Evo Morales of having “staged” the assassination attempt it claims he was the victim of. “Mr. Morales, no one believes that you staged the incident, but you will have to answer to Bolivian justice for attempted murder of a police officer,” Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo said at a news conference.
In a video on Sunday, the former president (2006-2019) said he was the victim of an armed attack on the vehicle he was traveling in in the Chapare region, in the center of the country. “Elite agents of the Bolivian state tried to assassinate me,” he said.
According to the former head of state, his car was hit by 14 bullets and his driver was injured but the Minister of the Interior provided a completely different version. Del Castillo explained that as part of the fight against drug trafficking in Chapare, one of the main coca production areas of the Andean country, checkpoints had been set up which ordered one of the vehicles in Morales’ procession to slow down, but the driver ignored the order.
“They accelerated, instead of slowing down, they accelerated, pulled out their guns and shot,” Del Castillo said, adding that the policeman was injured when he was hit by one of the vehicles.
A little while ago, on his X account, Morales responded to Del Castillo asking that President Luis Arce remove him, together with the Minister of Defense. “If Luis Arce did not give the order to kill us, he should immediately send away and put his defense and interior ministers on trial,” he wrote.
