Inside the Movement Towards Socialism: Evo Morales Accuses Bolivian Government of ‘Attacking and Persecuting’ His Supporters

Former President of Bolivia and leader of the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party. Evo Morales (2006-2019), the Bolivian government ministry accused, today, Thursday, of “They violently attack and persecute” his sympathizers.

The former president referred to a meeting of political organizations called by the Supreme Electoral Court on Wednesday, which was preceded by clashes between Morales’ followers and supporters of the Bolivian president. Louis ArceBoth groups consist of MAS members.

“What is the mission of the government ministry? To take care of its people, but now we must take care of the government ministry,” Morales said at a news conference in La Paz.

The former governor said government employees on Wednesday went out with tomatoes, firecrackers and bazookas to attack his followers, who he claimed numbered more than 3500 people.

“From the Ministry of Government, they told me the day before yesterday, (they ordered) to bring dynamite and firecrackers, (they said that) we must not allow Evo to enter that meeting,” Morales added.

Later, through a post in

He added: “Our sisters and brothers who accompanied us to the meeting of the Supreme Electoral Court were violently repressed by groups of saboteurs sent by the government of Luis Arce and protected by the police.”

Furthermore, he noted that in May of this year he saw a helicopter flying over his house, in the central region of the Cochabamba Tropical Region, his political and union stronghold, and said they were people from the Arce government.

“In the tropics there is constant persecution,” he added.

On the eve of that, both Morales’s cronies and Arce’s followers concentrated around the Tokyo Stock Exchange headquarters and organized Fights between insults and beating with sticksIn addition to chants of support for their leaders, with the continuous use of firecrackers.

The meeting of the political organizations this afternoon culminated in a unanimous decision to demand that the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (ALP) presidential primary election to be suspendedto give priority to the judicial elections that were to be held in 2023.

Morales did not agree with this decision, did not sign the joint declaration and left the meeting place surrounded by his followers.

Arce and Morales Spaced out since the end of 2021Both Morales and Arce held their own conferences as MAS leaders and rejected the opposition’s conferences, in an attempt to boost their candidacies. The internal conflict between politicians is not new, but it intensified in 2023, when Morales held a meeting without the president and his followers present, and named himself “the sole candidate.”

However, in November The Tokyo Stock Exchange has decided not to recognize the 10th meeting.“, meaning that the Movement towards Socialism must hold a new congress to elect its National Council and its Disciplinary Court” since shortcomings were recorded in “the adoption of certain requirements before the Presidium” as well as non-compliance on the part of “the struggle.

(With information from EFE)