Evo Morales resigns as Bolivia’s president

Evo Morales has stepped down as Bolivia’s president after almost 14 years in power, following pressure from the chief of the armed forces and a string of resignations over a contested election that led to weeks of protests.

“I am resigning,” Mr Morales said in a televised address from his stronghold in the coca-growing Chapare region in central Bolivia, a move that unleashed a wave of unrest. “I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, that the fight does not end here. We will continue this fight for equality, for peace.” 

Williams Kaliman, the chief commander of the Bolivian armed forces, had urged him to quit “for the good of Bolivia”. Several ministers, including the deputy president, also resigned on Sunday while police arrested two senior officials of the electoral commission amid allegations of fraud in the October 20 vote.

With the resignation of Mr Morales’s deputy and the heads of both chambers of Congress — all members of his MAS party — Jeanine Áñez, a deputy head of Senate from the opposition, told local television that she might take over as interim president on Monday with the “only objective of calling for new elections and pacify the country”.

Mr Morales’s decision to resign sparked violent unrest in La Paz and El Alto, with scuffles on the streets and buses torched.

Late on Sunday, Mr Morales said that an arrest warrant for him had been issued and that his house had been ransacked by “violent groups”.

The Mexican government offered asylum to Mr Morales and revealed that 20 members of the legislature and the executive were already at the Mexican embassy in La Paz. Leftist leaders from Latin America and Jeremy Corbyn, head of the opposition Labour party in the UK, labelled Mr Morales’s resignation a “coup”.

Earlier on Sunday, Mr Morales had agreed to call new elections “to lower the tension and pacify” Bolivia as protesters, joined by members of the police, challenged the results of a poll in which the president secured a controversial fourth term in office.

Last month, Latin America’s longest-serving president claimed to have won a razor-thin majority over Carlos Mesa, himself a former president. But on Sunday, the Organisation of American States called the result “statistically improbable” and demanded another election.

“To Bolivia, to its people, to young people, to women, to the heroism of peaceful resistance. I will never forget this day,” said Mr Mesa following Mr Morales’ resignation. “The end of tyranny.” 

Pressure began mounting on Mr Morales on Friday when police forces across Bolivia came out in support of opposition protesters. On Saturday, Mr Kaliman said the armed forces would “never enter into a confrontation with the people”.

After accusing protesters of fomenting a coup, Mr Morales first called for a “debate to pacify Bolivia” and political talks. But this was swiftly rejected by several opposition politicians, including Mr Mesa, who said: “I have nothing to negotiate with Evo Morales.” He called the vote a “monumental fraud”.

Mr Morales claimed victory following an unexplained decision by the electoral commission to freeze updates of the election count for nearly a day when it appeared that Bolivia was headed for a second round of voting. 

When the electoral commission resumed updates, they revealed Mr Morales had stretched his lead and was headed for outright victory. Protests reached their peak this weekend as demonstrators from several parts of Bolivia made their way to La Paz, sometimes clashing with Mr Morales’s supporters.

Mr Morales’s position became increasingly untenable after auditors from the OAS released a preliminary report early on Sunday highlighting “irregularities that vary from very serious to indicative” in the election and vote-counting process. The OAS recommended new elections. 

As Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Mr Morales won three sweeping presidential victories and changed the Bolivian constitution. But he lost legitimacy after ignoring defeat in a 2016 referendum on whether he should be allowed to seek a fourth term.

While some Bolivians likened him to Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, his supporters still saw him as the man who mended a fractured and volatile country scarred by racism and poverty. To them, he was heir to Túpac Katari, the Aymara leader who led a valiant but failed revolt against the Spanish in the 18th century. Under Mr Morales, poverty rates have almost halved while Bolivia’s gross domestic product has quadrupled on the back of gas and mineral exports. 

“There has been a coup,” Mr Morales said as he announced his resignation. “My sin is to be indigenous, trade unionist and coca grower . . . We are going to carry the sentence of Túpac Katari — we will return and we will be millions.”

Letter in response to this article:

Earlier exit would have boosted Morales record / From Mark Hudson, Winterborne Clenston, Dorset, UK