Riyaz Patel
Bolivian President Evo Morales has resigned after nearly 14 years in power, shortly after the military ‘urged’ him to do so.
The head of the army had called on him to step down following protests over his election win.
He said he was leaving to help protect families of political allies, after their homes were burned down.
“I resign from my position as president so that (Carlos) Mesa and (Luis Fernando) Camacho do not continue to persecute socialist leaders,” Morales said during a televised address, mentioning the leaders of the opposition.
Morales said he decided to step down in hopes that his departure would stop the spate of violent attacks against officials and indigenous people, “so that they [protesters] do not continue burning the houses [of public officials]” and “kidnapping and mistreating” families of indigenous leaders.
“It is my obligation, as the first indigenous president and president of all Bolivians, to seek this pacification,” he said, adding that he hopes the opposition will “understand the message.”
Shortly after the announcement, his vice president, Alvaro Marcelo García Linera, also submitted his resignation.
The next person in line to take over the government, the president of the Senate, Adriana Salvatierra, resigned soon afterwards.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader in the UK said Morales was forced out of office by a coup.
He condemned the country’s military and expressed solidarity with the Bolivian people.
The military and police have supported opposition protests, described by Morales as a coup.
The Bolivian leader called for a snap election earlier on Sunday, after an Organization of American States (OAS) mission said it could not confirm his victory last month.
He expressed hope that a fresh election would help avoid further unrest, but his decision galvanized the opposition, who took to the streets to call for his immediate resignation.
Morales was the first Indigenous president in a country that had been led by a tiny elite of European descent for centuries, and he shepherded Bolivia through an era of economic growth and shrinking inequality, winning support from Bolivians who saw him as their first true representative in the capital.
