Riyaz Patel
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales tweeted late Monday night that he was leaving Bolivia for Mexico, which has granted him asylum, as his supporters and their rivals clashed on the streets of the capital La Paz.
Following his abrupt resignation over the weekend, Morales said he would leave Bolivia to take up the Mexican government’s offer for political asylum extended earlier Monday, but promised to return with renewed energy.
“Sisters and brothers, I leave for Mexico,” Morales said in a tweet Monday night, adding he was “grateful” to Mexico for providing asylum and “[taking] care of our lives.”
Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard confirmed that Morales had boarded a Mexican government aircraft “sent to ensure his safe transfer to our country.”
“It hurts to leave the country for political reasons… Soon I will return with more strength and energy.“
Morales was forced to resign from his post after weeks of opposition protests over a disputed election result, which culminated in military leaders ‘advising’ the embattled president to step down.
While slamming the opposition forces as coup plotters and insisting he won October’s election fair and square, Morales nonetheless agreed to resign in order to calm tensions across the country.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador praised Morales saying he had chosen to resign rather than put the lives of Bolivia’s citizens at risk.
Angry supporters of the socialist leader set barricades ablaze to block some roads leading to the country’s main airport, while his foes blocked most of the streets leading to the capital’s main square in front of Congress and the presidential palace.
Ebrard said Morales’ life was in danger and the decision to grant him asylum reflected the country’s long tradition of sheltering exiles.
“His life and integrity is at risk,” Ebrard told reporters.
The departure of Bolivia’s first indigenous president, one of a wave of left-wing leaders who dominated Latin America’s politics at the start of the century comes amid widespread rejection of incumbent leaders from both sides of the political divide in the region from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina.
Mexico elected its first left-leaning government in decades last year.
