Bolivia accuses ex-president Morales of ‘staged’ assassination attempt
Bolivia’s government claimed the former leader’s convoy had fired on special anti-narcotics police who were carrying out a patrol
![Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales. File photo: AP](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1020x680/public/d8/images/canvas/2024/10/29/338e8a1c-e043-494a-89d0-4a7cdb791521_fa77631a.jpg?itok=_fPqLKU-&v=1730164807)
“Mr Morales, nobody believes the theatre you have staged,” Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo told a news conference.
He added that Morales, who claims the government tried to kill him, would “have to answer … for the crime of attempted murder” of a police officer.
Del Castillo claimed the car in which Morales was travelling failed to stop at a checkpoint set up by police to combat drug trafficking in central Chapare province, one of the country’s biggest producers of coca, the raw material for cocaine.
![Evo Morales in a vehicle on Sunday. Photo obtained by Reuters Evo Morales in a vehicle on Sunday. Photo obtained by Reuters](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/10/29/1b38e1a8-f2e0-484b-bb9d-adf20416106e_d616290b.jpg)
He said the police motioned for the vehicle to slow down and stop but that the driver instead accelerated, and that “shots were fired from a vehicle”.
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