A civic leader on Monday urged Bolivians to “paralyze” government institutions and block the borders as protests sparked by the contentious election victory last month of Bolivian President Evo Morales entered their third week.
The long-standing leftist leader is facing rising pressure from opposition groups pushing for him to step down or to force new elections.
An international group is also doing an audit of the Oct. 20 vote.
Photo: AFP
Amid splits in the opposition, civic groups have come to the fore, with strikes and road blockades in cities tapping into anger over Morales’ near 14-year rule.
At a large rally on Monday night in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, a civic leader who has become a key figure in the opposition, urged supporters to peacefully jam government institutions, starting from midnight.
“We have decided to radicalize the indefinite national civic strike,” he told a gathering of tens of thousands, adding that he would march into La Paz yesterday with a resignation letter for Morales.
Camacho had previously set a 48-hour deadline for Morales to resign, which expired on Monday night.
Morales has defended his election win and has backed an international audit of the result to resolve the crisis.
Amid the political turmoil, a helicopter carrying Morales made an emergency landing on Monday due to a mechanical malfunction on takeoff from the town of Colquiri, south of La Paz, the air force said.
No injuries were reported, but video of the incident spread on social media.
The mechanical glitch happened as the helicopter was taking off from a village in the Andes where Morales had been inaugurating a new road, the air force said
“We had an incident with the helicopter that will be duly investigated,” Morales said on Twitter hours later.
Bolivia’s opposition, made up of election runner-up Carlos Mesa as well as increasingly prominent civic groups, has ramped up calls to remove Morales.
Mesa, who came second in the Oct. 20 election, slammed Morales’ candidacy as illegal and on Sunday proposed new elections.
He has maintained allegations of electoral fraud.
Morales won the vote with a lead of just over 10 points, which gave him an outright win, but the victory was marred by a near 24-hour halt in the count, which, when resumed, showed a sharp and unexplained shift in favor of Morales.
That sparked fierce protests, with demonstrators clashing with police, teargas on the streets and roadblocks and strikes in many cities, with a few deaths in the clashes.
The Organization of American States, which monitored the election, is now doing a count audit, and on Monday it invited the public to send election information for its analysis.
Additional reporting by AP
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