Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales claims his car was shot at in attempted assassination

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales survives alleged assassination attempt amid political turmoil and power struggle with current President Arce.

Former President Evo Morales of Bolivia claimed he survived an assassination attempt on Sunday (October 28, 2024) after unidentified men opened fire on his car. He was not injured in the alleged attack that quickly became the latest flashpoint in a power struggle between the ex-leader and his protégé-turned-rival, current President Luis Arce.

Mr. Morales, 65, blamed President Arce's government for the outburst of violence, saying it was part of a coordinated campaign by Bolivian authorities to sideline him from politics. The incident coincides with a bitter rift at the highest rungs of the ruling Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS. Mr. Morales and Mr. Arce, his former economy minister, are fighting to lead the party into next year's elections.

“This is not an isolated incident,” the Morales-aligned bloc of the divided MAS party said in a statement. "It's clear evidence that we are facing a fascist government that does not hesitate to attack the life of former President Evo Morales."

The statement said that two vehicles with heavily armed men dressed in black ambushed Mr. Morales’ convoy. Bullets whizzed just “centimeters” from the ex-p\[resident's head, it said. Video posted on the website of Mr. Morales' radio station showed helicopters buzzing over an airstrip where the incident occurred.

President Arce condemned the attack and requested an investigation.

“The exercise of any violent practice in politics must be condemned and clarified,” Mr. Arce wrote on social media platform X. “Problems are not resolved by trying to kill people or by partisan speculation.”

Deputy Security Minister Roberto Rios insisted that police had not acted against the former president. He said authorities were investigating a theory that Morales had staged “a possible self-attack," citing allegations swirling within the government that Morales had directed the assault on himself to help his own political fortunes.