Spanish
La Paz, June 29 (EFE).- Supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales ratified this Sunday their demand that the politician participate in the August general elections with a disqualified party and labeled as a "traitor" the head of the Senate, Andrónico Rodríguez, who was considered his heir and is now running for the elections on his own.
Both decisions are part of the conclusions of the national meeting of sectors loyal to Morales, which the former president led in the Tropics of Cochabamba, one of the main coca leaf producing areas in the center of the country which is, in addition, his political and union stronghold.
In the document read by one of the former president's supporters, his allies ratified him as "the only candidate for president of the State" who represents them and demanded that "Evo Morales has to be on the ballot."
They also demanded that the Bolivian National Action Party (Pan-Bol), with which Morales has an agreement, "be enabled to participate as a political organization in the general elections".
Pan-Bol is not enabled for these elections because the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) canceled its legal status for not reaching 3% of the votes in the 2020 national elections, a decision ratified in early June by the Plurinational Constitutional Court (TCP).
Those affiliated with the former president demanded that in the face of the "resignation" of candidates for the Presidency by some of the political organizations that are indeed enabled, the TSE "should not obstruct a possible substitution of candidates" so that Morales "can participate in the general elections".
In addition, they declared Andrónico Rodríguez a "traitor", whom they described as an "ally of the traitorous Government of Luis Arce", among other resolutions.
Rodríguez, a sociologist and coca grower, arrived at the Senate with the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) and was considered the union and political heir of Morales, but distanced himself from the former president and the Luis Arce government and decided to run for President with another alliance.
Morales (2006-2019) accused Rodríguez this Sunday of not keeping his word and accused him of being the "candidate of Lucho Arce" and of the businessman Marcelo Claure, a critic of the former president.
The politician considered that he can still be a candidate for Pan-Bol, although he also asked the parties that supposedly want to offer him a party symbol for these elections to "not be afraid" of the Government.
The meeting that Sunday was convened to define the course of Morales' presidential candidacy, who, upon inaugurating the meeting, insisted that his disqualification for the elections is part of a "plan" by the "empire" to "take over again" Bolivian natural resources.
The former MAS leader, distanced from Arce since the end of 2021, insists on being a candidate despite not having a party and the fact that the TCP recently ratified that re-election in Bolivia is permitted "for a single continuous term", without the possibility of a third term, and he already governed the country in three periods.
Morales' supporters have warned several times that they will prevent the elections from taking place if their leader does not participate in them.
These sectors blocked roads between June 2 and 15 to demand the registration of their candidacy with Pan-Bol, protests that turned violent and left six dead, including four police officers.
Due to this conflict, the Government criminally charged the former president with eight crimes, including terrorism and obstruction of electoral processes.
