Former Argentine President Macri denies having sent “lethal” ammunition to Bolivia and denounces persecution

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The former president of Argentina Mauricio Macri denied Saturday having sent “lethal” ammunition to Bolivia to repress the social protests that took place in the Andean country in November 2019 against the government of Evo Morales, and denounced a “persecution” against his family and his collaborators by the current Argentine Executive.

In an interview with EFE in Madrid, Macri described as “nonsense” the Bolivian government’s accusation of having supported a coup against Morales, for allegedly having sent people to guard the Argentine embassy in La Paz “with anti-riot material, not war material”.

“The European Union does not accept that it was a coup d’état, Argentina, in my government, did not accept it either, but the current government (of Alberto Fernández) does, because it belongs to the Puebla Group that sees reality from a quite particular place, and I repeat, the materials they are talking about are anti-riot, not war material”, stressed the former Argentine president.

On Thursday, the Bolivian Executive accused the Macri government of having sent in November 2019 to Bolivia “lethal ammunition” to “repress” the protests. Bolivian Foreign Minister Rogelio Mayta released at a press conference a letter from General Gonzalo Terceros, until then commander of the Bolivian Air Force (FAB), addressed to the then Argentine ambassador in La Paz, Normando Álvarez.

In the note, Terceros thanked Álvarez for the collaboration provided to the FAB “in the framework of bilateral international support” and detailed a series of supplies of “war material of chemical agents” including 40,000 AT 12/70 rubber bullets, as well as a series of tear gas and gas grenades.

The note coincided with the arrival in La Paz of an Argentine Air Force flight carrying members of the Argentine Gendarmerie (border police) to guard the Argentine embassy in La Paz, where government members of Evo Morales were taking refuge.

The Argentine troops arrived in La Paz on November 13, 2019, one day after Jeanine Áñez assumed the Presidency of Bolivia after Evo Morales left power on November 10, denouncing being the victim of a coup d’état.

Following Bolivia’s denunciation, the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, apologized to the Bolivian president, Luis Arce, for what had happened.

The former Argentinean president also stated that in the following hours after the Bolivian Government’s denunciation, it had been known through the lawyer of the “alleged brigadier who signed the letter that his signature was forged, that this letter did not exist, our ambassador in Bolivia says that this letter never existed, so it all seems quite unserious”.

According to Macri, all this is part of a persecution campaign by the Argentine Executive: “there have been many attacks, this shows that they are in a weak situation and worried about the surely negative electoral result they are going to have in November when we have mid-term elections to elect new members of Congress”.

Among these alleged persecutions, he denounced “court cases, unfounded accusations, state agencies in inspections on my own activities, my partners, and a few days ago they decreed the bankruptcy of a company of my family in which I do not participate, but my brothers, even though there was an offer to pay 100% of the debt, they still manipulated the justice system, the judge rejected the offer and sent the company to bankruptcy”.

Source: efe