Former Latin American presidents call for an end to “harassment” against Bolivian Carlos Mesa

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Almost a dozen former Latin American presidents called on Friday for an end to the “harassment” against the former Bolivian chief executive Carlos Mesa (2003-2005) in their country and urged the Bolivian president, Luis Arce, to “put aside any authoritarian adventure”.

The former presidents gathered their signatures and petitions in a statement compiled by the Latin American Presidential Mission, created in 2012, from which they asked “the Bolivian government to modify the path it is taking” and “to respect the rights of former president Carlos Mesa”, as well as those of other opponents.

The communiqué was signed by the former presidents of Uruguay Luis Alberto Lacalle (1990-1995), and of Ecuador Jamil Mahuad (1998-2000), in addition to the Paraguayans Luis Ángel González Macchi (1999-2003), Juan Carlos Wasmosy (1993-1998), Federico Franco (2012-2013) and Horacio Cartes Jara (2013-2018).

Also signing were former Panamanian presidents Nicolás Ardito Barletta (1984-1985) and Ernesto Pérez Balladares (1994-1999); Costa Ricans Rafael Ángel Calderón (1990-1994) and Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998-2002); and Bolivia’s Jorge Fernando Quiroga (2001-2002).

“We express our concern in particular for the situation of harassment suffered by the former president of Bolivia Carlos Mesa, who was the main affected by the electoral fraud of October 2019 and whose actions were essential for free and legitimate elections to be held in 2020,” they wielded.

In addition, they emphasized that the Bolivian president, Luis Arce, from the party of former president Evo Morales, “has the enormous responsibility to strengthen in his country the political and legal foundations of a republican democracy, leaving aside any authoritarian adventure that will only harm his homeland.”

Finally, the eleven former presidents warned that they have an “enormous concern for the future of the republican democracies” of the American continent and mentioned that “the existence of dictatorships in Nicaragua and Venezuela and the long dictatorial Cuban regime are indisputable arguments for such concern and a stain for the region.”

THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN BOLIVIA

In November 2019, Bolivia experienced a social and political crisis after the failed October elections and the resignation from the Presidency of Evo Morales, who denounced that he was forced to resign by a “coup d’état”.

The so-called “coup d’état” case was initiated as a result of a lawsuit filed by a former ruling party deputy after the resignation of Evo Morales in 2019, which for the ruling party was an overthrow, while for the opposition, it was a consequence of the allegations of electoral fraud against him in the annulled elections of that year.

Former president and presidential candidate Carlos Mesa has been summoned to testify in this case.

As part of this investigation, former president Jeanine Áñez (2019-2020) and two former ministers have been under preventive detention since last March.