Evo Morales accuses EU Foreign Affairs spokeswoman of “lying” about 2019 crisis in Bolivia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Morales reacted to a statement by the European External Action Service (EEAS) in which the EU rejected accusations by the Bolivian president of having been involved in the 2019 crisis, which led to the ousting of then president Morales.

The EEAS assured in the statement that the bloc had always played a pacifying role at the request of Morales’ own government and that it had merely facilitated meetings between all political actors during the crisis, including the ruling Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS). It further stated that these initiatives occurred under the guidance of the Catholic Church and after being explicitly requested by Morales’ Executive.

“We repudiate the political conduct of Massrali, who on behalf of the European Union lies to attack the democratic government of brother President Luis Arce,” Morales tweeted.

He also complained that the spokeswoman “falsely accuses” them of “having been accomplices in a coup meeting at the Bolivian Catholic University in La Paz.”

“Nabila Massrali’s statement is also a lie when she says that this conspiracy served to prevent ‘more violence’ because the de facto government they promoted caused massacres and serious human rights violations,” he continued, denouncing that the spokeswoman “is defending those who murdered indigenous people.”

Morales’ accusations and the EU communiqué now condemning the former president follow statements by the Bolivian president at the UN General Assembly recently held in New York.

Arce denounced the involvement of the “representative of the European Union” in the 2019 coup, a “rupture of the constitutional order” that he ascribed to the Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Luis Almagro and governments such as Argentina’s.

In October 2019, Morales stepped down from power and left the country following allegations of electoral fraud by the OAS and a statement by the Military. The crisis sparked clashes between supporters and opponents of the indigenous leader and security forces that left 30 dead.

After a year of interim presidency by Jeanine Áñez, then ‘number two’ in the Senate, the MAS returned to power in the 2020 elections after winning 55% of the vote. Arce has argued that Morales’ fraud “was never proven” and that a “coup d’état” was staged after the 2019 elections.