Luis Arce accuses legislators close to Evo Morales of provoking an “act of vandalism” that led to the suspension of the honorary session in Congress

( Spanish) – The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, accused this Friday pro-government legislators related to former president Evo Morales of leading a disturbance that led to the suspension of the honorary session in Congress scheduled for the presentation of his report on his fourth year in office.

“Today, unfortunately, we have witnessed another act of vandalism carried out by part of the evista bench in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly,” Arce wrote on his X social network account.

In the same publication, Arce reported that, during the incident, Vice President David Choquehuanca and other legislators were attacked.

Arce was going to present the fourth year of management report to the plenary session of Congress this Friday when, according to images broadcast by the state-run Bolivia TV, a group of people can be seen taking the floral arrangements and other objects to throw them at Choquehuanca, while shouting slogans against Arce. At another moment, some legislators are seen using a jacket to protect the official, who finally manages to report the suspension of the act.

Arce, who begins his fifth and final year of Government, ended up giving his management report in a public square in La Paz, where he criticized the incident and said that, despite what happened, he had sent his written report to the Legislative Assembly and the corresponding ministerial reports.

This Friday, Evo Morales criticized Arce’s management, without referring to the unrest in Congress, he accused Arce’s government of being “neoliberal economically, anti-popular socially, and authoritarian and repressive politically.”

According to Morales, the “only objective” of his former ally would be to “ban the MAS and disqualify Evo. “They will go down in history as the worst of governments.”

The incident in Congress is the most recent chapter in the confrontation between Arce and Morales, which has intensified in recent weeks after the accusations and investigations opened against the former president for various cases – of which he has declared himself innocent – and the regional blockades of related groups. to Morales, which according to Arce caused losses of more than US$2.2 billion and an increase in inflation in the country’s economy.

The underlying controversy between the two opposing leaders is Morales’ aspiration to run again as president, taking advantage of an alleged ambiguity in the constitution about whether the two established term limits apply only to consecutive elections and whether that would allow the former president to return to the polls. . To close this path for Morales, Arce announced a referendum that seeks to make it clear that two terms is the limit of mandates in any case, continuous or alternating, which Morales has described as betrayal.

Former President Morales said this Saturday on his X account that he and his supporters will meet this Sunday to discuss the situation in the country.