Peru prohibits Evo Morales from entering its territory for “intervention” in its political affairs

First modification: 01/10/2023 – 00:48

Peru has prohibited former Bolivian President Evo Morales from entering the country for his “intervention” in the internal political affairs of the country, which is plunged into a serious institutional and political crisis, the Ministry of the Interior reported on Monday, January 9.

“Nine Bolivian citizens, among them Mr. Juan Evo Morales Ayma, have been ordered to be prohibited from entering the country through all immigration checkpoints,” the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement, assuring that “in recent months identified foreign citizens of Bolivian nationality who have entered the country to carry out activities of a political proselytizing nature”.

The announcement coincides with new demonstrations and roadblocks in six of the country’s 25 regions. The protesters are calling for the resignation of Dina Boluarte, who took office after the dismissal of Pedro Castillo, a new Parliament and the immediate holding of elections, which have already been brought forward from 2026 to April 2024.

Evo Morales condemned this decision on his social networks. “Now they attack us to distract and avoid responsibility for serious violations of the human rights of our Peruvian brothers,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that political conflicts cannot be resolved with “expulsions, bans or repression.”

For his part, the Peruvian Prime Minister, Alberto Otárola, justified this new ban on the press. “We are closely watching not only the attitude of Mr. Morales, but also that of those who work with him in southern Peru… They have been very active in promoting a crisis situation,” he said. He referred to the article 48 of the law that “establishes that any person who threatens or disturbs the internal order does not enter Peru.”

Recent criticisms and condemnations of Evo Morales

Dina Boluarte had announced last week that she was analyzing “the entry situation” of Morales to Peru together with the immigration authority, because she should not “intervene in internal issues.” “In Peru we have the right to weave our own history and that no one, people outside the national territory, have to be coming and want to intervene in weaving our history,” she stressed.

Morales was also denounced last Thursday before the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office by the ultra-conservative congressman Jorge Montoya, for the alleged commission of crimes against national security and treason, in the modality of “attack against national integrity.”

In November 2021, the Foreign Relations commission of Congress had already declared Morales persona non grata “for his negative political activism in Peru and his evident interference and meddling in the government’s agenda” of then-president Pedro Castillo (2021-2022). .

Evo Morales’ support for Pedro Castillo

Evo Morales, who presided over Bolivia between 2006 and 2019, has been an active participant in Peruvian politics since the former leftist president came to power in July 2021 and until his removal on December 7.

Since then, the former Bolivian president has expressed his support for the protests demanding the departure of Dina Boluarte and, in particular, those taking place in the department of Puno, in the Aymara region bordering Bolivia.

“While right-wing oligarchic groups in Peru try to intimidate us with lies and untenable accusations, the brutal repression against indigenous brothers who demand justice, democracy and the recovery of their natural resources continues. The deepest Peru has awakened,” he wrote on Saturday in Twitter Evo Morales, a former coca grower from an Aymara family, who last visited the neighboring country in November.

Peruvian lawyer Ronald Atencio, who was part of Pedro Castillo’s legal defense, filed a habeas corpus petition on Monday to reverse the Peruvian government’s decision to ban Evo Morales from entering the country.

The appeal requests to declare “null and void” any measure that “prevents, limits or restricts the free entry and/or exit of Peru of Juan Evo Morales Ayma,” the document reads.

The demonstrations continue and the Ombudsman recognized nine more deaths

This afternoon the Ombudsman’s Office announced the death of nine more people during the protests against the government of Dina Boluarte, a number that brings the total to 38, although the figures vary depending on the source. The deaths occurred in the vicinity of the Juliaca Airport.

Figures like those registered today make the situation of tension escalate in the Andean nation, which is experiencing the worst moments of a political crisis that has been going on for years.

The protests began in Peru after Parliament removed and later arrested Castillo, following his attempt to dissolve Parliament, which was described as a “coup.”

Dina Boluarte is the sixth person to hold the presidency in five years, in a country mired in a permanent political crisis marked by suspicions of corruption.

01:54

Demonstrators took to the streets demanding the resignation of Boluarte, the closure of Congress, a change in the Constitution and the release of Castillo.

These protests were interrupted at Christmas and New Years, but resumed on January 4 in multiple regions of the country.

With Reuters, AFP and EFE