After blockades by groups related to Evo Morales, Arce says that they will not give in to those who “want to set the country on fire” to protect themselves

( Spanish) – The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, said this Thursday that they will not give in to those who “want to set the country on fire to protect themselves from personal accusations.”

The statement, in which Arce did not explicitly mention anyone, occurs after several days of road blockades led by groups related to former President Evo Morales, who are protesting the judicial investigation against him for the alleged crimes of human trafficking and smuggling. Morales rejects these accusations and affirms that they are part of political persecution.

“(We want) peace that many do not want to exist and threaten every week, every day, with strikes, blockades, with slander,” he said during a public event in La Paz.

“The Bolivian people have to be sure that we are going to do everything necessary to maintain the economic stability that has cost us Bolivian men and women a lot of work. You know that we are going to respect the stability of Bolivians, that we are not going to give in to those who want to set the country on fire to protect themselves from personal accusations against which they must show their faces,” he added.

contacted Morales for comment on Arce’s statements and is awaiting a response.

Last week, the Tarija departmental prosecutor, Sandra Gutiérrez, indicated that her office would prepare an arrest warrant for Morales, after he refused to testify the previous Thursday about the investigation against him. The press area of ​​the Bolivian Attorney General’s Office told this Tuesday that the court order had not yet been issued.

Morales and Arce, both militants of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) party, have a confrontation in which the former president accuses the president of wanting to prevent him from competing in the 2025 presidential elections, an accusation that Arce rejects.