Evo Morales asks his supporters to suspend blockades and says he will go on a hunger strike to demand dialogue with the Government

( Spanish) – The former president of Bolivia Evo Morales asked his supporters to suspend the blockades they have been carrying out for almost three weeks in various parts of the country and said that he will begin a hunger strike to demand that the Government hold talks on economic and political issues.

During a press conference in the town of Lauca Ñ, Morales asked his supporters to make “an intermission” with the protests to – he argued – avoid more acts of violence and economic damage.

The blockades began in mid-October in protest of the judicial investigations against Morales and increases in fuel and food prices, and there have been clashes between protesters and police that have left people injured and detained.

In this context, Morales said at the press conference that he will begin a hunger strike to demand two dialogue tables from the Government of President Luis Arce. One of them, according to Morales, would be to discuss economic measures; the other, to discuss the judicial processes that – he stated – the Executive is promoting against some political leaders.

“(There are) leaders unjustly detained, imprisoned, prosecuted. Where the process corresponds, let it be processed, but not because of being mobilized or because of ideological differences,” he said.

contacted the Bolivian Presidency for comment on Morales’ statements and is awaiting a response.

Morales’ conference took place hours after the Government denounced that supporters of the former president took over three military installations in the department of Cochabamba and kept military and civilian personnel, weapons and ammunition “kidnapped.”

Both President Arce and the Army stated in publications on social networks that these events represent acts of “betrayal of the country” that affect the country.

Arce and Morales are militants of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) party, although they maintain an open confrontation. Morales accuses Arce of wanting to prevent him from running again in the 2025 presidential elections. Arce denies this accusation and says that it is Morales who wants to impose his candidacy by force.