LA PAZ — Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales announced a hunger strike Tuesday after the Senate voted 27-11 to ban him from running in August’s presidential election, a move his Movement for Socialism party denounces as constitutional sabotage by interim President Luis Arce’s faction.
Morales, 65, who governed from 2006-2019, claims the ban — citing a Constitutional Court ruling that bars third-term candidates — is designed to split the left and ensure Arce wins a second term. Thousands of his supporters have blockaded highways in the Chapare region.
The Senate vote came after Bolivia’s top electoral court upheld the term-limit ruling last week, prompting Morales to call the measures “a coup in slow motion.” His supporters say the ban targets the most popular candidate in polling ahead of the August 6 vote.
Bolivia’s health minister has called on Morales to end the hunger strike, warning of “serious risks” to his wellbeing. The former president, who suffers from a chronic knee condition, has refused food since Monday evening. International mediators from the Union of South American Nations have offered to broker talks between the two sides.
Diego Vargas, Media Hook, La Paz.