Bolivia's interim President Jeanine Anez speaks to the media outside the Presidential Palace, in La Paz, Bolivia, on Nov. 14, 2019.MARCO BELLO/Reuters
Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales cannot run as a candidate in any new elections, the country’s interim leader said Thursday, as supporters of the ousted president demonstrated for his return from asylum in Mexico.
“Evo: Friend, the people are with you!” shouted protesters in the city of Sacaba. They had come overnight from Chapare, a coca-growing region where Mr. Morales became a prominent union leader before his rise to the presidency.
In the capital of La Paz, some gasoline stations ran out of supply because of street blockades in the nearby city of El Alto, a pro-Morales stronghold that is a major distribution point for fuel.
Jeanine Anez, a Senate deputy leader who claimed the interim presidency, was struggling to establish authority in the turbulent country. She announced that Mr. Morales, who resigned Sunday after allegations of election fraud, could not participate in elections again and criticized Mexico’s government for allowing him to rally support from Mexico City.
“We have to let the Mexican government know that cannot be happening,” said Ms. Anez, who says she wants to restore stability in Bolivia but has been accused of a power grab by Morales supporters.
It was unclear whether election officials would have to formally bar Mr. Morales from running in a new election.
Bolivia’s first Indigenous president resigned on Sunday at military prompting, in the wake of massive nationwide protests over suspected vote-rigging in an Oct. 20 election in which he claimed to have won a fourth term in office. An Organization of American States audit of the vote found widespread irregularities.
Much of the opposition to Mr. Morales sprang from his refusal to accept a referendum that would have forbidden him from running for a new term.
The pro-Morales Movement Toward Socialism party “has all the right to participate in elections, they can look for candidates,” Ms. Anez said.
Bolivia’s new interim government has begun winning some international recognition, but faced challenges to its legitimacy at home.
Mexico welcomed Mr. Morales this week after he resigned. Mexico’s government referred to the ouster as a coup d’etat, as have other left-leaning administrations in Latin America. But Ms. Anez has gained recognition from other regional governments, including Brazil, Guatemala and Colombia, as well as Britain and the United States.
Ms. Anez also announced she would recognize Venezuela’s U.S.-backed opposition leader, Juan Guaido, as that country’s legitimate leader, joining the U.S. and 50 other countries in repudiating socialist President Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Mr. Morales.
But the new Bolivian leadership was focused on challenges at home.
Members of the Movement Toward Socialism party, which dominates both houses of Congress, held legislative sessions aimed at questioning the legitimacy of Ms. Anez, who had been no higher than fifth in the line of succession before Mr. Morales resigned. She won recognition because those above her, all Morales backers, also resigned – although some later tried to recant their resignations.
In addition to accusing Mr. Morales of inciting violent dissent, the new government took aim at some of his allies at home.
Ms. Anez’s new interior minister, Arturo Murillo, said Wednesday that he had spoken with police and ordered a hunt for his predecessor, Juan Ramon Quintana – using the Spanish word for hunt that applies to chasing an animal.
“Why is it a hunt? Because he is an animal who is killing people,” Mr. Murillo said. Mr. Quintana apparently had vanished from sight.
“Those who deal in sedition, as of tomorrow, take care,” he warned.
Ms. Anez needs to win recognition from more Bolivians, stabilize the country and organize new elections within 90 days, rebuilding after weeks of violent protests against Mr. Morales following the disputed election.
“If this is seen by the indigenous social movement as an effort by the old elite to restore the old order in Bolivian society, I think that is a recipe for tremendous political conflict,” said Kenneth Roberts, professor of government at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is sending a personal envoy to Bolivia to support efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.
The new envoy, Jean Arnault, was travelling to Bolivia on Thursday, according to UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.
In Brazil, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the BRICS group of emerging economies that the situation in Bolivia is alarming.
“They have no leadership at all. It’s similar to the situation in Libya, though there is no direct armed intervention. However, the country is close to chaos,” Mr. Putin said.
The interim government on Thursday gave journalists a tour of a modern 29-storey presidential office building with a heliport built by Mr. Morales and that his foes had criticized as one of his excesses. The empty presidential suite on the 24th floor contained a wall painting showing leaders including Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro; a reading room with several biographies about Mr. Morales; a few items of clothing in the main bedroom; and a Jacuzzi.
Mr. Morales upended politics in this country long ruled by light-skinned descendants of Europeans by reversing deep-rooted inequality. The economy benefited from a boom in prices of commodities and he ushered through a new constitution that created a new Congress with seats reserved for Bolivia’s smaller Indigenous groups while also allowing self-rule for all Indigenous communities.
Although some supporters became disenchanted by his insistence on holding on to power, Mr. Morales remains popular, especially among other members of his native Aymara ethnic group.
Mr. Morales’s backers, who hold a two-thirds majority in Congress, boycotted the session that Ms. Anez called Tuesday night to formalize her claim to the presidency, preventing a quorum.
She claimed power anyway and swore in a cabinet, saying the constitution did not require congressional approval. The military, police and opposition parties accepted her. Bolivia’s top constitutional court laid out the legal justification for Ms. Anez taking the presidency, without mentioning her by name.
But other legal experts questioned her claim, saying at least some of her steps required a session of Congress.
Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.