Bolivia’s government accuses Morales supporters of taking 200 soldiers hostage

Supporters of former president Evo Morales in Bolivia have taken more than 200 soldiers hostage, the country’s government said, as unrest prompted by an abuse investigation of the ex-leader continued for a third week.

Bolivia’s foreign ministry in a statement identified those involved in the hostage taking as members of “irregular groups” and accused them of also stealing weapons and ammunition.

It did not identify the groups, nor did it explain how the soldiers were taken hostage. But a day earlier, President Luis Arce said those protesting and attacking military units were supporters of Mr Morales.

Mr Arce characterised the seizing of three military barracks in a coca-growing area in central Bolivia as “an absolutely reprehensible criminal act that is far from any legitimate social claim of the indigenous peasant movement”.

The conflict broke out three weeks ago when Bolivian prosecutors launched an investigation into accusations that Mr Morales fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2016, classifying their relationship as statutory rape. Mr Morales has refused to testify in court.

Mr Morales has been in the rural area of Chapare, in central Bolivia, since reports of a possible warrant for his arrest emerged.

Loyalist coca growers have kept watch to prevent his arrest, and supporters have threatened to take over police and military barracks, demanding the closure of the judicial cases against the former president.

The Foreign Ministry in its statement on Saturday said it is open to dialogue with “all social sectors of the country” but warned that the process “cannot be established while the Bolivian people continue to be victims of abuse by these groups who are not interested in the national and popular economy, and who only seek to materialise the personal and electoral interests of a former president”.

Last week, 30 police officers were injured and more than 50 protesters were arrested after a standoff between security forces and supporters of Mr Morales.

Mr Arce and Mr Morales are in a fierce battle for control of the ruling party, which remains divided between their supporters ahead of the 2025 elections.

Mr Morales said on Sunday that he would press on with a hunger strike until the government of his protege-turned-rival agreed to a political dialogue.

It is a bid to defuse the protests that have paralysed the Andean nation over what Mr Morales’ supporters call his political persecution.

Mr Morales spoke from Chapare, which serves as his political stronghold.

“My fight is to improve the situation in the country and to start a dialogue without conditions on two fronts, one economic and one political,” Mr Morales told The Associated Press from the office of the coca growers’ federation that he has long led.

He said he began his hunger strike on Friday in hopes of “international organisations or friendly governments” facilitating his outreach to Mr Arce.