<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div class="container content-width3" style="--font-size:20px;">
<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Evo-Morales-Warns-Coup-Attempt-Underway-in-Bolivia-20191023-0002.html">https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Evo-Morales-Warns-Coup-Attempt-Underway-in-Bolivia-20191023-0002.html</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Evo Morales Warns Coup Attempt Underway
in Bolivia</h1>
Published 23 October 2019</div>
<hr>
<div class="content">
<div class="moz-reader-content line-height4 reader-show-element">
<div id="readability-page-1" class="page">
<div>
<p>Bolivia’s leftist President Evo Morales gave a press
conference early Wednesday morning in which he warned
that a right-wing coup attempt is being carried out so
as to stop the full counting of votes, and annul the
result of Sunday's elections if it gives Morales a
first-round victory. </p>
<p>“A coup is underway, carried out by the right-wing with
foreign support...what are the methods of this coup
attempt? They’re not recognizing or waiting for election
results, they’re burning down electoral courts, they
want to proclaim the second-place candidate as the
winner”, Morales told journalists assembled. </p>
<p>Morales pointed to the fact he is in the first place
and reiterated his victory. However, he also<a
href="https://twitter.com/Canal_BoliviaTV/status/1186973992047038465"
target="_blank"> stated</a> that “we are just waiting
for the electoral court to report the results, I'm
nearly certain that with the vote of the rural areas
that we will win in the first round, even though the
preliminary results show that we’ve won, but we are
respectful and will wait for the official results from
the electoral court. I say to the international press,
our triumphs have always been with the rural vote.” </p>
<p>Morales also thanked the Bolivian people for giving his
‘Movement Towards Socialism’ party majority in the
legislature, though pointing out that his party has so
far fallen short of a two-thirds supermajority. </p>
<p>Anti-government right-wing protests turned violent
Monday with numerous violent attacks took place across
the country as preliminary results indicated that
leftist President Evo Morales is on course for a
first-round victory. Attacks included the burning down
of vote counting centers and assaulting Indigenous
supporters of Morales. </p>
<p>The first such action was in the city of Sucre, an
opposition stronghold, where rioters set fire to the
regional electoral authority. Elsewhere in the country,
government buildings were attacked in Tarija, Oruro, the
campaign headquarters of Morales’ party were vandalized.</p>
<p>In Cochabamba, where Morales is leading the vote,
protesters attempted to seize control of the Campo
Ferial, which is the hall in which the votes were being
counted. </p>
<p>The president stressed that a key tactic of
the right-wing who are plotting a coup is to not
recognize the Indigenous vote, which largely favors
Morales.</p>
<p>“I understand the desperation of right, they don’t want
to recognize my victory, they want to not recognize the
Indigenous vote, just like in the past...we are all
humans, we are all part of the Bolivian family, we can
have ideological differences, but to sow hate against
the Indigenous and not recognise their vote is just
racism,” he added. </p>
<p>To defeat the coup, Morales echoed the call from social
movements of the <a
href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolivian-Social-Movements-Mobilize-To-Defend-Vote-Against-Opposition-Violence-20191022-0003.html"
target="_blank">CONALCAM</a> who yesterday declared a
state of emergency and peaceful mobilization to defend
democracy from right-wing violence.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedomarchives.org/">https://freedomarchives.org/</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>