Bolivian Ex-President Morales Plans To Demand Resignation Of OAS Head

BUENOS AIRES (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2020) Bolivia's ex-president, Evo Morales, said in an interview with Sputnik that he planned to demand that Luis Almargo resign from the position of general secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), saying that he had a direct role in Morales' overthrow as a result of the 2019 election.

Morales, who governed Bolivia from 2006-2009, stated that the country will initiate a formal complaint before the OAS to promote the removal of Almagro if he does not resign.

"With certainty, rest assured: not for Evo, not for Bolivia but for all Latin America," the former president stated, adding that "all Latin Americans will mobilize so that Almagro will resign and will be prosecuted."

The OAS is an international organization that includes 35 countries. During the presidential elections held in Bolivia in 2019, the organization acted as an observer and said that multiple violations had taken place.

According to Morales, there is evidence demonstrated by eight organizations and institutions that there was no fraud in the presidential elections of 2019, unlike the OAS claimed � and it was Almagro, not the OAS, who was involved in the coup in Bolivia, Morales argued.

The former president recalled that Argentine League for Human Rights and Nobel Peace prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel filed a complaint against the OAS with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet amid what he called an intervention in the presidential election in 2019.

MORALES CONFIRMS MEETING WITH VENEZUELA'S MADURO

In the interview with Sputnik, Evo Morales also confirmed that he had visited Venezuela between Friday and Saturday to talk to President Nicolas Maduro.

"Yes, I was there the day before yesterday, arrived on Friday night and returned on Saturday night. I met with the president of Venezuela," Morales said.

He noted that he had discussed with Maduro and Argentine President Alberto Fernandez the idea of reviving the Union of South American Nations regional bloc, which became a legal entity back in 2011 and was since abandoned by the majority of its 12 members.

"We have talked a lot with Fernandez and Maduro about returning to UNASUR," Morales stated.

MORALES PLANS TO RETURN TO BOLIVIA

Answering a question regarding his return to Bolivia, the ex-president pointed out that he could return on November 11, as some organizations have made such a request.

"Six Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba are reviewing our request to return on November 11," Morales said.

The Bolivian Workers' Confederation, of which Morales is a member, also asked him about his return, for which they will be responsible.

"The chief executive office, comrade Jacinto Herrera, wants me to come back as soon as possible, also on November 11," the former president said.

If Morales returns to Bolivia on November 11, the ex-president will not be able to attend the inauguration of President-Elect Luis Arce, slated for November 8. Arce, from Morales' Movement for Socialism party (MAS), was elected president of Bolivia for the period of 2020-2025 at the October 18 general election.

"I have no problem going this week or the next one, but I am also very organized about respecting decisions of regional or national organizations," Morales admitted.

Addressing the results of the October 18 general election, Morales said that he was sure for several weeks that the MAS party would win with more than half of the votes, but it actually gained over 55 percent.

"For a month and a half before the elections I said that we were going to win with more than 50 percent but not by 55 percent," Morales told Sputnik.

When he was asked if he would be a part of the future government of Bolivia, Morales said that he would not participate in it.

"No, I will not, but I have an obligation to share my experience with comrade Lucho, some reflections. I will not, not at all," Morales said, referring to Arce.

THOUGHTS ON FUTURE OF LATIN AMERICA'S ECONOMY

During the interview, Morales shared his reflections about the future of the Latin American economy, insisting that the regional countries' debt should be written off amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis.

"I think that because of the pandemic, Latin American external debt should be written off," the former president emphasized, adding that he could be useful "to speak with international organizations," that are usually "so strict on issues related to debt".

Bolivia's economy grew at an average of 4.9 percent a year between 2006 and 2018.

"When I became president, the external debt was 56% of the GDP and we lowered it to 11%," Bolivia's former leader told Sputnik.

Morales added that after he left the post of president, the transitional government accumulated internal and external debt that is currently approaching 40 percent of the GDP.