MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st December, 2019) Bolivian Interior Minister Arturo Murillo has asked the Mexican authorities to withdraw asylum from former head of presidential administration, Juan Ramon Quitana, who is holed up at the Mexican embassy in Bolivian capital La Paz, media reported Saturday.
"In the case of Juan Ramon Quintana, the Mexican embassy must drop him at the gate, from where we will take him to court," Murillo said to reporters as cited by newspaper Los Tiempos.
Murillo went on to say that Mexico should not "shelter criminals" and that Quintana vowed to make Bolivia into a modern Vietnam, Los Tiempos wrote.
Earlier in the week, Bolivian interim Foreign Minister Karen Longaric handed Mexican ambassador to the country five arrest warrants for high-ranking officials in the toppled government of Evo Morales, who are taking refuge in the embassy. They are all charged with sedition and terrorism, according the Public Prosecutor's office.
Earlier in the month, Bolivia experienced a change in leadership following mass protests against the results of the October general election. Evo Morales stepped down as president on November 10 and fled to Mexico. Most of Bolivia's senior officials resigned in his wake. This resulted in the Senate's second vice speaker, opposition lawmaker Jeanine Anez, declaring herself interim president. Morales has characterized the situation as a coup.
