Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi categorically denounced the US meddling in the internal affairs of Bolivia, lashing out at Washington for acting in a coup d’état-style action against the South American country’s legal President Evo Morales. RNA - “Any forceful change of governments outside legal frameworks, particularly by foreign interference, is condemned and unacceptable,” Mousavi said on Tuesday, referring to the forcible removal of Morales who was recently forced to resign and leave the homeland under US-orchestrated pressure from the army and police amid violent post-election protests.
He said Iran believes any such change “should reflect the people’s will and come about at ballot boxes within the framework of law”.
The official expressed hope that the Bolivian people and various political groups would make use of their country’s political and legal potential in order to achieve a peaceful solution to the existing crisis, without resorting to turbulence, violence, and fight.
President Morales won Bolivia’s October 20 presidential election. The opposition, however, rejected the outcome and said there had been fraud in the election process.
That sparked violent street protests, which left three people dead and hundreds more wounded, in what the Morales government called a coup bid.
Morales called for re-elections on Sunday after a report by the Organization of American States (OAS) reported irregularities in the election.
Shortly afterwards, however, Morales said he was resigning as president following calls by senior army and police officials. He later left Bolivia for Mexico under pressure from the military and political opponents.
According to Fars News Agency, Morales’ shock resignation has drawn condemnations from Latin America’s leftist governments and prominent politicians, many of whom echoed Morales and branded the developments in Bolivia as a “coup d’état”.
Morales was forced to resign from his post after weeks of opposition protests over a disputed election result, which culminated in military leaders 'advising' the embattled president to step down. While slamming the opposition forces as coup plotters and insisting he won October’s election fair and square, Morales nonetheless agreed to resign in order to calm tensions across the country.
Hectic protests and clashes between rival activists have continued in cities around Bolivia even after Morales’s resignation. In La Paz on Monday night, security forces and opposition protesters erected barricades in the streets in preparation for a large confrontation, as thousands of Morales supporters march toward the city.
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