bolivia

Security forces opened fire on supporters of evicted Bolivian President Evo Morales in a central town of Sacaba, killing at least five people, injuring dozens.

Most of the dead and injured Friday in Sacaba near the city of Cochabamba suffered bullet wounds, Guadalberto Lara, director of the town’s Mexico Hospital, told The Associated Press. He called it the worst violence he’s seen in his 30-year career.

Angry demonstrators and relatives of the victims gathered at the site of the shootings, chanting: “Civil war, now!”

Morales, who was granted asylum in Mexico after his resignation Sunday, said on Twitter that a “massacre” had occurred and he described Bolivia’s government led by interim President Jeanine Anez as a dictatorship.

Protesters said police fired when demonstrators, including many coca leaf growers who backed Bolivia’s first indigenous president, tried to cross a military checkpoint. Emeterio Colque Sanchez, a 23-year-old university student, said he saw the dead bodies of several protesters and about two-dozen people rushed to hospitals, many covered in blood.


SIGN UP FOR COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWS LETTER


 


Countercurrents is answerable only to our readers. Support honest journalism because we have no PLANET B. Become a Patron at Patreon Subscribe to our Telegram channel


GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX


One Comment

  1. abubenadhem says:

    “Security forces” is a government euphemism for “dissenter/protester suppressors” ! Damn the violence!