Former US senator hints at CIA role in Bolivia

By Vakkas Dogantekin

ANKARA

A former U.S. senator has sarcastically criticized the CIA for the military coup in Bolivia, hinting U.S. involvement in the downfall of elected president Evo Morales on Sunday.

"Congratulations on winning power in Bolivia, @CIA!" Mike Gravel said on Twitter on Sunday, in an apparent hit at the global spy agency.

The Democratic former Alaska Senator has long criticized the U.S. policies in Latin America.

"The lie you will hear ad nauseum is that socialist states failed spontaneously - in reality it was the concerted effort of the US Imperial Machine to crush any nation that could oppose them any time it appeared," he tweeted in May.

The only reaction to the political developments in Bolivia came from the Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar who took to Twitter to define what happened in Bolivia as a "coup".

Omar urged American lawmakers to "unequivocally oppose political violence in Bolivia".

"There's a word for the President of a country being pushed out by the military. It’s called a coup. Bolivians deserve free and fair elections," Omar, a Democrat, added on Twitter.

Bolivia's former president on Sunday said an "illegal arrest warrant" had been issued against him and that his house was attacked by a mob following his forced resignation.

Speaking on social media, Morales said the "coup plotters" razed Bolivian democracy to the ground.

Opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho, president of the right-wing Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee, confirmed on his Twitter account that an arrest warrant was out for Morales.

He said security forces were searching for Morales and that the military had seized the presidential plane.

Presidential polls were held in Bolivia on Oct. 20 with Morales obtaining 47.8% of the vote, securing victory in the first round. Opposition accused the government of committing fraud, with some parties urging supporters to take to the streets.

After the opposition called for the polls to be canceling the polls, Morales announced there would be new elections, but opposition supporters said they would continue protests until an election without Morales was held.

On Sunday, Bolivian Army Chief Williams Kaliman called on Morales to step down in a nationwide address broadcast live.

Morales said he resigned and a “coup” had been carried out against him. He said he made the decision to prevent Camacho and Carlos Mesa, a former president of Bolivia, from issuing further instructions to their supporters to attack Bolivians.