:strip_icc()/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_59edd422c0c84a879bd37670ae4f538a/internal_photos/bs/2020/X/5/q4KFlBShWibCrhzgCBlQ/2020-11-09t142108z-1369319239-rc2qzj9cr8n1-rtrmadp-3-bolivia-politics-morales.jpg)
[ad_1]
The former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales crossed the border from Argentina to the country on Monday (9) on the eve of the one-year anniversary of his resignation. Evo was greeted by a crowd in the city of Villazón.
He set foot in Bolivia again the day after the inauguration of Luis Arce, who was his Minister of Economy, as president.
On November 10, 2019, Evo resigned as president after being pressured by the military. He faced pressure for reelection, which was challenged by the opposition and the Organization of American States (OAS).
Watch a video of Arce’s inauguration below.
Luis Arce takes office as the new president of Bolivia
Back in the country, Evo plans to build a caravan with 800 cars that will travel more than a thousand kilometers from the south of the country to the coca leaf production area in Cochabamba, where he began his political career.
“This is a triumphant return. Evo Morales is an undisputed world leader,” Huelvi Mamani, one of the security officers, told AFP at the welcoming ceremony in Villazón.
Bolivians await the return of Evo Morales in the city of Villazón, on November 9, 2020 – Photo: Melissa Rios / Disclosure notice to the Bolivian Presidency
Refugee in Argentina since December last year, Evo traveled this Sunday (8) to the city of La Quiaca, in the Argentine province of Jujuy, on the border with Bolivia.
Before Evo left Argentina, he and President Alberto Fernandéz met at a dinner.
Morales resigned from the presidency on November 10, 2019. The next day, he traveled to Mexico and, weeks later, in December, took refuge in Argentina.
Bolivian women await the return of Evo Morales, on November 9, 2020 – Photo: Melissa Rio / Press Release / Councils of the Presidency of Bolivia
It was in the Tropic of Cochabamba where Evo emerged as the leader of the “cocaleros” (coca leaf producers) in the 1980s. In these rural areas there are many graffiti with the phrase “Volte Evo” on the facades of the houses of brick.
Bolivia is one of the Latin American countries with the largest indigenous population, corresponding to 41% of its 11.5 million inhabitants. Of these, 34.6% live in poverty and 12.9% in extreme poverty.
With the economic deterioration caused, in part, by the coronavirus pandemic, many want to repeat the “economic miracle” of Morales’ administration, when Arce was Minister of Economy: high growth and poverty reduction (from 60% to 37, 2%). %).
