Bolivia's Evo Morales tells AP he'll press on with a hunger strike until his rival accepts dialogue
Bolivia’s transformative and divisive former President Evo Morales has told the Associated Press that he would press on with a hunger strike until the government of his protégé-turned-rival agreed to a political dialogue
LAUCA Ñ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia's transformative and divisive former President Evo Morales said Sunday that he would press on with a hunger strike until the government of his protégé-turned-rival agreed to a political dialogue. His act of dissent aims to defuse street protests that have paralyzed the nation in recent weeks over what Morales' supporters condemn as his political persecution.
Morales, a larger-than-life figure still towering over Bolivian politics five years after his fraught ouster, spoke on his third day without food from the misty tropics of Chapare, Bolivia’s rural coca-growing region that serves as his stronghold.
“My fight is to improve the situation in the country and to start a dialogue without conditions on two fronts, one economic and one political,” Morales told The Associated Press from the office of the coca growers’ federation that he long has led.
The ex-president said he began his hunger strike Friday in hopes of "international organizations or friendly governments" facilitating talks with his political nemesis, President Luis Arce.
