Through an official communiqué, 36 former ministers of Evo Morales "closed ranks" yesterday around the former president and assured that he is not involved in drug trafficking, despite the fact that there is no formal accusation. Former minister Teresa Morales affirmed: "I put my hands in the fire (for him)".
Meanwhile, at least 40 other former ministers, among them the presidents Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca, did not sign the letter, nor did others such as Juan Ramón Quintana, Wálker San Miguel, Claudia Peña and Nila Heredia, among others.
The former ministers Javier Zavaleta, of Labor; Morales, of Productive Development and Alanoca, of Cultures, gave a press conference in which they declared their "indignation in the face of the attacks against former President Evo Morales. This campaign seeks to discredit Morales' image by maliciously linking him to illegal drug trafficking activities in which some former police chiefs and officials have been involved," read Alanoca.
On January 22, when he was being taken to jail, former anti-drug chief Maximiliano Dávila lashed out at the current Minister of Government, Eduardo del Castillo, whom he accused of wanting to incriminate Morales in the drug trafficking investigation.
In the document they also support former vice-president Álvaro García Linera and the current presidents. "Neither Álvaro nor Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca nor any of us (former ministers) ever had any relation with this type of crimes and such accusations are nothing more than a great infamy".
The statement was made public, despite the fact that there is no official accusation against the former president. The position of a sector of MAS comes at a time when the United States offered a reward of five million dollars for the former head of the anti-drug fight, Dávila.
On February 6, Morales declared that he feels persecuted by the US. "It is the Government's task and we cannot be persecuted by the right wing and the US embassy, we cannot continue to be persecuted".
In addition, yesterday it was learned that the Colombian-Venezuelan Álex Saab, alleged front man of the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, was a DEA agent and cooperated with the US for a year in a "proactive" way about his illicit activities and contracts with the Venezuelan government. He was going to turn himself in to US justice, according to disclosed court documents to which Efe had access.
"Hands to the fire".
The former Minister of Productive Development Teresa Morales pointed out that the 36 former authorities "close ranks" around Morales, for whom they also "put their hands in the fire".
"Yes, we close ranks and put our hands in the fire for former President Evo Morales in this matter, which the media is unjustly accusing him of," said Morales, who was also head of the Financial Investigations Unit (UIF).
The former ministers believe that there is a persecution against the head of MAS "based on unfounded slander", then they call on the people "not to get carried away by the campaign of alleged investigators and media that with dubious moral interests lend themselves to the game".
POINT OF VIEW
Paul Coca
Political Analyst
"The one who explains gets complicated".
The fact that former ministers of Evo Morales appear with this communiqué has logic that the one who explains is complicated and so it will always be, the one who explains is complicated.
And the ex-ministers who did not sign this document for whatever reason, does not mean that these ex-authorities are against Evo Morales, because later when the public opinion says that they have not signed, they will appear saying for this reason, for distance, any excuse.
Now, blaming the press, the public opinion, the right wing, the United States is a MAS discourse that at the time had political impact, but it turns out that today it is tiring, repetitive, boring and does not generate any kind of impact, because it became a MAS cliché.
This communiqué to Evo Morales is going to harm him more, because former ministers come out to justify it, to explain something that is already in question before the national public opinion.
Besides, as there is no impartial justice, this helps to question Morales even more. In this issue of drug trafficking there are attacks against the Government and against Evo Morales, however, politically speaking Luis Arce can be a winner, because the political opposition does not have the absolute capacity to generate a gain on the issue.
Arce is the winner, because at the end of the day the president can take the case: whether or not to extradite Dávila or to make reforms to the anti-drug policy in Bolivia. Arce has more to gain than Morales.
The 36 former ministers who signed the endorsement
Among the former ministers who signed the document backing Evo Morales are Sacha Llorenti, Teresa Morales and Javier Zavaleta.
The list: Amanda Dávila, Carlos Romero, Alberto Echazú, Javier Zabaleta, Vladimir Sánchez, José Pimentel, Wilma Alanoca, Celima Torrico, Hugo Moldiz, Casimira Rodríguez, Teresa Morales, Susana Rivero, Marco Machicado, Óscar Coca, Alfredo Rada, Daniel Santalla, Sacha Llorenti, Fernando Vincenti, Tito Montaño, Nélida Sifuentes, Milton Claros, Nardy Suxo, Pablo Groux, Noel Aguirre, Rafael Alarcón, Iván Canelas, Nemesia Achacollo, Juan José Sosa, Guillermo Dalence, Patricia Ballivián and Ariana Campero.
The 40 former ministers who did not sign
The list: Luis Arce, David Choquehuanca, Elizabeth Salguero, Juan Ramón Quintana, W. San Miguel, Abel Mamani, R. Aguilar, José Zamora, Juan C. Calvimontes, F. Huanacuni, Mariana Prado, Alicia Muñoz, Milton Gómez, Carmen Trujillo, Héctor Arce, Elisabeth Arismendi, Saúl Avalos, Víctor Cáceres, Magdalena Cajías, Viviana Caro, Wilfredo Chávez, Calixto Chipana, C. Cocarico, Reymi Ferreira, Santiago Gálvez, Mario Guillén, José L. Gutiérrez, Sandra Gutiérrez, Nila Heredia, Gonzalo Hurtado, Hernán Larrazábal, Pablo Menacho, Jorge Ledezma, Wálter Delgadillo, Ramiro Tapia, Julia Ramos, Jerjes Mercado, Mabel Monje, Claudia Peña and Hugo Salvatierra.
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