Sawt Falasteen - Ex-president of Bolivia blames government as shots fired at him

Morales said his driver was wounded as assailants with their faces covered shot at him as he rode to do a radio interview in the city of Cochabamba.

"The car in which I arrived has 14 bullet holes," said Morales, adding: "This was planned. The idea was to kill Evo."

The radio station that hosted the interview, Kawsachun Coca, released a video that it said was of the bullet-ridden pickup truck that Morales had been in.

The windshield had three bullet holes and the driver had blood on his head.

Morales blamed President Luis Arce, a former ally and cabinet minister of his with whom he has fallen out.

"Lucho has destroyed Bolivia and now he wants to eliminate our process by killing Evo," Morales, using the president's nickname, said of his own attempt to regain the presidency.

Morales added, "Fortunately, my life was spared."

The deputy minister of security, Roberto Rios, said the government will probe the attack.

But he said it might have been staged by the Morales camp -- what he called "a self-attack."

It happened outside a military barracks in Cochabamba as men dressed in black opened fire with rifles at Morales' truck, his MAS party said in a statement.

- Former coca grower -

Morales, a former coca grower who is now 65, served as president from 2006 until 2019 and was highly popular in the Andean country until he tried to bypass the constitution to seek a fourth term.

He was forced to resign after losing the support of the military following an election marked by allegations of fraud, and fled to Mexico.

Morales returned to Bolivia in 2020 seeking political resurrection.

He and Arce are both vying for the nomination of the ruling MAS party in August 2025 presidential elections, although Morales is legally barred from running again.

Morales is being investigated for rape, human trafficking and human smuggling over his alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old member of his political youth guard in 2015.

Supporters of Morales have protested by blocking major roads throughout the country for two weeks.

Arce overhauled the military leadership Saturday as part of what he called a drive to restore order.

Anyelo Cespedes, a lawmaker close to Morales, said that after Sunday's shooting he saw video of a helicopter leaving Cochabamba airport with six people aboard.

"We do not know for sure if they are military or police, but all they really want to do is assassinate Evo Morales," he told AFP.

"Yesterday they overhauled the military leadership and today they try to kill Evo Morales," he added.

B.Mahmoud--SF-PST