Former Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived Tuesday in Mexico after being granted political asylum. “I want to say that I’m very thankfu
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived Tuesday in Mexico after being granted political asylum.
“I want to say that I’m very thankful because the president of Mexico … has saved my life,” Morales said during a news conference.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard called it a “happy day” because the asylum Mexico is offering the former Bolivian president will give him “liberty, security, integrity and protection of his life.”
Morales stepped down Sunday after the army requested he leave his post. Protesters have been in the streets calling for his resignation.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel Bermudez tweeted condemnation of the Organization of American States (OAS) regional bloc, which condemned the former president’s re-election last month.
“Collusion and silence from OAS, this is how the shameful, perverse and meddling Ministry of Colonies acts,” Diaz Canel Bermudez tweeted.
Mexico took a hands-off approach at an OAS meeting in October, saying elections should be left in the hands of Bolivia.
It announced it would offer Morales asylum on the day he stepped down. The following day, Ebrard said the request for asylum had become official.
“Mexico has decided to grant [Morales] asylum on humanitarian grounds. In Bolivia, his life and his integrity are in danger,” Ebrard said.
In a tweet Monday, Morales promised his country he would eventually return to Bolivia with more “strength and energy.”
“Brothers and sisters, I’m leaving for Mexico, grateful for the openness of the government of these brothers who gave us asylum to save our lives. It hurts me to leave the country for political reasons,” Morales tweeted.