EVO MORALES has vowed to continue a hunger strike until the Bolivian government agrees to negotiate on political and economic demands.

The Latin American country is paralysed by roadblocks organised by supporters of the former president, who has accused President Luis Arce — his former finance minister — of trying to kill him.

The former allies are now bitter rivals for the leadership of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), which has won every Bolivian election since 2006. Mr Morales was president until he was overthrown in a military coup in 2019, which led to a year of violent dictatorship under the US-backed Jeanine Anez regime. 

As Mr Morales was in exile, Mr Arce led the MAS in the elections conceded after a year of mass protests, and now he is seeking to bar Mr Morales from the party’s nomination for the presidency next year. The former president says Mr Arce’s behaviour is “a betrayal of the people, of the party activists, of the revolution.”

Mr Morales began his hunger strike on Friday — protesting against a government crackdown on a roadblock between La Paz and Cochabama in which thousands of police officers backed by helicopters attacked crowds with tear gas. Sixty-six people were arrested, and Mr Morales is demanding their release as well.

The government claims Mr Morales’s supporters have occupied an army barracks and are holding 200 soldiers hostage. The Morales camp says a peaceful vigil is taking place at the barracks, and has released footage of Morales-backing trade unionists engaging in discussions with soldiers.

Mr Morales’s convoy came under gunfire from police last week, in what the former president says was an attempt to murder him. 

The government says police opened fire because the convoy barrelled through a security checkpoint. 

It has also launched an investigation into an allegation that Mr Morales raped a 15-year-old, which the Morales camp say is an example of “lawfare,” concocted criminal charges brought to disqualify political rivals, as famously used to stop current Brazilian President Lula running against Jair Bolsonaro in 2019. 

Argentina’s far-right government has also launched a criminal investigation into alleged child abuse by Mr Morales, seen by his supporters as part of a co-ordinated character assassination attempt.