Evo Morales flees Mexico to Argentina

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After arriving in Buenos Aires, they ask the former president of Bolivia not to make political statements

After arriving in Buenos Aires on Thursday, former Bolivia’s Evo Morales will receive refugee status, Argentine Foreign Minister Felipe Solá said.

Morales “comes to stay in Argentina. He enters asylum status and then goes on to have refugee status, ” Solá told the TN news channel. The ex-president “feels better here than in Mexico that is far away,” he added.

Solá recalled that Morales’ children are in Argentina, bordering Bolivia.

The arrival of the Bolivian ex-president comes two days after President Alberto Fernández assumed command of Argentina. Morales was isolated in Mexico since November 12, after resigning from the presidency; On December 6 he left for a temporary trip to Cuba.

He arrived under total secrecy with former Bolivian Vice President Álvaro García Linera, former Foreign Minister Diego Pary, former Health Minister Gabriela Montaño and the former ambassador of Bolivia to the OAS, José Alberto Gonzales. All were isolated in Mexico.

“We want Evo’s commitment not to make political statements in Argentina. It is a condition that we ask,” said Solá.

Solá said that a meeting of Morales with Fernández, center-left Peronist was not scheduled Thursday, and did not specify where in the country the Bolivian ex-president will remain as a refugee. A diplomatic source told AFP that he is staying in Greater Buenos Aires, outside the Argentine capital. There is the La Matanza district, which houses a large part of the Bolivian community residing in Argentina.

Refugee status will be granted by the Ministry of Interior and to obtain it must meet requirements such as setting a domicile in the country, Solá said.

Unlike the political asylum that is granted by a government in a short time without justifying it, the refugee status is broader, the application must be justified and the person has greater rights and obligations, according to Argentine immigration regulations.

With his kids 

The Bolivian ex-president is one of the personalities Fernandez had invited to the ceremony of his investiture. In Argentina, there are his two children, Evaliz and Álvaro, since November 23.

In addition, there is a strong presence of Bolivians. According to the last census of 2010, some 350,000 Bolivians reside in Argentina, 19% of foreigners in the country. But community associations number between one and two million Bolivian residents.

Analysts believe that the decision will not have much impact on the international policy of the new government.

It was “expected” and “will have no significance in specific issues” for the new Argentine government, said political consultant and sociologist Raúl Aragón.

“This surely does not suit (Jair) Bolsonaro or (Donald) Trump, but beyond the discursive of politics, which are fireworks, when it comes to agreeing on concrete issues, Evo Morales has no significance”, Aragon declared.

Evo “is fine, whole”

Daniel Catalano, general secretary of ATE (Association of State Workers) -Capital and member of the delegation that received Morales, said the ex-president “is fine, is whole

“Glad to be in Argentina,” Catalano said and added that they are moving him “to a safe place.”

“Facto government”

Morales resigned on November 10 after losing the support of the Armed Forces, in the midst of social upheaval following an electoral process in which he sought his fourth consecutive term and was considered fraudulent by the OAS observation mission.

The ex-president left for Mexico. Fernández, then president-elect of Argentina, denounced a “coup d’etat” in Bolivia and collaborated with the operation to get Morales out of his country and reach Mexico.

Solá ratified that Argentina does not recognize the transitional Bolivian government of Jeanine Áñez, on the contrary, it describes it as “de facto government”. 

“We do not recognize the Bolivian government but we do vote and we will try not to put the slightest stick on the wheel, but rather to help the elections be held as soon as possible,” he said.

Áñez called for elections in Bolivia and announced that they will be held in March or April, without the participation of Morales. His government predicted that the relationship with Argentina “will be difficult.”

Source: informador.mx, infobae

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