Bolivia’s Morales arrives in Mexico, vows to continue fight

Bolivian President Evo Morales has arrived in Mexico after being granted asylum following his abrupt resignation under pressure from the military and political opponents.

Morales landed at the Mexico City Airport on Tuesday and gave a brief news conference on the tarmac, saying he was forced to stand down but did so willingly "so there would be no more bloodshed.”

The 60-year-old said the Bolivian government was "very grateful" to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for the asylum offer and promised to stay in politics, stressing that "the fight continues.”

"While I have life I'll stay in politics, the fight continues. All the people of the world have the right to free themselves from discrimination and humiliation," Morales said.

“I thought we had finished with the discrimination and the humiliation, but new groups have emerged that have no respect for life, let alone for the fatherland,” he added. “It’s another lesson to learn.”

Morales won Bolivia’s October 20 presidential election but the opposition rejected the outcome and claimed that there had been fraud in the election process.

That sparked violent street protests, which left three people dead and hundreds more wounded, in what the Morales government called a coup bid.

PressTV-Police fire tear gas at Bolivian protesters

Tensions flared up in the street of La Paz on Tuesday as protesters took to the streets to demand new elections amidst accusations of fraud in a recent vote.

The Bolivian president called for re-elections on Sunday after a report by the Organization of American States (OAS) showed irregularities in the election.

The report prompted some of Morales’ ruling party allies to relinquish power and the army to urge the leftist leader to resign, which he agreed to do even as he stressed that his electoral victory had been valid.

Morales left Bolivia shortly after his resignation, which drew condemnations from Latin America’s leftist governments and prominent politicians, with many of them echoing Morales and branding the developments in Bolivia as a “coup d’état.”

Bolivian senator declares herself interim president

Jeanine Anez, the opposition politician and the head of Bolivia's Senate, declared herself the country’s interim president on Tuesday after Morales resigned and took asylum in Mexico.

"Before the definitive absence of the president and vice president ... as the president of the Chamber of Senators, I immediately assume the presidency as foreseen in the constitutional order," Anez said to applause from opposition lawmakers.

The 52-year-old took over the presidency in a legislative session that failed to reach a quorum after being boycotted by legislators from Morales' left-wing party.

The Bolivia's ousted president condemned the proclamation as "the sneakiest, most nefarious coup in history.”

Earlier, the Bolivian ambassador to the Organization of American States had expressed regret over the breakdown of the constitutional democratic order in her country.

The official hailed Morales’ resignation as it was aimed at ending violence and racism in the Latin American country.

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