Morales supporters detain 200 soldiers in Bolivia

LA PAZ

Supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales are holding at least 200 soldiers hostage, the Foreign Ministry said on Oct. 2, as their weeks long standoff with the state escalates.

Three military units in central Bolivia's Chapare province were "assaulted by irregular groups," with the assailants "taking more than 200 military personnel hostage" from three barracks, the ministry said.

"They seized weapons and ammunition," it added.

Backers of Morales, the country's first Indigenous leader, began blocking roads three weeks ago to prevent his arrest on what he calls trumped-up rape charges aimed at thwarting his political comeback.

The government had sent troops to the area in Cochabamba department to help police clear the roadblocks.

Morales, 65, was in office from 2006 to 2019, when he resigned under a cloud after elections marked by fraud.

Despite being barred from running again, Morales wants to challenge President Luis Arce, his former ally, for the nomination of the left-wing MAS party in elections next August.

Days after he led a march of thousands of mainly Indigenous Bolivians on the capital La Paz to protest Arce's policies, prosecutors announced Morales was under investigation for statutory rape, human trafficking and human smuggling over his alleged relationship with a 15-year-old girl in 2015.

Morales, who has holed up in the rural Chapare region, has called the accusations "a lie."

Demanding the government negotiate with him, he launched a hunger strike on Nov. 1. The following day, he pledged to continue it until police release his supporters.