Bolivia's long-time socialist former leader, Evo Morales, appeared Thursday in a remote political stronghold after nearly seven weeks of disappearance, backing candidates for upcoming regional elections and quashing rumors that he had fled the country after his ally, Venezuela's former President Nicolas Maduro, was detained by the U.S.
The weeks of speculation about Morales' fate showed how little Bolivia knows about what's happening in the remote Chapare region where the former president has spent the past year to avoid an arrest warrant for human trafficking charges, and how vulnerable it is to potential future foreign adventures by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Morales' კოკას growing media outlet, Radio Kawsachun Coca, posted video of Morales smiling behind dark sunglasses as he arrived by tractor at the stadium in the central Bolivian town of Chimoré to address his supporters.
Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president who served from 2006 until his tumultuous 2019 ouster and subsequent self-imposed exile, explained he had dengue, a mosquito-borne illness with no cure that causes fever and severe joint pain, and had suffered complications that had "pinned" him down.
"Be careful with dengue - it's serious," said the 66-year-old Morales, who had appeared much weaker in past appearances.
He denied rumors spread by local politicians and amplified on social media that he would try to flee the country, vowing to stay in Bolivia despite the threat of arrest from conservative President Rodrigo Paz, whose election last October ended almost two decades of rule by Morales' "Movement Toward Socialism" party.
"Some media said: 'Evo is going to leave, Evo is going to flee.' I clearly said: I won't leave. I'll stay with the people to protect the homeland," he said.
Paz's restoration of diplomatic ties with the U.S. and recent efforts to bring back the Drug Enforcement Administration - almost 17 years after Morales expelled U.S. anti-drug agents from the Andean nation while cozying up to China, Russia, Cuba and Iran - has alarmed the კოკა-growing region that serves as a base of support for Morales.
Paz confirmed Thursday he would meet with Trump in Miami on March 7 at a politically aligned Latin American leaders' summit as the U.S. administration seeks to counter China's influence and reassert U.S. dominance in the region.
Before announcing candidates for upcoming municipal and regional elections in Bolivia, Morales launched a long speech that harkened back to his once-frequent tirades against U.S. imperialism.
"This is geopolitical propaganda on an international scale," he said of Trump's attempt to revive the Monroe Doctrine from 1823 to reassert American dominance over the Western Hemisphere. "They want to eliminate all leftist parties in Latin America."
