LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia's hugely popular and controversial former leftist president, Evo Morales, on Monday called on supporters to take to the streets in protest against his bitter political rival, current President Luis Arce, who hours earlier accused Morales on national TV of trying to overthrow him.
Morales’ appeal to Bolivia’s farmers, miners and peasants followed President Arce's unprecedented televised speech late Sunday lambasting his former mentor. Accusing Morales of trying to sabotage his administration and undermine democracy, Arce escalated a high-stakes power struggle that has pushed Bolivia to the brink.
“Enough, Evo!” Arce exclaimed on state TV. “Until now, I have tolerated your attacks and slander in silence. But putting the lives of people at risk is something I cannot tolerate.”
Arce, who has faced a series of mounting crises with his ruling party riven by disagreements, alleged that Morales’ attempts to mobilize support and run against Arce in next year's presidential election was “putting democracy at risk."
"You are threatening the entire country," Arce said, claiming that Morales sought to return to power by “means fair or foul."
His dramatic speech in the Andean nation of 12 million dredged up the chaos and bloodshed of 2019, when Morales ran for an unconstitutional third term and won. After accusations of fraud sparked mass protests, Morales resigned under pressure from the army, in what his supporters call a coup. At least 36 people were killed in the ensuing crackdown by security forces.
Morales, who served as Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, has vowed to unleash unrest if he is stopped from running in the August 2025 elections.
Ever since the constitutional court last year barred the charismatic leader from the race, coca cultivators, Indigenous tribes and workers — whom Morales represented during his presidency from 2006 to 2019 — have come to his defense with street protests, marches and road blockades.
Speaking to reporters, Morales encouraged the international community to follow his so-called “March to Save Bolivia" on Tuesday from the southeast village of Caracollo to Bolivia's administrative capital of La Paz. He described the march — 85 kilometers (53 miles) by foot along a highway — as a natural expression of protest against the failure of Arce’s government to fix the worsening economic crisis.
Firing back at Arce on Monday, Morales insisted that he had no selfish ulterior motives.
“The march is the response of a people fed up with their unthinking government, which has maintained absolute silence in the face of the crisis, corruption and the destruction of stability,” Morales wrote on social media platform X. “President Arce is not only desperate, but also confused.”
Over the past year, the Arce-Morales rift has polarized Bolivia, tainting the country's politics and creating a sense of turmoil that soldiers sought to seize upon in June in an alleged coup attempt.
Anti-government protesters on Monday flocked to the main road leading to Bolivia’s tourist hotspot of Lake Titicaca, convening and calling on Arce to resign under the watchful gaze of riot police. Some demonstrators piled dirt at the entrances of other roads in the La Paz area, impeding traffic.
“It’s an incompetent government that we have, and it won’t solve the economic crisis,” said Pablo Merma, a peasant leader of the so-called Red Ponchos, radical Indigenous activists from the high plains who rallied Monday against the president. “We are not afraid of you, Arce.”
Another protest leader, Ponciano Santos, warned Arce that the social movement would hold him responsible for whatever happened on Tuesday.
"If you tear gas us, if you interfere with our march, the government will fall,” Santos told reporters.
Although Arce was Morales’ former economy minister and his candidate in Bolivia’s 2020 elections, the erstwhile allies began vying for power after Morales’ return from exile and political comeback the same year.
Bolivia’s political stagnation and economic quagmire — with fuel scarce and the central bank dangerously short on foreign currency reserves — has caused some Bolivians once outraged over Morales’ strongman tendencies to grow nostalgic for the ex-leader’s transformation of the economy and remarkable reduction of poverty.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Rocks block a highway towards Lake Titicaca in Vilaque on the outskirts of El Alto, Bolivia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. The rocks were placed by people protesting for the resignation of Bolivian President Luis Arce for his management of the economy. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Rocks block a highway towards Lake Titicaca in Vilaque on the outskirts of El Alto, Bolivia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. The roadblock was placed by protesters demanding the resignation of Bolivian President Luis Arce for his management of the economy. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Police keep protesters from blocking more lanes as they protest for the resignation of Bolivian President Luis Arce for his management of the economy in Corapata, on the outskirts of El Alto, Bolivia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Police patrol at a roadblock in Vilaque on the outskirts of El Alto, Bolivia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. The roadblock was placed by protesters demanding the resignation of Bolivian President Luis Arce for his management of the economy. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is holding near its records on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates.
The S&P 500 was virtually flat in afternoon trading and 0.6% below its all-time high set in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 4 points, or less than 0.1%, and close to its record set on Monday. The Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher, as of 3:05 p.m. Eastern time.
The momentous move by the Fed helps financial markets in two big ways. It eases the brakes off the economy, which has been slowing under the weight of higher rates, and it also gives a boost to prices for all kinds of investments. Besides stocks, gold and bond prices already rallied in recent months on expectations that cuts to rates were coming.
Because the cut was so well telegraphed, and markets had already moved so much in anticipation of it, Wall Street’s reactions weren’t that big on Wednesday despite the historic nature of the Fed’s action. It was the first cut to rates in more than four years, and it closed the door on a run where the Fed jacked the federal funds rate to a two-decade high in hopes of slowing the economy enough to stifle the worst inflation in generations.
Now that inflation has eased back significantly from its peak two summers ago, the Fed has said it can turn more of its attention toward protecting the slowing job market and overall economy.
“The time to support the labor market is when it’s strong and not when you begin to see the layoffs," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said. "That’s the situation we’re in.”
The only question is how much the Fed will ultimately cut rates by to do so, which can prove to be a tricky balance. Lowering rates would ease the brakes off the economy by making it easier for U.S. businesses and households to borrow. But it could also offer more fuel for inflation.
The Fed released forecasts Wednesday that said its median official expects to cut the federal funds rate by another half of a percentage point through the end of the year. That could mean a traditional-sized cut of a quarter of a percentage point at each of its two remaining meetings scheduled for 2024.
After that, the median Fed official is projecting another full percentage point of cuts during 2025.
Some critics say the Federal Reserve is moving too late to protect the economy and may have missed the window to prevent a recession.
“We don’t think we’re behind,” Powell said. “We think this is timely. But I think you can take this as a sign of our commitment not to get behind," pointing to Wednesday's hefty cut of half a percentage point. Powell called it a “good strong start to this.”
Other critics, meanwhile, are saying the Fed will need to be careful about cutting rates too much because of the possibility that inflation remains stubbornly higher than it has in recent decades.
Powell stressed repeatedly that the Fed does not feel “a rush to get this done” and will make its decisions on interest rates meeting by meeting, depending on what incoming data say.
“We’ll move as fast or as slow as we think is appropriate in real time,” he said. For now, he said, "the U.S. economy is in a good place, and our decision today is designed to keep it there.”
Treasury yields were mixed following the Fed’s move.
The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 3.70% from 3.65% late Tuesday after wavering up and down immediately after the Fed announced its decision. The two-year yield, which more closely follows expectations for Fed action, edged up to 3.61% from 3.60% but also squiggled as Powell spoke.
On Wall Street, Intuitive Machines soared 42.2% after NASA awarded it with a contract worth up to $4.82 billion for communication and navigation services the space agency will use to establish a long-term presence on the moon.
Trading in Tupperware Brands remained halted after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Its stock has been sinking, down to 51 cents, since a mini-revival early in the pandemic sent its stock above $30.
McGrath RentCorp., a company that rents and sells mobile office trailers, portable classrooms and other structures, fell 4.7% after it agreed to terminate its proposed buyout by WillScot following tough scrutiny of the deal from U.S. regulators.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were modestly lower in Europe after finishing higher in much of Asia.
The Bank of Japan and the Bank of England are also holding monetary policy meetings later this week. Neither central bank is expected to move on rates, though the language of what the officials say could be an indicator of later moves and still influence markets.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
Trader Edward Curran works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist John O'Hara works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Leon Montana works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Aaron Ford works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Michael Capolino works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A bus passes the Wall St. subway station on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
The New York Stock Exchange, with a banner for American Eagle Outfitters, is shown on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
A person stands near an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People stand near an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person rides a bicycle in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
