Bolivia's former President Evo Morales claims his car was shot at in attempted assassination

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Former President Evo Morales of Bolivia claimed he survived an assassination attempt on Sunday after unidentified men opened fire on his car. He was not injured in the alleged attack that quickly became the latest flashpoint in a power struggle between the ex-leader and his successor, current President Luis Arce.

Morales, 65, blamed President Arce's government for the outburst of violence, saying it was part of a coordinated campaign by the Bolivian authorities to sideline him from politics.

Arce's government pointed its finger at Morales, claiming the leftist icon staged an attack on himself to boost his own political fortunes ahead of presidential elections next year.

Both sides rejected the claims against them.

The flurry of pointed accusations threatened to ignite Bolivia’s political tinderbox and plunge the cash-strapped Andean nation of 12 million further into turmoil.

Morales alleged the shots were fired while he was being driven in Bolivia’s coca leaf-growing region of Chapare, the ex-president’s rural stronghold whose residents have blockaded the main east-west highway for the past two weeks in a show of defiance and solidarity after new legal threats against Morales emerged.

The roadblocks and mass vigils have choked off major cities and disrupted food and fuel supplies, exacerbating the country's rolling economic crisis.

Morales, who served as Bolivia's first Indigenous president from 2006-2019, described the burst of gunfire that hit his car on Sunday as part of a conspiracy by Arce’s government to drive him out of politics.

On Sunday, Morales emerged unscathed, appearing on his weekly radio show in his usual calm manner to recount what happened. He told the radio host that as he was leaving home for the radio station, hooded men fired at least 14 shots at his car, wounding his driver.

“Arce is going to go down as the worst president in history,” Morales said. “Shooting a former president is the last straw.”

From Arce's government, Deputy Security Minister Roberto Rios insisted that police had not carried out any kind of operation against the former president.

He said authorities were investigating a theory that Morales had conducted “a possible self-attack."

“Morales is seeking confrontation and violence on the roads for political interests and to achieve impunity,” Rios told reporters.

Officials in Arce’s government did not respond to requests from The Associated Press to elaborate on the contested claims.

As cellphone footage spread online showing Morales’ driver bleeding from the back of his head, his supporters called for mass rallies to show their anger. In the video taken from inside the car, Morales can be seen in the passenger’s seat holding a phone to his ear as the vehicle swerves and a woman’s voice shrieks “Duck!”

The footage shows the car’s front windshield cracked by at least three bullets and its rear windshield shattered. Morales can be heard saying, “Papacho has been shot in the head,” apparently referring to his driver.

“They are shooting at us,” Morales continues on the phone. “They shot the tire of the car and it stopped on the road.”

Even before the shots were fired, the country’s political atmosphere was rife with personal attacks and at times violence.

In June there was an attempted coup by a rogue general who later accused Arce of asking him to stage the uprising to boost the president's own flagging popularity.

Last month, in a show of political strength, Morales and his supporters set off on a highly anticipated dayslong march to La Paz, the capital, from a rural village in an effort to pressure Arce to address dire shortages of fuel and dollars.

Imported goods are scarce and prices are rising. Drivers wait for hours to fill up at gas stations. The gap between the official and black-market exchange rates is widening.

The march in September, which also called for authorities to allow Morales to run in next year's election despite his disqualification by the election commission, quickly devolved into street clashes with counter-protesters.

Earlier this month, Bolivian prosecutors launched an investigation into accusations that Morales fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2016, classifying the case as statutory rape. Dismissing the renewed prosecution attempt as politically motivated, Morales has refused to testify in court.

Since reports circulated of a possible warrant against him, the ex-president has been holed up in the Chapare region, in central Bolivia, where loyalist coca growers have kept vigilant watch to protect him from arrest.

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DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina

Supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales clash with police during a roadblock to pressure against him being prosecuted over allegations of minor abuse, near Cochabamba, Bolivia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cartagena)

A supporter of former Bolivian President Evo Morales takes part in a road block as pressure to prevent the former leader from facing a criminal investigation over allegations for abuse of a minor, near Cochabamba, Bolivia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales block a road as pressure to prevent the former leader from facing a criminal investigation over allegations of abuse of a minor, near Cochabamba, Bolivia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Police clears the fire barricades with a tractor as supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales block roads to pressure against him being prosecuted over allegations of minor abuse, near Cochabamba, Bolivia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cartagena)

Riot police clash with supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales during a roadblock to pressure against him being prosecuted over allegations of minor abuse, near Cochabamba, Bolivia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cartagena)

Supporters of former Bolivian President Evo Morales block a road as pressure to prevent the former leader from facing a criminal investigation over allegations of abuse of a minor, near Cochabamba, Bolivia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

FILE - Former President Evo Morales speaks to supporters after marching to La Paz, Bolivia, to protest current President Luis Arce, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s president Salome Zourabichvili Sunday said the country was the victim of a Russian “special operation” as she she stood alongside Georgia’s opposition to say she did not recognize the results of the vote.

She called on Georgians to come out at 7 p.m. on Monday on the main street in the capital to protest the result, which she said was a “total falsification, total stealing of your votes.” She spoke the day after an election which could decide Georgia's place in Europe.

The Central Election Commission said Sunday that the ruling party, Georgian Dream, got 54.8% of Saturday’s vote with almost 100% of ballots counted.

European electoral observers said the election took place in a “divisive” environment marked by intimidation and instances of physical violence which undermined the outcome of the vote.

The pre-election campaign in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people, which borders Russia, was dominated by foreign policy and marked by a bitter fight for votes and allegations of a smear campaign.

Initial figures suggested turnout is the highest since the ruling party was first elected in 2012.

Monitoring officials from the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe said Sunday they had multiple concerns about the conduct of the election including vote buying, double voting, physical violence and intimidation.

Georgian Dream used hostile rhetoric and “promoted Russian disinformation” and conspiracy theories ahead of the election in an attempt to “undermine and manipulate the vote,” Antonio Lopez-Istruiz White from the OSCE said.

Georgian electoral observers, who stationed thousands of monitors across the country, reported multiple violations and said the results “do not correspond to the will of the Georgian people.”

Georgian Dream has become increasingly authoritarian, adopting laws similar to those used by Russia to crack down on freedom of speech. Brussels suspended Georgia’s EU membership process indefinitely because of a “Russian law,” passed in June.

Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of Georgian Dream who made his fortune in Russia, claimed victory almost immediately after polls closed and said, “It is rare in the world for the same party to achieve such success in such a difficult situation.” He had vowed ahead of the election to ban opposition parties should his party win.

Tina Bokuchava, the chair of the United National Movement opposition party accused the election commission of carrying out Ivanishvili’s “dirty order” and said he “stole the victory from the Georgian people and thereby stole the European future.”

She indicated the opposition would not recognize the results and “will fight like never before to reclaim our European future.”

The UNM party said its headquarters were attacked on Saturday while Georgian media reported two people were hospitalized after being attacked outside polling stations.

Some Georgians complained of intimidation and being pressured to vote for the governing party.

Georgian Dream scored its highest share of the vote — polling almost 90% — in the Javakheti region of southern Georgia, 135 kilometers (83 miles) west of the capital Tbilisi where it failed to get more than 44% of the vote in any district.

Before the election, The Associated Press traveled to the region where many people are ethnic Armenians who speak Armenian, Russian and limited Georgian. Some voters suggested they were instructed how to vote by local officials while several questioned why Georgia needed a relationship with Europe and suggested it would be better off allied with Moscow.

Around 80% of Georgians favor joining the EU, according to polls, and the country’s constitution obliges its leaders to pursue membership in that bloc and NATO. Many fear that Georgian Dream is dragging the country toward authoritarianism and killing off hopes of becoming an EU member.

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Associated Press producer Sophiko Megrelidze contributed to this report

Elene Khoshtaria, chair of United National Movement, speaks to the media at the coalition's headquarters after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, early Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

Elene Khoshtaria, chair of United National Movement, center, speaks to the media, accompanied by Zurab Japaridze, chairman of the Girchi More Freedom party, left; Nika Melia, a leader of Coalition for Changes, second left; Nika Gvaramia, leader of Coalition for Changes, second right, and Nana Malashkhia, who leads the Coalition for Change parliament list, right, at the coalition's headquarters after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, early Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

From left, Nika Melia, Nika Gvaramia, leaders of Coalition for Changes, and Nana Malashkhia, who leads the Coalition for Change parliament list, react while talking to journalists at coalition's headquarters after polls closing at the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)

FILE - Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the created by him the Georgian Dream party gestures greeting demonstrators during a rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, on April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov, File)

FILE - Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the created by him the Georgian Dream party greets demonstrators during a rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, on April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov, File)

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)