LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) 鈥� Bolivia鈥檚 long-serving socialist former leader, Evo Morales, reappeared Thursday in his political stronghold of the tropics after almost seven , endorsing candidates for upcoming regional elections and quieting rumors he had fled the country in the wake of the U.S. seizure of his ally, Venezuela’s ex-President
The weeks of hand-wringing over Morales鈥� fate showed how little the Andean country knows about what鈥檚 happening in the , where the former president has spent the past year on human trafficking charges, and how vulnerable it is to fears about U.S. potential .
The media outlet of Morales鈥� coca-growing union, Radio Kawsachun Coca, released footage of Morales smiling in dark sunglasses as he arrived via tractor at a stadium in the central Bolivian town of Chimor茅 to address his supporters.
Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president who served from 2006 until his and subsequent self-exile, explained that he had come down with , a mosquito-borne ailment with no treatment that causes fever and severe joint pain, and suffered complications that 鈥渃aught me by surprise.鈥�
鈥淭ake care of yourselves against chikungunya 鈥� it is serious,鈥� the 66-year-old Morales said, appearing markedly more frail than in past appearances.
He dismissed rumors fueled by local politicians and fanned by social media that he would try to flee the country, vowing to remain in Bolivia despite the threat of arrest under conservative , whose election last October of rule by Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism party.
鈥淪ome media said, 鈥楨vo is going to leave, Evo is going to flee.鈥� I said clearly: I am not going to leave. I will stay with the people to defend the homeland,鈥� he said.
Paz鈥檚 revival of diplomatic ties with the U.S. and recent the 鈥� some 17 years after Morales expelled American anti-drug agents from the Andean country while cozying up to China, Russia, 鈥� have rattled the coca-growing region that serves as Morales’ bastion of support.
Paz on Thursday confirmed that he would meet Trump in Miami on convening politically aligned Latin American leaders as the Trump administration seeks to counter Chinese influence and assert U.S. dominance in the region.
Before proclaiming the candidates he would endorse in Bolivia’s municipal and regional elections next month, Morales launched into a lengthy speech reminiscent of his once-frequent diatribes against U.S. imperialism.
鈥淭his is geopolitical propaganda on an international scale,鈥� he said of Trump’s bid to from 1823 in order to reassert American dominance in the Western Hemisphere. 鈥淭hey want to eliminate every left-wing party in Latin America.鈥�
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