OAS Chief Almagro's Interference in Bolivia To Be Investigated

The President of the South American Parliament (Parlasur) Oscar Laborde on Sunday announced that an investigation will be launched into the role played by the Organization of American States Secretary-General (OAS) Luis Almagro in the post-electoral crisis that broke out in Bolivia in November 2019. 

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Recalling the statements on alleged electoral irregularities in last year's elections, Laborde described the work carried out by the OAS election observation mission to Bolivia as "a brazen thing, without feet or head". 

He noted that the OAS hired two external consultants to investigate the alleged irregularities but a final report on their findings was never presented to prove electoral fraud committed by the then- President Evo Morales who was seeking reelections. 

"If there had been a fraud, why do the same political representations get 55 percent (MAS) and 29 percent (Citizen Community) a year later? The numbers are clear and concise," Laborde said.

In Nov. 2019, a sector of the Bolivian right used the OAS report on electoral fraud to carry out a coup and force Morales to resign. A de facto government was installed after Morales went into exile in Mexico and later in Argentina.

The coup-born regime led by Jeanine Añez dismantled the social and economic policies established by the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) since 2006.

In October 2020, however, the MAS presidential candidate Luis Arce achieved a resounding victory by securing 52.4 percent of the vote, ending thus a year of conservatism and human rights violations by the coup plotters.