Roger Waters Sends Message of Support to Evo Morales

Rock ’n’ Roll legend and former frontman of Pink Floyd Roger Waters sent Tuesday a message of support to democratically elected and forced out former Bolivian President Evo Morales.

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“Evo Morales, if you see this, more power to you. I hope your exile is short, your people need you, they need a leader like you. You’re the first Indigenous leader in the whole of South America, you’ve done a great job, you’ve pulled so many of your people out of poverty and gave them a sense of dignity,”  Waters said in video released on social media, adding that the Bolivian leader, after bringing "the rule of law and democracy" to his country, has been “ripped away from his people by greed.”

“You have right and history on your side and as soon as you are able to come out to your beloved Bolivia, the better it would be for the people and for you [...] but also for the rest of us,” the musician went on.

“I’m not a religious man but if I were I would be praying for that moment,” he concluded, telling Morales that “his heart is with him.”

The British activist is a long-standing supporter of leftist movements worldwide and a staunch opponent of the United States’ imperialistic practices. He publicly criticized the unilateral sanctions against Venezuela, as well as the lawfare strategy and jailing of Brazilian former president Lula. 

Waters’ message of solidarity came as Morales landed Tuesday in Mexico as a political refugee.

The departure of Bolivia's and South America’s first indigenous president who was part of a wave of leftists leaders who dominated Latin America's politics at the start of the century, followed weeks of violent protests by far-right sectors pretexting fraud claims at the Oct. 20 re-election.

Bolivia under Morales was a rare example of stability, had one of the region's strongest economic growth rates and was able to lift millions out of poverty. The Andean country had an economy growing by an annual average of around 4.5 percent, well higher than the regional average.