Crisis Chronology

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BOLIVIA

10/31/2023

Bolivia breaks diplomatic ties with Israel over the invasion of Gaza.

01/27/2023

Government sends military and police to dismantle barricades set up by protestors.

01/19/2023

Judge rules that Camacho’s detention is legal.

01/09/2023

At least seventeen people are killed in protests in the south against the jailing of Peruvian mayor Castillo. The Peruvian government bans a visit by Evo Morales, former Bolivian president, who attempted to arrive to support the protests.

01/02/2023

Roads out of Santa Cruz being blocked by truckers’ union as a protest of Camacho’s arrest.

12/29/2022

Civic Committee of Santa Cruz calls for a civic strike in protest of Camacho’s arrest. Protestors attack buildings and burn cars.

12/28/2022

Police arrest Luis Fernando Camacho, the governor of Santa Cruz and a prominent opposition leader with the Christian conservative coalition Creemos. Cam acho recently lead a series of protests against the government’s delay in carrying out the census.

06/11/2022

Jeanine Áñez is sentenced to ten years in prison for breach of duties when she declared herself president (11/12/19) after Morales resigned.

02/10/2022

Trial of Ánez is suspended due to technical difficulties. The court had begun a session virtually due to COVID-19, but was unable to continue.

11/29/2021

Large march in La Paz in support of the government. Leftists fear that conservatives will foment another coup to remove Arce.

10/05/2021

A group of coca leaf growers supporting the government seize control of La Paz coca market from an opposition supporter. Ninety percent of Bolivia’s coca leaf is sold at the Adepoca market, more than $150 million a year.

03/13/2021

Former president Anez is arrested on charges of sedition, terrorism, and having participated in a coup to bring down Morales.

03/07/2021

Regional elections. The COVID-19 pandemic infections are increasing.

11/09/2020

Morales returns.

10/30/2020

Parliament approves a motion recommending that ex-interim president Jeanine Anez and her ministers face justice for genocide over last year’s unrest which left around 30 people dead.

10/27/2020

Court dismisses warrant for Morales’s arrest on sedition and terrorism on a technicality. The investigation into Morales’s conduct continues, but he could re-enter the country without fear of immediate arrest.

10/20/2020

Mesa concedes election after respected poll gives Arce more than 50% of the vote and Mesa about 32%. Arce says that Morales will have no role in the government, though he remains head of the party.

10/20/2020

Parliament approves charges against former president Anez for genocide in massacres in 10/20 and 11/20.

10/18/2020

Exit polls give Arce a strong lead.

09/28/2020

Three ministers resign. One of them says his resignation is due to anez’s decision to sell shares of the state-run electricity company so close to the election.

09/25/2020

Political campaign becomes increasingly violent, with stones being thrown at candidates.

09/17/2020

Ánéz drops out of the presidential election, to strengthen the anti-Morales candidates. Luis Arce of Morales’s MAS party is leading in polls, followed by former president Carlos Mesa, who now leads the Revolutionary Left Front (FRI).

09/08/2020

Court rules that Morales cannot run for parliament because he has not resided in the district according to the law.

08/14/2020

Government announces that elections will be held on 10/18.

07/15/2020

Bolivia experiences a surge in COVID-19 cases. The country hasmore than 62,000 cases and more than 2200 deaths. The health care system is completely overwhelmed. Supporters of Morales are distrustful of Anez’s advice, exacerbating the situation.

06/08/2020

Independent study in US suggests that OAS judgment about fraud in the 2019 presidential election was faulty.

05/21/2020

Health Minister Marcelo Navajas arrested on charges that he overpaid for ventilators that didn’t work.

05/01/2020

Parliament votes to hold elections within ninety days. Bolivia has about 1100 cases of COVID-19 and 60 deaths.

03/23/2020

Election commission delays 5/3 election for two weeks due to COVID-19 pandemic. Áñez remains interim president.

03/10/2020

Bolivia confirms its first two cases of COVID-19.

02/04/2020

Morales, still in exile, says he will run for the Senate.

01/31/2020

Leader of the Movement for Socialism Luis Arce returns to run in the 5/3 election.

01/27/2020

Anez begins planning to run for president in 5/3 election, outrages both opposition and former supporters.

01/27/2020

Anez begins planning to run for president in 5/3 election, outrages both opposition and former supporters.

01/20/2020

Court rejects Morales’s bid to run for the Senate because he does not reside in the country.

12/12/2019

Morales moves to Argentina, where he has been given asylum.

12/05/2019

OAS reports that there is “overwhelming evidence” of vote-rigging in the 10/19 election.

11/26/2019

Government appoints an ambassador to the US, the first in eleven years.

11/25/2019

Ánéz signs bill for new elections. It also annuls the results of the 10/20 election.

11/25/2019

Protests and violence begin to decrease.

11/23/2019

Governments begins peace talks with protestors after protestor dies from wounds.

11/21/2019

Police fire tear gas on a funeral that turned into an anti-government demonstration.

11/16/2019

Eight Morales supporters are killed by police during protest in Sacaba.

11/15/2019

Continued protests by Morales’s supporters.

11/14/2019

Supporters of Morales clash with police. Áñez calls for quick elections. Morales in Mexico declares that he will return, to quell violence. Members of Morales’ party, Movement for Socialism—Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the People (MAS-IPSP or just MAS), attempt to hold sessions but Áñez’s party, Democrat Social Movement, says it does not recognize these meetings or the results. Adriana Salvatierra Arriaza, says that her resignation was never accepted by the Senate and therefore she remains President of the Senate and should take over as president of the country.

11/14/2019

New protests of Áñez’s assumption of power. Morales calls for UN mediation. Áñez says that Morales should not be speaking about Bolivia and that he cannot run for office again, although it’s not clear she has any authority to block him.

11/12/2019

Morales is granted asylum in Mexico. However, his party still controls Congress, and it is unclear how the political future will work out.

11/12/2019

Opposition Senator Jeanine Áñez Chavez declares herself interim president to form a new electoral commission and hold new elections.. Constitutional court subsequently rules in her favor. Morales’s party declares that it will pass a resolution to nullify her assumption of power.

11/10/2019

Morales resigns

Morales calls for new election and a new electoral commission after the OAS says there were “grave irregularities” in the election. A few hours later, Morales resigns at the army’s demand. His vice-president Álvaro García Linera also resigns as do the others in succession: President of the Senate Adriana Salvatierra and President of the Chamber of Deputies Víctor Borda also resign. Opposition senator Jeanine Áñez becomes interim president until a new election is held.

11/06/2019

Protest leader Luis Fernando Camacho arrives in La Paz.

11/05/2019

Morales says he will not resign as opposition plans new protests.

10/31/2019

OAS begins audit of voting.

10/28/2019

Rival groups of demonstrators result in dozens wounded.

10/24/2019

Morales claims victory in election. Protests continue.

10/24/2019

Supreme Electoral Tribunal declares Morales the winner with 47% of the vote to 36.5% for Mesa. Mesa rejects the result. However the tribunal also orders a recount in four districts. The EU, the OAS and others call for a revote.

10/23/2019

Violent protests against election vote count, asserting that the count is fraudulent. The current count gives Morales a 9.4% lead over Mesa; he needs a 10% lead.

10/23/2019

Morales says opposition is attempting to foment a coup against him.

10/21/2019

Election commission says Morales will win a majority of votes. Opposition rejects the outcome and there are protests around the country.

10/20/2019

Elections for president and General Assembly. Early returns suggest that Morales will fall short of a majority, forcing a run-off in December against Carlos Mesa.

10/04/2019

Very large protests against Morales’ policies on the burning of the rainforest in the largest city, Santa Cruz de la Sierra. There are calls for a punishment vote against Morales in the 10/20 presidential election. Morales’ opponent, Carlos Mesa, is gaining ground in opinion polls.

05/18/2019

Morales begins campaign for 10/20 election. Although Morales is the leading candidate, with former president Carlos Mesa running second in polls, his popularity has fallen somewhat.

10/01/2018

UN court rules that Chile is not obligated to negotiate a path to the sea with Bolivia. Bolivia lost 250 miles of coastline to Chile in the War in the Pacific (1879-1884).

11/28/2017

Morales allowed to run for a fourth term

Supreme Court rules that Pres Morales lost the referendum on term limits due to an illegal defamatory campaign against him, and allows him to run for a fourth term in 2019.

03/01/2017

Morales, ill for weeks, goes to Cuba for medical treatment.

02/24/2016

Referendum on term limits fails

With nearly all votes counted, the referendum measure fails, 51% against to 49%. Morales has recently been hurt by scandals involving favors to a former girlfriend, and is increasingly seen as no longer sympathetic to average voters.

02/17/2016

Protests about referendum on new term for President Morales, to be held on 2/21, become violent.