Bolivia says death toll up to seven in post-election unrest

Seven people died in Bolivia in violence that broke out after Evo Morales was declared the winner of a recent presidential election, the attorney general said Tuesday.

Four of those fatalities were from gunfire, Juan Lanchipa said. Until now, the toll was three dead.

Morales resigned Sunday and went into exile in Mexico on Tuesday.

“All of these cases will be investigated until we establish the truth and find out who is responsible so they can be punished under the law,” Lanchipa said.

He also called on Bolivians to return to calm after Senator Jeanine Anez proclaimed herself acting president in a move endorsed by the country’s Constitutional Court.

Security forces patrol the streets of La Paz, on November 12, 2019 after Jeanine Anez, a deputy speaker of the senate, proclaimed herself Bolivia’s new interim president during a session of Congress that failed to reach a quorum. – Bolivia’s Evo Morales jetted off to exile in Mexico on Tuesday, leaving behind a country in turmoil after his abrupt resignation as president. The country has been hit by weeks of unrest amid violent protests following Morales’ contested re-election. (Photo by Ronaldo SCHEMIDT / AFP)

Anez, formerly deputy speaker of the senate, proclaimed herself Bolivia’s new interim president Tuesday during a session of Congress that failed to reach a quorum.

Lawmakers had been summoned to formalize Sunday’s resignation of Evo Morales and confirm Jeanine Anez, 52, as interim president, to end a power vacuum.

“We want to call new elections as soon as possible,” she said in a speech to Congress, with only lawmakers opposed to Morales present. Earlier, in the Senate, she had proclaimed herself president of the upper chamber.

“It’s a commitment we have made to the country and of course, we will fulfill it,” she said.

Anez, a senator from the northeastern department of Beni, said there was a “need to create a climate of social peace” in the country.

Carlos Mesa, the centrist candidate defeated by Morales in the tainted October 20 presidential elections, tweeted his congratulations after the session.

Powerful opposition figure Luis Fernandez Camacho, regional leader in eastern department of Santa Cruz, announced he had lifted strikes and blockades called three weeks ago in protest at Morales’ disputed re-election.

Morales, 60, resigned Sunday after weeks of often violent protests following his contested October 20 re-election which monitors from the Organization of American States said was riddled with irregularities.

Anez, second vice-president of the Senate, is constitutionally next-in-line for the presidency after the vice-president and leaders of both houses of Congress resigned along with Morales, leaving a power vacuum in the country.

Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales condemned what he called “the sneakiest, most nefarious coup in history” Tuesday after Anez declared herself interim president.

Tweeting from exile in Mexico, where he fled after resigning Sunday, Morales called Anez “a coup-mongering right-wing senator.”

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