Bolivia interim leader threatens Morales with charges

Bolivia's interim leader Jeanine Anez said Friday that exiled ex-president Evo Morales would have to "answer to justice" if he returns, as five of his supporters were killed in fierce clashes with security forces.

Morales resigned and fled to Mexico after losing the support of Bolivia's security forces following weeks of protests over his disputed re-election that has seen 15 people killed and more than 400 wounded.

"He knows he has to answer to justice. There is electoral crime. There are many allegations of corruption in his government," Anez told journalists in La Paz.

The former president has said he was willing to return to bring peace to Bolivia.

Five Morales supporters died Friday outside Cochabamba in central Bolivia, a political stronghold for the ex-president, as thousands of coca growers tried to reach the city to join a protest against Anez.

But they were blocked by police, who stopped them from crossing a bridge.

An AFP correspondent saw the bodies at a hospital, though authorities did not report any deaths in the clashes, only that 100 people were detained. Media reports said eight were wounded.

"This is a real massacre, it is a genocide, I deplore all these deaths," Evo Morales told CNN from Mexico.

The protesters carried "weapons, guns, Molotov cocktails, homemade bazookas and explosive devices," Cochabamba police commander Colonel Jamie Zurita said.

"They used dynamite and deadly weapons like the Mauser 765 (rifle). Neither the armed forces nor the police are equipped with such a caliber, I am worried," he said.

The crowd was dispersed after dark by riot police, with the support of the army and a helicopter.

Despite its interim nature, the new government has proved ruthless towards Morales's left-wing allies.

Since proclaiming herself acting president on Tuesday, Anez's administration has set about breaking ties with socialist Cuba and Nicolas Maduro's Venezuela.

Anez's first foreign policy decision was to recognize Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's president, joining a group of around 50 countries.

Foreign Minister Karen Longaric announced Friday that Venezuelan diplomats would be sent home for "violating diplomatic norms."
"Regional polarization played out on a national stage will only inflame divisions and make it more difficult to find a consensus exit to the polarized divisions in the country."