Bolivia’s Evo Morales says his vehicle hit by gunfire as political tension rises

The former Bolivian leader Evo Morales said on Sunday his vehicle was hit by gunfire that was captured in a video, reflecting how political tensions have turned violent between Morales and his former ally and now president, Luis Arce.

Morales posted a video on Facebook taken from inside a moving car, showing him sitting in the front passenger seat and at least two bullet holes in the windshield. The driver appeared to have been injured. Morales wrote that the government was to blame.

The incident and claims could spark further unrest and instability at a time of already high tensions, with Morales supporters blocking key highways and clashing with security forces trying to clear them.

In a radio interview, Morales said two vehicles intercepted him on the road and fired upon his car, and he claimed a bullet passed centimetres from his head. “I don’t know if they were soldiers or police,” he said.

The deputy security minister, Roberto Ríos, told journalists that police had not carried out any operation against the former president. “As authorities in charge of state security, we are obliged to investigate any report, whether it is true or false,” Ríos said.

On Saturday the government had accused Morales of destabilising the country with two weeks of road blockades that have jammed up supplies of food and fuel around the country. It accused him of trying to “interrupt democratic order”.

The government said in a statement that some groups allied to Morales were armed and it warned about violence, saying 14 police officers were wounded trying to break up the blockades.

Morales and Arce, his former economy minister, are part of the same Movement for Socialism (MAS) political party but have clashed increasingly over the last year, part of a power struggle before elections due in 2025.

The country is grappling with dwindling gas production, drained foreign currency reserves and rising inflation, which is heaping pressure on the ruling party and leading to increasingly messy political infighting.

Morales is also facing allegations that he had relationships with minors. He was formally summoned by regional prosecutors to testify in the case but did not appear and now faces an arrest warrant. Morales denies the accusations.