Bolivia's interim president Jeanine Anez was forced to suspend a trip out of the capital La Paz
Bolivia's interim president Jeanine Anez was forced to suspend a trip out of the capital La Paz
Bolivia's interim president Jeanine Anez was forced to suspend a trip out of the capital La Paz planned for Monday, a government spokesman said, after a threat on her life by a "criminal group."
Anez, 52, had been due to travel to her native Beni province in northeastern Bolivia but the trip was canceled because of a credible threat, Interior Minister Arturo Murillo said at a news conference in La Paz.
Murillo said Venezuelans, Cubans, and Colombians were "involved," without giving further details. Anez's government on Friday asked Venezuelan officials to leave the country and accused Cuba of stoking unrest.
Both Cuba and Venezuela were close allies of socialist former president Evo Morales, who stepped down last week amid violent protests and accusations of vote-rigging in an Oct. 20 presidential election. An Organization of American States audit found irregularities in the vote.
Morales fled to Mexico but his supporters have since taken to the streets, sometimes armed with homemade weapons, barricading roads and skirmishing with security forces.
A total of 23 people have died in the unrest so far, according to a government human rights institution.
The roadblocks have caused a food and fuel crisis, resulting in long lines outside grocery stores in La Paz. A general strike called for Monday appeared by midday to have fallen flat.
Anez, a conservative former senator, took over last Tuesday. She has promised to build bridges with Morales' Movement for Socialism (MAS) party and hold fresh elections, albeit without the participation of Morales, who ran the country since 2006.
But attempts at dialogue with Morales' supporters have faltered, with both sides trading accusations of fomenting violence
