US Applauds Resignation of Bolivian President

WHITE HOUSE - The United States government is applauding the resignation of Bolivian President Evo Morales and rejecting assertions by several countries, including Mexico, that he was forced out by a coup.

U.S. President Donald Trump, in a statement, calls Morales’ departure “a significant moment for democracy in the Western Hemisphere. After nearly 14 years and his recent attempt to override the Bolivian constitution and the will of the people, Morales’s departure preserves democracy and paves the way for the Bolivian people to have their voices heard.”

The White House statement adds that the events in Bolivia “send a strong signal to the illegitimate regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua that democracy and the will of the people will always prevail. We are now one step closer to a completely democratic, prosperous, and free Western Hemisphere.”

A senior State Department official told reporters on a conference call on Monday afternoon that Washington does not consider the resignation of Morales to result from a coup, but rather it is an expression of the Bolivian peopled fed up with government ignoring its will.

“There were protesters from all walks on life,” said a senior administration official, denying that it was mainly the Bolivian middle class on the streets demanding Morales’ ouster. “It’s probably a little bit simplistic to boil this down to class or perhaps ethnicity in a complex set of circumstances.”

A senior U.S. official added, that “there’s been too much violence on both sides.”

At the request of United States, as well other countries, including Brazil, Canada, Colombia and Peru, the Organization of American States, on Tuesday afternoon, is to hold a special meeting on the Bolivian situation.

The Morales presidency abruptly ended Sunday, hours after he had accepted calls for a new election by an OAS team that found a “heap of observed irregularities” in the Oct. 20 election.

The delayed results of the balloting, which fueled suspicion of vote rigging, showed Morales getting just enough votes to avoid a runoff against a united opposition trying to prevent him from winning a fourth term.

Morales, on Monday, called on the opposition to keep the peace.

According to the Bolivian constitution, the vice president is next in line to take power when the president steps down. The head of the country's Senate is third in line, but both of them, as well as a number of other top ministers, resigned shortly after Morales, leaving a power vacuum.

Opposition leader Jeanine Anez said Sunday she would assume the interim presidency of Bolivia, but Congress must first be convened to vote her into power.

The U.S. government is calling for Bolivia’s legislative assembly to quickly convene to accept Morales’ resignation and follow the constitution to fill the political vacuum.

“What’s important is to reconstitute the civilian government,” said a senior State Department official.

Morales, the first member of Bolivia's indigenous population to become president, announced his resignation on television shortly after the country’s military chief, General Williams Kaliman, called on him to quit to allow the restoration of peace and stability.

Bolivian opposition leader Carlos Mesa credits a popular uprising, not the military for forcing Morales to step aside.

The military made a decision not to deploy in the streets because “they didn't want to take lives,” according to Mesa.

Mexico is describing the ouster of Morales as a military coup and on Monday granted his request for asylum, according to Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard. Some of Morales’ ministers and senior officials who stepped down are currently seeking refuge in the Mexican ambassador's residence.

“What happened yesterday is a step back for the whole continent,” Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. “We're very worried.”

A high profile freshman opposition member of the U.S. House is also rejecting the Trump administration’s characterization of events in Bolivia.

“What’s happening right now in Bolivia isn’t democracy, it’s a coup,” tweeted Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday. “The people of Bolivia deserve free, fair, and peaceful elections - not violent seizures of power.”