Ex-ministers of Evo Morales are arrested while on their way to Mexico

A former minister and a former deputy minister in the government of Evo Morales were arrested this Saturday, 1, as they prepared to travel to Mexico, despite having received a pass this week from the interim government of Bolivia.

The Bolivian police captured, at El Alto International Airport, which also serves La Paz, the former Minister of Mines, César Navarro, and the former Minister of Rural Development and Land, Pedro Damián Dorado.

Navarro and Dorado, who were accompanied by a commission of foreign diplomats, were taken to the offices of the Special Crime Fighting Force (FELCC), according to local media reports.

The Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed the pass to the two last Wednesday, who had so far remained at the residence of the Mexican Embassy in La Paz, so that they could leave the country.

The interim government minister (Interior), Arturo Murillo, lamented in a message on Twitter that “due to the lack of communication and coordination, this incident occurred”.

"The national government will fulfill the State's faith by giving two former Evo Morales employees a pass and guarantee their departure from the country to Mexico," he said.

Morales announced on November 10, 2019 his resignation from power, denouncing a coup d'état to overthrow him, amid protests over alleged electoral fraud in his favor in the failed elections of October 20.