Bolivia’s former vice president Álvaro García Linera, prosecuted together with Evo Morales for crimes such as murder and torture in the so-called Terrorism Case, has announced this Thursday that the Mexican authorities have granted him political asylum.
Who for years was Morales’s “number two” and later of Luis Arce, has explained in statements to the television network Unitel that he first traveled to Mexico from Argentina, a country to which he had moved on October 31 of last year for academic commitments.
Once in Mexican territory, he filed the request for asylum, which has finally been granted to him, although for now the Government of Mexico has not publicly commented on this decision.
His words are known one day after Morales stated that “he had information that (García) was in Argentina, but a surprise: he appears in Mexico and seeking asylum.” “It’s his problem; maybe he feels guilty,” he said in statements released by the Bolivian newspaper “El Mundo”.
Both were charged last month with the crimes of murder, mistreatment, and torture, in addition to deprivation of liberty, within the framework of the Terrorism Case. On April 16, 2009, agents of the Bolivian Police broke into the Hotel Las Américas in Santa Cruz, where they killed three people and arrested two others, accused of being part of a suspected terrorist cell. At that time, Morales was traveling in Venezuela and admitted having given the order for the operation, while García Linera served as acting president.