Former vice president of Bolivia Álvaro García Linera, processed together with Evo Morales for offenses such as murder and torture in the so-called Terrorism Case, has confirmed this Thursday that Mexican authorities have granted him political asylum.
The former “number two” of Morales and later of Luis Arce explained to the Unitel television chain that he traveled to Mexico from Argentina, a country to which he had moved on October 31 for academic reasons.
Once on Mexican territory, he formally submitted the request for asylum, which has finally been granted to him, although for now the Government of Mexico has not issued any official statement regarding it.
These statements come a day after the Prosecutor’s Office cited him to testify, as the State’s attorney general, José Armando Urioste, confirmed to the newspaper “El Deber.” “He was cited yesterday in the afternoon hours but was not found. Then, the corresponding investigations are being carried out,” he said, adding that it has also been ordered to summon Morales.
The former president has criticized that García “cowardly escapes” and has stressed that he does not “feel” responsible for the events. “I am not guilty; we have defended the unity of the national territory. I deeply regret that some, like Álvaro, cowardly escape. Here you have to go straight, we are with the truth, we are with the homeland, we are with the people,” he said on his Radio Kawsachun Coca program.
Both leaders were accused last month of murder, mistreatment, torture, and deprivation of liberty within the framework of the Terrorism Case. On April 16, 2009, Bolivian Police agents broke into the Hotel Las Américas in Santa Cruz, where they killed three people and arrested two others, who were linked to a purported terrorist cell. At that time, Morales was traveling in Venezuela and admitted that he had given the order for the operation, while García Linera was serving as acting president.