LA PAZ, Dec 7, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Bolivia’s former economy minister, Luis
Arce — credited with steering the country through several years of strong
growth — announced Friday he had joined ex-president Evo Morales in Mexico,
where he has been given political asylum.
“I thank the Mexican government for granting me political asylum in that
brother country,” Arce wrote in a letter published by Bolivian media.
Arce was a key part of successive Morales governments since 2006 that
slashed the poverty rate and presided over rapid economic growth fuelled by
gas exports, making Bolivia one of Latin America’s fastest-growing economies
in recent years.
Arce said in the letter that he intended to move later to Brazil “to
continue my periodic medical exams.” The former minister had to temporarily
step aside in 2017 for health reasons.
Arce had forecast 4.5 percent growth for 2019, before the post-election
violence that forced Morales to resign on November 10 and accept political
asylum in Mexico two days later.
Former vice-president Alvaro Garcia and ex-health minister Gabriela Montano
have also been given asylum in Mexico.