Mexico calls meeting with Bolivian diplomats to protest ‘harassment’

Mexico requested a meeting with Bolivia’s charge d’affaires to register a protest against the “harassment and intimidation” of Mexican diplomats in La Paz. Mexico’s foreign ministry, in a statement, had accused Bolivia of intimidation of Mexican diplomats with increased police presence outside the Mexican embassy and official residence, calling it a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

According to the ministry, a meeting has been called for December 26 to let the Bolivian charge d’affaires explain the behaviour of their authorities. “Bolivian intelligence and security forces continue to surround Mexico's embassy and residence in La Paz, contrary to what Bolivian officials have reported,” the ministry had said in a statement on December 24. It added that there is a police cordon registering everyone entering and leaving Mexico's diplomatic premises. 

“Agents are making recordings and have tried to stop Mexico's ambassador and diplomatic personnel from moving freely, and Mexico's official vehicles are being followed,” accused the ministry.

Read: Bolivia's Ousted President Morales Vows To Be 'back Within A Year'

Mexico's relation with current Bolivian administration

After former Bolivian President Evo Morales outrightly claimed that he won the presidential elections held in October, there was popular unrest in the country that forced him to resign and leave Bolivia. Jeanine Anez, Bolivia's opposition lawmaker and Senate second vice-president then took over the charge and declared herself to be the country's interim president. Morales moved out of Bolivia to accept political asylum in Mexico which damaged its relation of current Bolivian administration.

Read: Mexican President Calls Bolivian Leader 'victim Of A Coup D'etat'

On December 1, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called former Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales as the “victim of a coup d'etat”. The Mexican President, nicknamed AMLO, held a rally in the central Plaza del Zocalo to celebrate his first year in office where he said, "Evo was the victim of a coup d'etat! And from Mexico, we tell the world, 'Yes to democracy, no to militarism!'". The leftist President then called Morales a brother who represents, with dignity, the majority of indigenous people of Bolivia.

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(With inputs from agencies)