Mexico urges Bolivia to end 'police siege' on its embassy in La Paz

The Mexican embassy in the Bolivian capital of La Paz has been under police siege for the last two days. The embassy houses nine government officials, along with former Bolivian President Evo Morales who has been residing there after seeking asylum last month. The government of Mexico has been appealing to the state of Bolivia to maintain the inviolability of the diplomatic mission.

Embassy under 'siege'

The government of Mexico has appealed to the state of Bolivia to end its continued bullying and intimidation tactics. According to Mexican authorities, the Bolivian government -- which is being led by interim president Jeanine Anez -- is conducting essentially what amounts to a siege against the officials of the Mexican government and people under the protection of the Mexican state.

Multiple government officials including former chief of staff Juan Ramon Quintana are facing arrest under the current regime. The Mexican government claims that it was made aware of the arrest warrants only after Mexico had granted asylum. Tensions between Mexico and Bolivia have been high since November 12, after the embassy granted asylum to the former president Morales and his officials. 

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After former 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's 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 relations with the current Bolivian administration.

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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.