Bolivia's electoral tribunal bans ex-leader Morales and suspends a key candidate, drawing backlash

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia’s top electoral tribunal on Tuesday disqualified former President Evo Morales from running in the August presidential vote and suspended the candidacy of the other main leftist contender, immediately vaulting President Luis Arce’s governing socialist party into the ranks of front-runners despite its unpopularity.

The moves targeted the two strongest leftist challengers to Arce's nominee: Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president who governed the country from 2006 until his ouster in 2019, and Andrónico Rodríguez, the young Senate president who hails from Morales' rural coca-growing bastion.

Both Morales and Rodríguez vowed to fight the decisions and condemned them as a blow to the Andean nation’s fragile democracy.

“The parties that want to support me have been persecuted,” Morales, who still commands fervent support in his tropical highland stronghold, told a local radio show. “The battle is not lost. We will wage a social and legal battle.”

On social media, he voiced alarm over “the grave threat facing democracy today.”

Morales has repeatedly promised that Bolivia would “convulse” if the electoral tribunal bars him from the race, heightening a sense of crisis in the run-up to the deeply polarized vote scheduled for Aug. 17.

President Arce dismissed their criticism, asking only that “the electoral dispute not generate political and economic instability."

Rodríguez — a fresh-faced 36-year-old candidate who generated excitement among voters disillusioned with Morales’ fifth presidential bid and outraged with Arce’s handling of Bolivia's worst economic crisis in 40 years — also called for protests against what he called “a political decision” to suspend his candidacy.

“No ruling or judicial decision driven by political interests can overrule the sovereign will of the people,” he wrote on X.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal gave narrow, technical reasons for the decisions as the window closed for candidates to register their political parties.

A power struggle between Morales and his former ally and finance minister, President Arce, has fractured their dominant Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, forcing Morales to break off and create his own political party.

Arce, whose popularity has plunged as inflation surges and fuel shortages paralyze the country, dropped out of the race last week and nominated his senior minister, Eduardo del Castillo, as the MAS party candidate.

A stern-faced lawyer and loyalist of Arce who oversaw police crackdowns on anti-government protests over the last year, Del Castillo has struggled to summon the kind of support enjoyed by Morales and Rodríguez.

Divisions are also splitting the vote on the right, which has left the anti-MAS movement without a clear front-runner to seize on what could otherwise be the opposition’s first real shot at victory after almost two decades of left-wing rule.

According to the list published Tuesday by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the successfully registered opposition candidates include Samuel Doria Medina, 66, a former cement tycoon notorious for his multiple unsuccessful presidential bids.

There's also Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, who promoted market-friendly reforms as president from 2001-2002 after serving as vice president to the late military dictator, Hugo Banzer, in a government accused of widespread human rights abuses.

“Morales is out of the race,” Tahuichi Tahuichi, a member of the board, declared on Tuesday.

Morales’ disqualification, though controversial, had been expected. His recently formed political faction, “Evo Pueblo,” lacks official party status, the electoral tribunal said, while an allied party that planned to host his candidacy failed to meet other legal requirements.

Even as Morales continued to insist on the legitimacy of his candidacy, a divisive ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal that bans citizens from running for more than two presidential terms also complicates his path back to the presidency.

Some analysts see that ruling — made by Arce-allied judges that interfered in judicial elections to extend their own terms — as emblematic of how the judiciary in Bolivia has been undermined by political wrangling.

“Arce benefited from the rapid deterioration of the already weak justice system, failed to enact desperately needed reforms and manipulated the courts to his advantage," said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivian research group.

“This lack of due process and rule of law make the upcoming elections a free-for-all with an unpredictable, unsustainable outcome.”

More surprising was the tribunal's decision to suspend Rodríguez’s candidacy pending a hearing on the legality of his political alliance. Judges accepted his appeal and set a first tribunal session for Wednesday.

The new constraints on the candidates also drew criticism even from officials within the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

“The democratic system is at risk by legal actions affecting the normal development of elections,” wrote Francisco Vargas, a member of the electoral body. “I am alerting the country and the international community.”

DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Bolivian Senate President Andronico Rodriguez, right, and running mate Mariana Prado raise their arms at a ceremony announcing their presidential candidacy for the Alianza Popular (Popular Alliance) party, in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Supporters of presidential candidate Andronico Rodriguez march after a ceremony in which he announced his candidacy for the Alianza Popular (Popular Alliance) party, in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Senate President Andronico Rodriguez, right, chats with running mate Mariana Prado at a ceremony announcing their presidential candidacy for the Alianza Popular (Popular Alliance) party, in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Senate President Andronico Rodriguez attends a ceremony announcing his presidential candidacy for the Alianza Popular (Popular Alliance) party, in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.

In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.

Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.

Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.

But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.

More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.

More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.

A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)