“I’m not going to shut up and if they want to kill me, they kill me. I’m not afraid to tell my truth. I’m in a free country. As I’ve said before, for the process of change, I will give my life.”
Patricia Arce, the mayor of Bolivian town of Vinto told media after she was dragged out of her office, beaten and paraded by anti-government protestors. The mob cut the woman leader's hair and poured paint on her before using force to make her sign a resignation letter in the violence-hit South American country.
In shocking videos circulating on social media, she is seen gheraoed by masked men who ask her to hold a metal pole and kneel down on a bridge where they cut her hair.
Patricia, leader from the outgoing President Evo Morales’s Movement to Socialism (MAS) party, was accused of purporting the murder of two protestors in the city. A pro-government crowd and the protestors had earlier clashed in the small Bolivian town, resulting in the death of two men.
Leftist President Morales, a former coca farmer who became Bolivia's first indigenous president, resigned Sunday following three weeks of violent protests over his disputed re-election victory. He gained a controversial fourth term when he was declared the winner of the October 20 presidential election by a narrow margin.
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is also a Leftist has offered asylum to Morales if the situation worsens. MAS accuses the United States and Canada of funding the right-leaning protests to topple the pro-people government in the country.
(With agency inputs)