Buenos Aires, February 7 (RHC)-- Former Bolivian President Evo Morales says that one of the reasons for his candidacy as a senator is to "shield himself from the threats" from the United States, following the coup d'état that took place in November last year.

"The United States is targeting me, and I clearly remember what happened in Libya and Iraq.  That is one of the reasons why I thought of being a candidate for legislator (in the elections of May 3rd) to shield myself from these threats," said the Indigenous leader in an interview with the Argentinian newspaper La Nacion.

Morales was registered as the first senator for the Department of Cochabamba by the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party.  He handed over in Argentina, where he is a political refugee, a power of attorney to his former chief of staff Patricia Hermosa and former Deputy Minister Wilfredo Chavez to register him as a candidate. However, Hermosa was arrested and imprisoned, accused of "treason and terrorism" as part of political persecution being carried out by the coup government of Jeanine Añez.

Evo Morales said that in November, he was already thinking about his candidacy so that he could "shield himself" from the threats of the United States.  "The United States has been targeting me for a while.  Last week, I had an extensive meeting in Buenos Aires with my lawyers, among them, Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, who told me: "Evo, the gringos do not want to see you, they don't even want to see a painting of you."  That is why the possibility of this candidacy for member of parliament or senator consolidated," he told La Nacion.

Meanwhile, Bolivian lawmaker Tomas Monasterio, close to the minority wing of legislators that support the self-proclaimed Añez, asked the United States that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) open an investigation against Evo Morales for alleged drug trafficking crimes.

"We have formally submitted a request for the opening of an international investigation into the crime of drug trafficking against former President Evo Morales Ayma.  There are plenty of priors," Monasterio told reporters as he was leaving the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia.

Bolivian right-wing lawmaker Tomás Monasterio went to the U.S. embassy to solicit the DEA's help in investigating former President Evo Morales.  He said the letter is for the chargé d'affaires to deliver to the main heads of the DEA.

On Thursday, Bolivian police arrested an assemblyman for the MAS party, Gustavo Torrico, on charges of sedition and terrorism, which has provoked the anger of the party and leaders who label the act as political persecution.

Evo Morales, the first Indigenous president of Bolivia, during his tenure between 2006-2019, stood firm in his anti-imperialist position and criticized the interference of the White House in the internal affairs not only in Bolivia but throughout Latin America.