It all seems rather unserious.
Bolivia's government accused Macri's 2019 administration of sending lethal ammunition and chemical agents to suppress anti-Morales protests, citing a letter from Bolivia's Air Force commander. Macri claims the materials were non-lethal riot-control supplies for embassy security, disputes the letter's authenticity, and alleges the current Argentine government is persecuting him politically.
- Bolivia accused Macri's 2019 government of sending 40,000 rubber bullets and chemical agents to suppress anti-Morales protests
- Argentine military personnel arrived in La Paz on November 13, 2019, three days after Morales left power
- Macri denies the letter's authenticity and claims it was forged; Argentina's current president apologized to Bolivia
- Macri frames the accusation as part of a broader persecution campaign by Fernández's government ahead of midterm elections
Former Argentine President Macri denies Bolivia's accusations of sending lethal ammunition to suppress 2019 protests, claiming materials were riot-control only and alleging persecution by current Argentine government.
In Madrid on a Saturday, Mauricio Macri sat down to answer an accusation that had just landed on him from across the continent. Bolivia's government had gone public with a claim: that during his presidency, his administration had shipped lethal ammunition to La Paz in November 2019 to help suppress the street protests that erupted after Evo Morales left power. Macri's response was swift and categorical. He denied it entirely.
The Bolivian foreign ministry had released a letter purporting to come from Gonzalo Terceros, then commander of Bolivia's Air Force, addressed to Argentina's ambassador in La Paz. In it, Terceros thanked the ambassador for providing material support—specifically, 40,000 rubber bullets of the AT 12/70 variety, along with tear gas canisters and gas grenades. The letter arrived as Argentine military personnel were touching down in La Paz on November 13, 2019, just three days after Morales had stepped down and Jeanine Áñez had assumed the presidency. Those Argentine troops were there to guard the embassy, where several members of Morales's government had taken refuge.
Macri's defense hinged on two main arguments. First, he insisted the materials in question were riot-control supplies, not weapons. "Anti-riot material, not military material," he emphasized to the news agency. He also pushed back against the framing of events in Bolivia itself, calling it absurd to characterize what happened as a coup d'état. The European Union hadn't called it that, he noted. His own government hadn't either. Only the current Argentine administration under Alberto Fernández had accepted that characterization, and Macri attributed that to Fernández's alignment with the Grupo de Puebla, a regional political bloc that, in Macri's view, saw reality through a particular lens.
But Macri's second line of defense was more pointed. He questioned the letter's authenticity outright. He said that in the days following Bolivia's accusation, the supposed brigadier who signed the document had come forward through his lawyer to deny he had ever written it. The signature, Macri claimed, had been forged. Argentina's ambassador in Bolivia, he added, had also stated the letter never existed. "It all seems rather unserious," Macri said.
Macri also offered context about the timing. By November 2019, he had already lost his reelection bid. The decision to send Argentine personnel to La Paz, he said, had been made by the incoming government—Fernández's team—not by him. Text messages and WhatsApp exchanges, he claimed, proved this coordination. The Hercules transport plane carrying the gendarmes had departed after Morales was already out of power, during the period when Congress was selecting an interim president. The mission was simply to protect Argentine diplomats and the government officials from Morales's administration who had sought asylum there.
What Macri presented as the real story, however, was one of persecution. He described a pattern of attacks against him and his associates orchestrated by the current Argentine government. Lawsuits without merit, he said. State agencies conducting inspections of his business activities and those of his partners. And most recently, a bankruptcy decree against a family company—one in which he didn't even participate, only his brothers did—despite an offer to pay the full debt. The judge, he alleged, had rejected the settlement and pushed the company into bankruptcy anyway. Macri framed all of this as evidence that Fernández's government was weakening and worried about the midterm elections coming in November, when Argentines would choose new members of Congress. The accusations from Bolivia, in this telling, were part of a broader campaign to damage him politically.
Meanwhile, Argentina's president had already apologized to Bolivia's current leader, Luis Arce, for whatever had occurred. The regional dispute over what happened in La Paz in 2019—whether it was a coup, a constitutional transition, or something else entirely—remained unresolved, with the two countries' governments now on opposite sides of the question. And Macri's legal troubles at home showed no sign of abating.
Citações Notáveis
The materials being discussed are riot-control, not military material— Mauricio Macri
The supposed brigadier who signed the letter came forward through his lawyer to deny he ever wrote it— Mauricio Macri
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why would Argentina's government send riot-control supplies to Bolivia in the first place, if the stated reason was just embassy security?
That's the core tension. Macri says it was routine—protecting diplomats during a chaotic moment. But the scale matters. Forty thousand rubber bullets and chemical agents is a lot for guarding a building. It suggests either a much larger security operation or something closer to what Bolivia alleges.
Do we know if the letter from the Bolivian Air Force commander is real?
That's exactly what's in dispute. Macri says it's forged, that the commander denied writing it. Bolivia released it as evidence. Without independent verification, it's impossible to say definitively. But the fact that Argentine troops arrived with supplies right around the time the letter references is hard to ignore.
Why would Macri's own government—the incoming one under Fernández—apologize if nothing wrong happened?
Fernández's apology suggests his administration believed something inappropriate occurred, or at least wanted to smooth relations with Bolivia. But Macri's point is that Fernández's government made the decision, not him. He's saying he's being blamed for choices made after he lost power.
Is there any way to know what actually happened?
The documents would tell the story—the manifests of what was shipped, the communications between the two governments, the messages Macri mentions. But those aren't public. What we have is competing narratives and the undeniable fact that Argentine military personnel arrived in La Paz with supplies during a moment of extreme political upheaval.
Why bring up the bankruptcy case and the lawsuits now?
Because Macri is arguing this is all connected—that Bolivia's accusation is being weaponized by his domestic opponents. Whether that's true or paranoia depends on whether you believe the current Argentine government is orchestrating a campaign against him. The midterm elections he mentions suggest he sees this as political theater.