BOLIVIAN President Luis Arce has vowed to defend the country from another Washington-backed coup as thousands rallied against violence from fascist opposition groups across the country.

Speaking in the capital La Paz on Wednesday he said: “We are not going to allow them to do what they did in 2019.”

He was referring to the overthrow of then president Evo Morales who was ousted as US-backed opposition groups and institutions, including the Organisation of American States, made unfounded allegations of election fraud.

But his Movement Towards Socialism won a landslide victory in the presidential and parliamentary elections just a year later.

“We are going to defend our process. We beat them in the ballot box … but what they couldn’t win in the ballot box they want to tear away from us with mobilisations in which they pay people,” he said.

Bolivian trade unions and social movements rejected a bid by right-wing opposition forces who called for national strike action and anti-government rallies on Tuesday.

A farm worker was killed in Potosi as he was attacked by a mob mobilised by the far-right Civic Committee.