LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) – Former president Evo Morales from Bolivia claimed to have survived an assassination attempt on Sunday after unidentified men opened fire on his car. He was not injured and there was no immediate confirmation of the attack from authorities.

Morales claimed the shots were fired while he was driving in Bolivia’s coca-growing Chapare region, the former president’s rural stronghold whose residents have blocked the country’s main east-west highway for the past two weeks.

Roadblocks – protest against Morales supporters condemns the attempts of president Luis Arce to sabotage his former mentor and bitter political rival—have isolated cities and disrupted food and fuel supplies.

Morales, who ruled Bolivia from 2006 to 2019, emerged unscathed from Sunday’s alleged attack, appearing on his weekly radio show in his usual calm manner to recount what happened.

He told the radio host that as he was leaving home for the radio station, hooded men fired at least 14 shots into his car, wounding its driver.

Morales was quick to blame his successor, President Arcewith whom he is fighting to be the candidate of the ruling socialist party in next year’s presidential election. He claimed that Arce’s government resorted to physical force, unable to defeat him politically.

“Arce will go down as the worst president in history,” Morales said. “Shooting a former president is the last straw.”

Officials in Arce’s government did not respond to requests for comment on the incident.

Cellphone video circulating online shows Morales’ driver bleeding from the back of his head. Morales can be seen in the passenger seat holding a phone to his ear as the vehicle pulls up and a woman’s voice yells “Duck!”

Footage shows the car’s front windshield was cracked by at least three bullets and the rear windshield was shattered. Morales can be heard saying, “Papacho was shot in the head,” apparently referring to his driver.

“They’re shooting at us,” Morales continued into the phone. “They shot the car’s tire and it stopped on the road.”

Morales’ claim deepens political tensions in Bolivia at a volatile time for the cash-strapped Andean nation of 12 million people.

In June there was an alleged coup attempt by a rogue general. Last month Morales led a massive march against the government’s mismanagement of the economy, which quickly turned into street clashes with pro-government crowds. Imported goods are scarce and prices are rising. Drivers wait for hours to fill up at gas stations. The gap between official and black market rates is widening.

Earlier this month, the feud between Morales and Arce moved to court as Bolivian prosecutors launched an investigation into allegations that Morales fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2016, classifying their relationship as rape legal.

Morales dismissed the charges as politically motivated and refused to testify in the case. Since reports emerged of a possible arrest warrant against him, the former president has been holed up in the Chapare region of central Bolivia, where supportive coca farmers have kept a vigilant watch to protect him from arrest.

President Arce accuses Morales of trying to undermine his administration to further his own ambitions.

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DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina