



During a soccer match between teams of political rivals in Bolivia, the country’s president, Evo Morales, was caught on tape delivering a swift knee to an opponent’s groin in retaliation for a hard foul.

As Rory Carroll reported for The Guardian, the incident took place on Sunday in the Bolivian capital, La Paz, as the president’s men took on a team led by the city’s mayor, Luis Revilla.

Mr. Revilla is a former ally of the president who defected from the governing Movement Toward Socialism, known by its Spanish acronym, MAS, to the opposition Movement Without Fear, or MSM.

Within minutes of the kickoff, the BBC explained, a member of the MSM team, Daniel Gustavo Cartagena, inflicted a punishing tackle on the president. Mr. Morales, 50, responded during a subsequent break in play by showing Mr. Cartagena a gash on his leg and then knocking him to the ground by kneeing him in the groin.

Martin Alipaz/EFE, via European Pressphoto Agency

The Bolivian newspaper La Razón reported that one of the president’s bodyguards then tried to reinforce his boss’s message to Mr. Cartagena.

The president somehow escaped a red card and went on to score a goal, but his bodyguard and Mr. Cartagena were sent off for fighting.

At the end of the bad-tempered 4-4 draw, the mayor intervened and convinced police officers not to arrest Mr. Cartagena.