UPDATE 1-Mexico grants asylum to Bolivia's Evo Morales, demands safe conduct

Mexico has granted asylum to Bolivia's former president Evo Morales, Mexico's top diplomat said on Monday, after the veteran socialist resigned following a disputed election in the South American country.

"We will immediately proceed to inform Bolivia's foreign ministry that under international law, it should offer safe conduct" to Morales, Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told reporters. The departure of Bolivia's first indigenous president, one of a wave of leftists who dominated Latin America's politics at the start of the century, has failed to end weeks of violent protests about allegations of fraud at the Oct. 20 re-election.

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