former president Evo Morales targeted by a new arrest warrant in the case concerning the “trafficking” of a minor

Bolivian justice issued an arrest warrant against Evo Morales on Friday January 17 during a hearing to which the ex-president, who is seeking to return to power, was summoned, but to which he did not attend. presented, as had already been the case on Tuesday. The court wanted to examine a request from the prosecution for placement in preventive detention for six months. The judge of Tarija, in the south of the country, Nelson Rocabado, also ordered the freezing of the property of the former head of state, and prohibited his exit from the country.

“I denounce to the world which persecutes me and condemns me in record time, a “justice” that is partial and subject to the government of Arce”reacted the former leader (2006-2019) on his X account. “My accusers are not seeking justice, they want to proscribe and eliminate me before the next presidential election in Bolivia”he castigated.

The first Bolivian head of state of indigenous origin, Evo Morales is accused of “milking” of a minor due to an alleged arrangement made with her parents. According to the prosecution, Mr. Morales, 65, had a relationship in 2015 with a 15-year-old girl, from whom a daughter was born a year later.

“Legal war”

Mr. Morales rejects these accusations and argues that an investigation into the same facts was dismissed in 2020. “They could not prove a crime and invented another”he further affirmed.

The former leader says he is the victim of “legal war” orchestrated by the president, Luis Arce, rival for the nomination of the left party in power with a view to the presidential election in August. Evo Morales wants to return to power despite a ruling by the Constitutional Court which confirmed, in November, the ban on a president serving more than two mandates.

Mr. Morales' lawyers submitted a medical certificate on Tuesday to justify his absence, reporting bronchopneumonia and possible bradycardia (an abnormally slow heart rate). Prosecutor Sandra Gutierrez, in charge of the case, told reporters Friday that the documents presented “do not constitute valid legal impediments” to justify his absence.

Supports ensure his safety

The former coca farmer is supported by many supporters, mainly indigenous farmers, who demonstrated at the start of the week in La Paz after a four-day march from Patacamaya, 100 kilometers south of the administrative capital. They were protesting against the economic crisis, demanding the resignation of President Arce. Clashes with the police led to the arrest of forty-one people on Tuesday, the second day of these demonstrations, according to the mediator responsible for the defense of freedoms.

This is the second march by supporters of Mr. Morales, a radical leftist, after a first in September in which the former leader participated. But since then, already targeted by an arrest warrant, he remains entrenched in his stronghold in the Tropico de Cochabamba region, in the state of Chapare, in the center of the country, protected by his supporters.

“Brother Evo’s Safety” is ensured by more than “2,000 people, every day, twenty-four hours a day”assured Wednesday to Agence France-Presse, Vicente Choque, of the Single Trade Union Confederation of Peasant Workers of Bolivia, and one of his relatives.

In December, the prosecutor presented charges against Mr. Morales in this case for which he faces a sentence of ten to fifteen years in prison. She then explained that she had issued an arrest warrant against him in October without revealing its existence due to the “complexity” of the case, so that it can be heard by the public prosecutor.

M^me Gutierrez recalled that two days before, his supporters had erected roadblocks – which lasted several weeks – to protest against the “judicial persecution”according to them, of their leader.