Bolivia –
An arrest warrant against Evo Morales for “human trafficking”
The Bolivian public prosecutor’s office has issued an arrest warrant against Evo Morales for “human trafficking of a minor”, in connection with a relationship with a teenage girl.
Published today at 12:28 a.m.
Evo Morales in Buenos Aires, February 21, 2020.
AFP
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An arrest warrant for “human trafficking of a minor” was issued against former Bolivian President Evo Morales (2006-2019), for having had a relationship with a teenage girl with whom he would have had a daughter in 2016, said the prosecution.
“It is appropriate to issue an arrest warrant,” prosecutor Sandra Gutiérrez said at a news conference. The public prosecutor specified that the arrest warrant, made public on Monday, had been issued on October 16.
Sandra Gutiérrez explained that he had not mentioned the case before because “the case is very complex,” due to the fact that it involves a former president, who has repeatedly denied the accusations.
15 year old girl
The scandal dates back to 2015, when the former leader of coca producers governed Bolivia. According to the file, Evo Morales had a relationship with a 15-year-old girl with whom he had a daughter in 2016.
The prosecution’s thesis is that the parents of the minor enrolled her in Morales’ “youth guard” “with the sole aim of climbing the political ladder and obtaining advantages (…) in exchange for their minor daughter” .
For these facts, the Public Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against Morales and the mother of the alleged victim for the crime of “aggravated human trafficking.”
Second arrest warrant
Although Evo Morales previously rejected the complaint as being based on facts that were investigated in 2020 under the crime of “misappropriation of a minor,” the public prosecutor’s office is now focusing on the alleged trafficking of human beings.
This is the second arrest warrant issued against Evo Morales for the same case. Prosecutor Gutiérrez had already ordered his arrest in September, but a legal appeal filed by the Aymara leader’s defense made it possible to cancel it.
In the midst of the struggle for the left’s candidacy for the 2025 elections, Morales claimed that this investigation was “lawfare” led by the government of Luis Arce, his former ally, to “proscribe” him from the electoral race. .
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