Peace. The former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, did not appear to testify to the prosecutor’s office this Thursday as part of an investigation into alleged rape, human trafficking and smuggling, which would involve a minor with whom Morales would have had a relationship, while The Public Ministry reported that it is preparing a new arrest warrant against the former president.
The former president, now 64 years old, stated that it was an armed case and described the event as “political persecution” by the government of President Luis Arce, his former ally, and now, staunch political rival.
Arce and Morales face each other politically after a division in the ruling party ahead of the 2025 general elections. The former ruler was supposed to attend to testify to the prosecutor’s office in the southern region of Tarija on Thursday afternoon, however he did not arrive.
“The former president lives more than 980 kilometers away. “He cannot be at a disadvantage,” Jorge Pérez, the former president’s lawyer, told the Bolivian media while presenting the excuses for the case in the southern region of Tarija. Shortly before, his colleague Nelson Cox, also Morales’ lawyer, said that “there were no guarantees.”
The Prosecutor of the southern region of Tarija, Sandra Gutiérrez, explained to the media that she waited for half an hour for the arrival of Morales and two other defendants but that they did not show up. The prosecutor also declared that she received the documents in which Morales’ defense explains why the former president did not appear.
Gutiérrez assured that all rights were respected and that the arrest warrant that will be issued will be for Morales to present himself to give an “informative statement.”
“Be it Evo Morales, be it Juan Pérez… we are already working on what corresponds to the law, which is the arrest warrant,” he added.
Marco Antonio Baldivieso, a former judge of the Constitutional Court, assured that Morales, as a citizen facing a complaint, must present a valid justification for his failure to testify, otherwise an arrest warrant could be issued to force him to attend.
According to images on the Kausachum Coca radio website, Morales was at a public event in his coca-growing stronghold in Villa Tunari, in the center of the country. There he received support from his supporters, who threatened to block the roads to the center of the country and important routes that connect the east with the west if an arrest warrant is issued against the former president.
“At this moment we are protecting our commander, Evo Morales, his home and throughout the entire Tropics (in Cochabamba),” said Vicente Choque, a Morales supporter leader.
The case made a stir and became controversial after Gutiérrez reported that she was dismissed for investigating the former president, although days later she was reinstated and a first arrest warrant was void after a release action, presented by Morales’ defense.
The investigation is based on events that occurred in 2016, when Evo Morales would have had a daughter with a minor – 15 years old at that time -, while he held the position of president. The teenager’s parents would have consented to the relationship in exchange for benefits, according to the prosecutor’s preliminary investigations.
The complaint was reactivated after four years without the investigation progressing, supposedly due to the interference of political power in justice, according to allegations from civil organizations and opponents.
Organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have questioned the lack of independence of the Bolivian justice system in several reports.
The case has deepened the dispute between Morales and Arce for control of the ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS) and the presidential candidacy for the 2025 elections.
In addition to this investigation, at the beginning of the week, in Cochabamba, two other complaints of rape were made against Morales, according to the Gender Director of the mayor’s office of that city, Tatiana Herrera, although no further information has been released about them.
#Arrest #order #announced #Evo #Morales
–
