A Bolivian court has issued an arrest warrant for former president Evo Morales, following accusations of statutory rape and human trafficking after he failed to testify in a related case.
The charges stem from claims that Morales fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl while in office in 2016, when he was 57.
According to the lawsuit, the girl’s parents allegedly agreed to the relationship in exchange for unspecified political favors.
The unnamed victim was reportedly a member of Morales’s political youth guard when the alleged relationship began in 2015.
In 2016, the girl gave birth to a daughter, whom Morales is accused of fathering.
Morales, who resigned amid political unrest over disputed election results, has dismissed the accusations as politically motivated.
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He claims that his opponents are fabricating these allegations to undermine the “popular movement” he represents.
In a recent statement, Morales expressed that the current government, led by President Luis Arce, is orchestrating a “judicial war” against him.
The case has drawn attention due to Bolivia’s legal framework, which treats statutory rape as a private crime. Investigations typically require a formal complaint from the victim or their guardians.
Both the victim’s parents and Morales failed to appear for their summons, leading to potential arrest warrants for them as well.
Morales’s lawyer argues that the investigation is “illegal,” noting that a similar case was closed in 2020 due to a lack of evidence.
However, the Tarija prosecutor who reopened the case has expanded it to include human trafficking, suggesting that the girl’s parents may have enrolled her in Morales’s youth wing for political advancement.
In his defense, Morales asserts that the accusations are a desperate attempt by the right-wing government to discredit him, further claiming that the situation reflects their inability to address the ongoing political and economic crises in Bolivia.
He has called on the government to refrain from interfering in his personal matters.
As these allegations unfold, the political landscape in Bolivia remains tense, with Morales’s future and that of the current administration hanging in the balance.