A Bolivian judge has issued an arrest warrant against former President Evo Morales on allegations of sexually exploiting a teenage girl while in office, the latest development in a long-running battle between the state and the ex-leader in court. Morales failed to attend a pre-trial detention hearing for the second time, prompting questions about his seriousness in resolving the charges against him.
Judge Nelson Rocabado froze Morales’s assets and established a travel ban, meaning he could not leave Bolivia. This decision followed the alleged victim’s claim, the girl was said to be 15 years old at the time she claimed Morales had abused her in 2015. This would indeed be considered statutory rape under Bolivian law, but it is claimed that Morales fathered a child the next year with the girl.
Prosecutors charged Morales with trafficking. The girl’s parents had placed her in Morales’s youth political movement for that reason. In total, prosecutors are seeking as many as 15 years of imprisonment for the alleged trafficker.
Morales, who has led Bolivia for almost 14 years, neither denies nor confirms the accusations but asserts himself as the victim of a politically motivated judicial battle initiated by his former ally, President Luis Arce. Morales is reportedly in hiding at the headquarters of the coca growers’ union in Chapare, where various security measures have been implemented to protect him from arrest.
Protests have emerged following the charges, with women’s groups calling for justice for the victim. The case has intensified Bolivia’s political divide as thousands of Morales’s supporters flood the streets and debates about his political future erupt. Morales, though barred from seeking a third term, is eyeing the 2025 presidential election.
