Bolivian justice has reinstated an arrest warrant for “trafficking in minors” against the country’s former president Evo Morales, which was canceled by a court on Wednesday. Justice Minister Cesar Siles announced the news on Friday.
"Not only is the arrest warrant restored, but the “process, the criminal prosecution” against the former president is also continuing, Mr. Silas said on state television.
According to the minister, a decision made by judge Lilian Moreno was suspended, at least temporarily, by a judge in the regional court of La Paz. The reason for this suspension has not been explained so far. The prosecutor's office had ordered the arrest of the former president in October, who intends to run for a fourth term as president in the August 17 elections.
Morales has since fled to his stronghold in Chapare, in central Bolivia, where police never launched an operation to arrest him. The former president is accused of “trafficking” a minor over a relationship he had in 2015 in exchange for favors with her parents.
According to the prosecution, he had a relationship with the 15-year-old teenager and a year later they had a daughter. The former president denies the allegations in this case, and his lawyers remind them that an investigation into the same case was closed in 2020.
He claims to be the victim of politically motivated “judicial persecution” instigated by the government of current President Luis Arce and his former Minister of Economy. Evo Morales is seeking re-election as president despite the Supreme Court upholding in 2024 a ban on any president holding office for more than two terms.
(BalkanWeb)
