Bolivia: Judge orders arrest of Evo Morales for alleged trafficking of minors

(AFP) A Bolivian judge on Friday ordered the apprehension of Evo Morales, after the former president failed to appear for the second time at the hearing in which he was to resolve a request for preventive detention for the case of trafficking of a minor during his term in office.

"It is ordered that an arrest warrant be issued against the accused," Nelson Rocabado, a judge in Tarija (south), said Friday when he announced his decision in a public hearing broadcast by the state television channel.

The prosecutor's office, which formally charged Morales with the crime of human trafficking, had already issued an arrest warrant against the former president in October 2024, during the investigation phase.

The new arrest warrant is for him to be brought before the judge in charge of the case. During the hearing, the judge also declared the former Bolivian president a "rebel".

"He is declared in rebellion. What does this mean? That the trial is going to be suspended until he appears," Sandra Gutiérrez, the prosecutor in charge of the case, told the press at the end of the hearing.

In addition, the judge froze his assets and prohibited his departure from Bolivia.

According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, Morales initiated a relationship with a 15-year-old minor in 2015, when he was president. Her parents consented to the union in an exchange of favors. A daughter was born a year later as a result of the relationship.

According to the file, the minor's parents enrolled her in Morales' "youth guard" "with the sole purpose of climbing politically and obtaining benefits (...) in exchange for their minor daughter."

Morales, 65, refuses the charges and argues that an investigation for the same facts was dismissed in 2020.

If convicted, Morales faces a penalty - according to the prosecution - of 10 to 15 years in prison.