Court Orders Arrest of Former President Evo Morales on Statutory Rape Charges

In a seismic jolt to Bolivia's fractured political landscape, a judge in Tarija ordered the arrest of former President Evo Morales on January 17, 2025, after he twice defied court summons in a reopened investigation into alleged statutory rape and human trafficking involving a minor. The 65-year-old populist icon, who ruled from 2006 to 2019, is accused of fathering a child in 2016 with a then-15-year-old girl—a relationship constituting statutory rape under Bolivian law—amid claims of exploiting political favors for access. Hoiled up in his Chapare coca stronghold behind loyalist cordons, Morales decried the warrant as "lawfare" orchestrated by rival President Luis Arce to derail his 2025 comeback bid within the splintered MAS party. Supporters, invoking past roadblocks that crippled the economy, vow fierce resistance, while women's groups outside court brandished signs demanding justice for victims. Proponents of the probe hail it as overdue accountability for power abuses, spotlighting Bolivia's statutory rape loopholes. Critics, including Morales' camp, frame it as vendetta in a bitter succession war, echoing shelved 2020 accusations. As asset freezes and exit bans tighten, this standoff risks igniting fresh unrest, testing institutional fragility in a nation grappling with economic woes and polarized Indigenous-leftist legacies.