Bolivian Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Evo Morales
A Bolivian court has ordered the arrest of former socialist President Evo Morales for contempt after he failed to show up in court to face pedophilia charges.
Morales, who governed Bolivia from 2006 until 2019, sought to extend his presidency beyond the two-term constitutional limit through questionable legal maneuvers. Following allegations of significant election fraud in late 2019, he resigned and fled to Mexico, later returning as his protégé, Luis Arce, took office.
For the past two years, Morales has dodged authorities amid a broad investigation that unveiled evidence from 2016 regarding a sexual relationship with a then-15-year-old girl in Tarija, leading to the birth of a child when the girl was just 16. This investigation largely remained inactive until a birth certificate surfaced in 2024, indicating Morales as the father. Prosecutors alleged that the child’s mother conspired to involve her daughter with Morales in exchange for political favors.
Morales initially fortified his position in Cochabamba, a region considered his political bastion, relying on his supporters for protection. Some reports from January suggested he might have fled to Mexico.
On Monday, the Tarija First Criminal Court was set to start Morales’ trial but ended up suspending proceedings when neither Morales nor his attorneys showed up. Consequently, the court found him in contempt and reinstated an existing arrest warrant. Alongside Morales, the court also issued a warrant for the victim’s mother, Idelza Pozo Saavedra, who also did not attend the hearing.
Judge Luis Esteban Ortiz remarked that the hearing would be postponed indefinitely, stating that two conditions needed to be fulfilled: either Morales’ arrest or his voluntary appearance in court.
Morales’ legal team, led by attorney Wilfredo Chavez, asserted that he missed the court date because he had not been informed about the trial’s commencement. Another attorney, Cecilia Urquieta, claimed to have submitted a document from a supposed victim, who indicated she did not consider herself a victim of Morales. This, according to Urquieta, should exonerate him from the charges.
The alleged victim, Cindy Salay Vargas, had gone missing alongside her child in October 2024 as the investigation got underway. She reappeared in late December, stating that Morales was the father. Recently, she submitted a document to a Tarija court claiming she was not a victim of Morales, requesting the case’s dismissal.
Last week, Morales denied the accusations in a lengthy social media post, alleging that the Bolivian government was orchestrating a severe judicial and media campaign against him, aiming for his moral and physical destruction. He also claimed the government sought assistance from the Trump administration to target “anti-imperialist” factions in Bolivia.
“I’m not seeking impunity. I want my accusers to substantiate their claims against me with actual evidence. I demand fair and impartial justice free from political interference,” his message stated.
Morales was succeeded in 2020 by Arce. A power struggle ensued within the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party, resulting in a fracture that complicated its previous dominance in Bolivia. In the 2025 elections, MAS faced a substantial defeat, losing its influence in parliament. After distancing himself from Morales, Arce mentioned in a Mexican magazine interview that the rumors about Morales’ alleged pedophilia had circulated as an “open secret” during his leadership.
“It’s puzzling why it remained concealed since everyone seemed to know,” Arce commented at the time.
