Former Bolivian President Evo Morales has been accused of having a child with 15 year old teenager in 2017 and lead a network of “human trafficking”. This is the news that shook Bolivia this week.
The complaint states that when he was president between 2014 and 2015, he created a “youth care” composed of young people aged 14 and 15 who were named “Generation Evo”.
According to the document, Morales signed as father the birth certificate of a baby born in 2018, when the mother, who belonged to the “youth guard”, was 16 years old.
The victim denounced the rape of the former president when she was 15 years old and part of the “Evo Generation”. The complaint also indicates that the parents of the then minor would have “benefited” to leave it at the disposal of the former president.
Defense of Morales
Morales and his supporters say “political persecution” against him after the revelation of this investigation and claim that it is a plan by the government of the current president, Luis Arce, so that the former president does not present himself again as a candidate in the 2025 elections. He also assured this Friday that the current president wants to extradite him to the United States.
The former president is now in the eye of a legal hurricane after the prosecutor Sandra Gutierrez was fired after issuing an arrest warrant for Morales for “human trafficking.” The arrest warrant was “deactivated” by a judge an hour before his execution.
The country’s attorney general, Juan Lachipafired her after learning of the affair and prevented her from entering his office on the day Morales was to be arrested. Gutiérrez reported that the attorney general told him that “this matter was not discussed.”
The judge who “deactivated” the arrest warrant, Lilian Moreno, reported after a few hours that she had received “pressure” to do so and assured that the case “is not closed.”
After the dismissal of Prosecutor Gutiérrez became known, the Attorney General was questioned and criticized by the Arce government and the opposition.
Lanchipa, who ends his term this month, has been accused in the past of being an “evista” or linked to Evo Morales’ ruling factionHowever, he assured that he had fired the prosecutor for acts of “negligence” in the investigation into the former president and that he had never ordered “to paralyze the capture”.
Several deputies from the ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS) and the opposition announced they would denounce Lanchipa for protecting Morales, while Government Minister (Interior) Eduardo del Castillo questioned him and requested a report on the Attorney General’s actions. .
Battle of Arce-Morales
Arce and Morales fight a long battle for control of the MAS and the Bolivian executiveand as of 2021, they have also been separated due to a fight for the party’s presidential candidacy in next year’s elections.
The “human trafficking” complaint was filed three days after Morales and thousands of his supporters arrived in the city of La Paz. after walking 187 kilometers for 7 days in the highlands.
At the end of this initiative, which Morales called “March to Save Bolivia” but which the government called “March of Death”, the former president issued an ultimatum to President Arce and declared that “if he wants continue to govern”, he had to fire several of his ministers, whom he described as “corrupt drug dealers”.
Morales’ journey
The most recent case against Morales involved influence peddling in which his ex-girlfriend Gabriela Zapata was accused of using properties of the Social Management Unit of the Ministry of the Presidency to enter into illegal deals with men business. Zapata was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The opposition denounced Morality of being involvedbut he always rejected it and Parliament, controlled by his party in 2017, concluded in an investigation that this crime did not exist.
Likewise, several prosecutions against Morales were opened by the interim government of Jeanine Áñez (2019-2020), including one for rape and relations with minors.
The accusation was based on photographs and telephone messages with a minor who allegedly exhibited an unexplained migratory flow to Mexico and Argentina, countries where Morales was when he left the presidency.
However, this and other cases were closed or dismissed after MAS and Morales returned to power in Bolivia in late 2020.
Argentina takes action
Hours before Evo Morales’ investigation was revealed, the government of Javier Milei withdraws his refugee status in the country, granted to him by former Peronist president Alberto Fernández in 2019.
Morales moved to Argentina after political crisis of 2019which he and those close to him called a “coup” against him in that year’s failed elections.
However, the opposition described the crisis as a “coup” aimed at manipulating the elections because the ruling party, the Movement towards Socialism (MAS), failed to obtain the votes hoped for in the third re-election by Morales.
