He Former president of Bolivia Evo Morales was due to appear this Thursday to testify before a team of prosecutors from the department of Tarija for an investigation into alleged human trafficking and statutory rape. But the so-called Unity Pact of Morales’ followers announced early on that the former president would not attend because the process against him is part of “blackmail.”
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The case against Morales has shaken the political climate in the country and comes amid internal conflicts in the ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS) party.whose presidential candidacy for the 2025 elections is being disputed precisely by Morales and the current president and former ally Luis Arce.
Specifically, The coca grower leader now runs the risk of being arrested and the case marking the end of his political career.
Morales, who governed between 2006 and 2019, has denied accusations that during his Presidency he would have created a network of adolescents between 14 and 15 years old. to have at their disposal the so-called “Generation Evo” and the complaint of “rape” of a minor with whom he would have had a daughter.
“I am going to defend myself legally (…) as I have defended myself against many presidents,” Morales said Tuesday at a press conference in Cochabamba.
I am going to defend myself legally (…) as I have defended myself against many presidents
Morales described the complaint as “another lie” and added that in 2020 he had already been investigated for the same events and that “it has been shown that there was nothing.”
He accused Arce of promoting criminal proceedings against him in order to disqualify him as a candidate. Arce has accused him of promoting social protests to force the reduction of his mandate.
On September 23, Evo Morales led the so-called “March to Save Bolivia,” a 190-kilometer walk that ended in La Paz. The Government described the protest as an attempted coup d’état.
On September 26, the complaint against Morales was filed at the Tarija prosecutor’s office and days later it was made public.
Lawyer Nelson Cox, however, told the press that Morales “is not going to appear until the process is regularized.” According to the defender, the case against his client is “illegal” because the justice system already investigated and filed the same complaint in 2020.
“They are reactivating a process illegally and we have let the public ministry know” of this irregularity, Cox stressed.
These are the keys to the case against former President Evo Morales.
1. An arrest warrant and a dismissed prosecutor
On Wednesday, October 2, The departmental prosecutor of Tarija, Sandra Gutiérrez, surprised the country by denouncing that she was dismissed for wanting to capture Evo Morales in a case of “human trafficking.”
Gutiérrez assured that Attorney General Lanchipa fired her and did not let her enter his office on the day he would execute the arrest warrant against Morales. He added that the authority told him that “that case is not discussed.”
While Lilian Moreno, a Santa Cruz judge who “deactivated” the arrest warrant for Morales, denounced that she “received pressure” to do so and assured that the case “is not closed.”
Although the case for statutory rape (carnal access with minors between 14 and 18 years old) was filed in the past, the Tarija prosecutor’s office returned to the issue to investigate Morales and the parents of the alleged victim for human trafficking and smuggling.
As for prosecutor Gutiérrez, she was restored to her position.
2. The complaint: a daughter with a minor
According to the complaint that was leaked to the media, between 2014 and 2015, during his presidency, Morales created a “youth guard” made up of adolescents aged 14 and 15, which he named “Generation Evo.”
Prosecutor Gutiérrez was investigating the case of a minor who in 2016, when she was 15 years old, supposedly had a daughter with then-President Morales. The teenager’s parents would have consented to the relationship in exchange for benefits, according to the prosecutor’s preliminary investigations. Morales would have signed the baby’s birth certificate as the father.
The victim reported the rape of the former president when she was 15 years old and was part of the “Evo Generation.”
The complaint is not new but until now it had not been successful due to the alleged interference of political power in justice, according to civil organizations and opponents of the MAS.
3. ‘The moral scandal is devastating for Evo Morales’
Ricardo Calla Ortega, political analyst and former Minister of State of President Carlos Mesa, told El Comercio that What is happening in Bolivia is devastating for the political career of Evo Morales.
“The situation has generated such a shock to the personal prestige of Evo Morales, that without a doubt one can say, without much risk of error, that he is experiencing the worst political storm of his life, a storm that could definitively liquidate him as a political actor going forward. in Bolivia,” Calla predicted.
He is experiencing the worst political storm of his life, a storm that could wipe him out permanently.
“The issue is extremely serious for him because the discredit it is causing him is enormous, since there is a wave of complaints about statutory rape and asexual abuse of minors that have been unleashed these days in Bolivia. The scandal is very big, the moral scandal is devastating for Evo Morales and the consequences of his actions, of his actions, will be suffered by him very seriously, politically,” Calla noted.
“The case can be settled politically. It also has very strong legal consequences, even with the risk of ending up in jail,” he continued.
Calla considered that the case is documented and is very serious in legal terms for Morales.
“For several years, at least a decade, it was a topic discussed in various circles. There were information, rumors, versions that Mr. Evo Morales, being president of Bolivia, had predatory sexual behavior towards minors. It was a kind of secret that circulated in the spheres of power,” said Calla.
4. The political struggle with Arce
Bolivian journalist Rafael Archondo reminded El Comercio that The Tarija prosecutor who initiated the investigation, Sandra Gutiérrez, was Minister of Justice in the government of Evo Morales between 2014 and 2015.
“Sandra Gutiérrez is an important person because she has been part of the MAS militancy for quite some time. So, since she is part of the Public Ministry and has been appointed, let’s say, by the Executive Branch, undoubtedly what she is doing has a political component, and is also obviously aimed at damaging the image of Evo Morales, to discredit it,” said Archondo.
The Judicial Branch in Bolivia, having been elected by popular vote, depends on electoral and party variables.
“The Judicial Branch in Bolivia, having been elected by popular vote, depends on electoral and party variables. Therefore, the Bolivian judicial system, and even more so now that it is in an extraordinary mandate that no longer legally corresponds to it, is a docile body to the Executive Branch. So, that helps us place this issue in a specific context in which Evo Morales has the upper hand. All the factors that could determine or not his sentence in the coming months in these instances are adverse to him. Very different from what happened in 2020, when a similar case, if not the same, was dismissed by the courts, when Luis Arce was already president and still an ally of Evo,” he recalled.
Archondo insisted that the case was reactivated in a context of division in the ruling party and where Luis Arce’s political future depends on the failure of Evo Morales, and vice versa. “This case undoubtedly has political overtones.”
The journalist also highlighted that the history of rape and the use of State resources to obtain casual partners have been present for a long time in the life of Evo Morales.
“This is not the only case, but all the previous ones failed because Evo Morales, by having the reins of the State, ensured that whoever could sue him was finally compensated or restored with government support. That is, by giving work to the girls’ parents, the girls could receive some type of benefit. Morales had all government possibilities at his disposal to cover these events. Now he no longer has that possibility,” he said.
Calla stated that there could be Arce’s political interests that are stirring up the situation, “but the case is not reduced to political and information manipulation.”
“Without a doubt, this scandal of sexual predation and moral misconduct has strong political implications. That cannot be left aside. And surely there are political interests of those who would like to see Evo Morales sunk, and of course there are political interests of Evo Morales to try to survive on this issue. But in very general terms, one can already see that this case is devastating for Evo Morales. It is going to sink him politically because his prestige today in Bolivia is on the ground. “All the people are horrified by the situation and are feeling deep contempt for this character,” said Calla.
Other cases against former president Evo Morales
Evo Morales faced a case for statutory rape and relations with minors that was opened during the interim government of Jeanine Áñez (2019-2020).
The accusation was based on photographs and text messages with a minor who supposedly presented an unexplained migratory flow to Mexico and Argentina, countries where Morales was when he left the Presidency.
However, that and the other cases were dismissed or closed after the return of the MAS to power and Morales to Bolivia at the end of 2020.
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