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Social sectors close to former Bolivian President Evo Morales (2006-2019) set up three roadblocks on Monday in the center of the country in defense of the leader of the ruling party before he is summoned to testify before the Prosecutor’s Office for a case of alleged human trafficking and statutory rape.
The pro-government organizations ‘Evista’ or loyal to Morales blocked two places on the road that goes from the central region of Cochabamba to the eastern Santa Cruz and installed another blockade point on the old route between both departments, according to the traffic report of the Bolivian state Highway Administration (ABC).
Earlier, they also tried to block the highway from Cochabamba to the west of the country, near the town of Parotani, but the police dispersed the protesters and remain in place to prevent the pressure measure from being installed.
The Bolivian Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating Morales for possible crimes of “human trafficking” and “rape” involving a minor with whom he allegedly had a child.
The former president was due to testify on Friday before the Prosecutor’s Office in the southern region of Tarija, where the events allegedly occurred, but he did not appear and his defense presented a legal excuse.
Tarija Departmental Prosecutor Sandra Gutiérrez announced that an arrest warrant would be issued against Morales to force him to testify, although it has not been executed so far and it is unknown whether the document was issued.
In a post on the social network X, Morales, who heads the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), accused the government of Luis Arce of having built “a judicial and violent route to end the process of change,” as the government supporters call the governments of that party.
According to the former president, the ‘arcist’ sectors or those close to Arce, “through sentences, seek to snatch the MAS-IPSP acronym from social movements to outlaw the instrument” and want to disqualify his candidacy for the 2025 general elections.
“We are not afraid of them. Abuse and violence have always found a democratic response from us. And our candidacy represents the real alternative that the Bolivian people have to get out of the crisis, as we did in 2005,” he said.
In an apparent allusion to the conflict with Morales, President Arce reiterated on Monday that “girls and boys are not to be touched, they are our treasure,” as he began the payment of a state bonus that is given annually to schoolchildren.
Arce and Morales have been estranged since late 2021 due to differences in the administration of the State that deepened in the face of the need to renew the national leadership of the MAS and elect the candidate for the 2025 elections.
