Former President Evo Morales is summoned to testify for alleged trafficking of minors

Former Bolivian president Evo Morales was summoned to testify before a team of prosecutors investigating him for his alleged link to a case of trafficking and smuggling of minors that has shaken the political climate in the Andean country.

Attorney General Juan Lanchipa said Monday in a brief statement to the press that the 65-year-old politician will have to give evidence next Thursday.

“We are going to take legal action” to prevent Morales from testifying, “already in 2020 it was established that in this case there were no complainants or victims and it was closed,” said Morales’ lawyer and former minister, Carlos Romero.

According to Romero, there are five other investigations that the “government has allegedly carried out” against Morales.

Last week Lanchipa had been dismissed for procedural errors in the investigation to prosecutor Sandra Gutiérrez after she ordered Morales’ arrest.

The prosecutor accused Lanchipa of trying to favor Morales, of whom the current Attorney General was a senior official when the politician governed between 2006 and 2019. A judge ruled on Sunday in favor of Gutiérrez and annulled the prosecutor’s exoneration.

Gutiérrez was investigating the case of a minor who in 2016, when she was 15 years old, allegedly had a daughter with Morales, who at that time was president. The teenager’s parents would have consented to the relationship in exchange for benefits, according to the prosecutor’s preliminary investigations.

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 complaints from civil organizations and opponents. Organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have questioned the lack of independence of the Bolivian justice system in several reports.

The case has deepened the dispute between Morales and current President Luis Arce over control of the ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS) and the presidential candidacy for the 2025 elections.

Morales accused Arce of promoting criminal proceedings against him in order to disqualify him as a candidate. Arce, for his part, accused his mentor of promoting social protests to force a shortening of his mandate.

For the opposition, the scandal is being used by the government to divert the focus of public opinion from the economic crisis that the country is experiencing, with an increase in the cost of living that in turn is heating up social unrest, said opposition deputy Carlos Alarcón. .

Arce also faces criticism for his management of the serious forest fires that have consumed nearly seven million hectares of grasslands and primary forests.

The prosecution closed another investigation into Morales due to lack of evidence for the alleged electoral fraud reported by the Organization of American States (OAS) in the 2019 elections, when he was seeking a third term, which triggered a social outbreak that left 37 dead.

According to analysts, if the child trafficking case is successful it could end the public career of Morales, who entered politics in the 1990s as a leader of coca growers to become Bolivia’s first indigenous president.

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channels YouTube, WhatsApp and to the newsletter. Turn on notifications and follow us on Facebook, x and instagram.