Bolivian ex-leader's looming arrest warrant triggers protests

Supporters of former Bolivian president Evo Morales have clashed with police after a prosecutor said she would order his arrest.

Morales, who governed Bolivia from 2006 to 2019, is under investigation for alleged statutory rape and human trafficking, which he denies.

The accusations against the 64-year-old have resurfaced ahead of presidential elections next year, in which he plans to run.

The prosecutor announced she would issue an arrest warrant after Morales failed to attend a hearing in the case last week.

Tension has been high in Bolivia for months, with supporters of Morales clashing with those of the current president, Luis Arce.

Both men belong to the governing Mas party and are battling over who will be the party's candidate in the presidential election scheduled for August 2025.

Three weeks ago, the two rival groups of supporters came to blows in the city of El Alto.

The investigation into Morales has further heightened the already volatile atmosphere.

On Monday, Morales's followers erected blockades on two major roads, which police tried to lift. At least 12 people were arrested and one police officer was injured.

Morales supporters have said they will keep the blockade up "indefinitely" and could extend it to affect major roads across the country should he be arrested.

The allegations against Morales are not new.

In 2020, the ministry of justice filed a criminal complaint against the ex-president, accusing him of rape and human trafficking.

In the complaint, prosecutors argued that sexual encounters Morales allegedly had in 2015 with a girl who was reportedly under age at the time constituted statutory rape.

They said he had taken the girl on trips abroad, which they said amounted to human trafficking.

Morales argued the accusations were part of a right-wing vendetta against him by the interim president who replaced him in office after his resignation in 2019 following allegations of vote-rigging.

Morales, who was living in exile at the time, was also accused of sedition and terrorism and an arrest warrant for him was issued.

However, the arrest warrant was annulled after his lawyers argued successfully that due process had not been followed.

Morales returned to Bolivia a day after Luis Arce from Morales's Mas party was sworn in as president in November 2020.

But the two erstwhile allies have since fallen out and their relations have become even more acrimonious since both announced their intentions to run as the Mas party's candidate in the 2025 presidential election.

Both politicians have groups of loyal supporters willing to take to the streets - and in some cases engage in street brawls - to show their backing for their candidate.

Followers of Morales have threatened to paralyse the country should he be arrested.

Sandra Gutiérrez, the prosecutor in the case against Morales, said on Thursday that a warrant for his arrest would be issued after he failed to appear at a hearing.

On Monday, the chief of police said he had not yet been issued with orders to detain the former president.

But the police chief stressed that, once he received the order to arrest Morales, he would carry it out.