FILE PHOTO: Bolivia’s exiled former president Evo Morales. Pictured October 26, 2019. REUTERS/Manuel Claure
December 18, 2019
By Danny Ramos
LA PAZ (Reuters) – Bolivian prosecutors on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for exiled former president Evo Morales over allegations of sedition and terrorism related to accusations from the interim government that he has been stirring unrest since resigning.
Luis Fernando Guarachi, the head of the Bolivian police´s Public Corruption Division confirmed to journalists in La Paz that the warrant had been issued.
Interior Minister Arturo Murillo tweeted a picture of what appeared to be the arrest warrant, adding: “FYI Senor (Morales).”
Morales left Bolivia for Mexico in mid-November after coming under intense pressure from the armed forces following a disputed election in what he has since described as a coup.
He moved to Argentina last week, just days after the inauguration of Peronist president Alberto Fernandez. He was granted asylum and was on his way to “definitive refugee status,” the Argentine interior ministry said in a statement.
The case against him in Bolivia centers on a video obtained by interior minister Murillo, a member of the interim government of President Jeanine Anez. She is a former senator and opponent of Morales who stepped into the presidency in November after Morales resigned.
Murillo last month filed a criminal complaint against the former socialist leader.
In the video, a Bolivian man is shown talking to someone on a speakerphone who appears to be directing plans for road blockades. Murillo said the voice on the speakerphone was that of Morales.
Morales responded on Twitter that authorities should be investigating the deaths of protesters instead of going after him on the basis of what he called made-up evidence.
Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video.
Blocking roads is a common form of protest in Bolivia and much of South America. Blockades by Morales supporters have cut off fuel and food to some cities.
(Reporting by Danny Ramos, Writing by Aislinn Laing, Editing by Chris Reese and Grant McCool)
