Bolivia accuses Evo Morales of leading drug cartel from Cochabamba tropics
The Bolivian Government names former president Evo Morales as head of a drug trafficking cartel that financed blockades in May and June. The Public Prosecutor's Office is already investigating Morales for terrorism and armed uprising.
Bolivian Government names Morales as narco leader following months of blockades
The Bolivian Government accused former president Evo Morales on Wednesday of heading a drug trafficking cartel that operates from the Cochabamba tropics, his main political and trade-union stronghold. According to the authorities, the cartel allegedly financed the social conflicts recorded between May and June, which left sixteen dead.
According to eluniverso.com, Government Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo made the statements in an interview with local radio station Erbol. "Who ordered the blockades to be made? Who was sending money from the tropics? In the tropics not a single fly moves unless Evo Morales orders it," the minister stated.
Oviedo said that during police operations carried out over seven weeks of road blockades it was established that "more than eight million bolivianos were leaving the tropics". He described the blockades as "criminal and savage" and asserted that they lasted 53 days financed from that region. He also pointed to the peasant federation Tupac Katari in La Paz as another of the sectors that allegedly provided funds to the protests.
The Cochabamba tropics is also one of the country's main coca-leaf producing zones. Oviedo maintained that Morales—president between 2006 and 2019—is responsible for "all the drug production" that leaves that area.
Protests calling for resignation and sixteen deaths
Between May and June, peasants, the Bolivian Workers' Centre (COB) and sectors close to Morales carried out street protests and road blockades to demand the resignation of president Rodrigo Paz, whom they accused of failing to resolve the economic crisis that Bolivia has been experiencing for several years. The conflict left sixteen people dead, most from lack of medical attention as a consequence of the road closures.
In the midst of the confrontation, Morales publicly declared that Paz had "two paths": to "militarize" the country or call elections within ninety days "to avoid conflicts with deaths and injuries".
Arrest warrants and vigil in the tropics
The Bolivian Public Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal investigation against the former president for armed uprising and terrorism, accusing him of having led the protests and blockades against the Government. In the context of that case there is currently an arrest warrant against him.
To this is added a prior detention order linked to an investigation for aggravated human trafficking, in which he is accused of having maintained a relationship with a minor during his presidency and of having fathered a child with her in 2016.
Due to that case, Morales has not left the Cochabamba tropics since October 2024. His supporters maintain a permanent vigil in the area to prevent his arrest.
Source: Google News BO — Crime