Bolivian Prosecutors Issue Arrest Warrant For Evo Morales Over Deadly Roadblocks That Paralyzed the Country

BOLIVIA — Bolivian prosecutors ordered the arrest of former President Evo Morales on Wednesday, accusing him of terrorism and armed uprising against state security in connection with roadblocks that paralyzed large parts of the country between May and June, killed at least 16 people, and cost an estimated $3 billion in economic losses.

Morales’s Charges

The arrest order, issued by prosecutor Brayan Melgar of the Santa Cruz Departmental Prosecutor’s Office, accuses Morales of terrorism, armed uprising against the security and sovereignty of the state, endangering transportation security, criminal association, publicly inciting crime, and endangering public services.

Attorney General Roger Mariaca confirmed the order publicly, saying simply that “an arrest warrant has been issued today” against the former president.

The investigation centers on seven weeks of highway blockades carried out mainly across western and central Bolivia by campesino groups from La Paz and the Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB), backed by groups aligned with Morales, demanding the resignation of President Rodrigo Paz.

According to prosecutors, the blockades caused shortages of food, fuel, and medical oxygen across the country. The complaint originated with civic leaders in Santa Cruz — Bolivia’s most populous department and economic engine — and was later joined by Government Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo.

The order also names COB leader Marco Argollo and La Paz campesino leader Vicente Salazar, who has remained in pretrial detention since July 6 in a related investigation.

Morales’s Response

Morales denied the allegations on social media, saying:

“Today the government issues a new arrest order against me, accusing me of alleged crimes of terrorism and armed uprising.”

He has maintained that he did not call for Paz’s resignation and that the mobilizations were instead intended to pressure the government into responding to protesters’ demands.

A Second Legal Front, Opening in Parallel

Wednesday’s order lands just weeks after a separate Bolivian court suspended Morales’s ongoing trial on charges of aggravated human trafficking, a case tied to allegations involving a minor in 2016, and issued its own separate arrest order after Morales failed to appear for a scheduled court appearance.

Morales has denied those allegations as well, calling them fabricated by the government of former interim President Jeanine Áñez and later reopened by current authorities, and has said he faces death threats and inadequate security guarantees.

Context: A Movement Once in Power, Now Divided

Morales, who governed Bolivia from 2006 to 2019, has spent recent years locked in an escalating power struggle with his former economy minister and successor, Luis Arce, over control of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party and its 2025 presidential candidacy.

Morales has accused Arce of orchestrating Bolivia’s 2024 coup attempt as a staged self-coup and of being behind an October 2024 assassination attempt against him, allegations Arce has denied.

After MAS formally barred him from running in the 2025 election, Morales briefly joined a smaller party, Front for Victory, before that party voided his membership and he was disqualified from the race altogether, clearing the way for Rodrigo Paz’s eventual victory and inauguration this year.

Coming Down The Pipeline

With two separate arrest orders now active against him — one tied to this year’s deadly roadblocks and one tied to the reopened 2016 trafficking case — Morales’s legal situation has escalated sharply just as Bolivia’s new government under Paz continues its own rapid realignment on security matters, including a renewed cooperation agreement with U.S. counter-narcotics agencies and Bolivia’s entry into a broader regional anti-crime coalition.

Whether Morales will be taken into custody, and how his supporters within the campesino and COB movements respond, remains to be seen in the days ahead.