Bolivian Lawmakers Urge Pre-emptive Arrests Before Evo Morales Protests
BOLIVIA · POLITICS
Key Facts
- —The country Bolivia is a landlocked Andean country of about 12 million people, roughly Belgium’s population. Evo Morales governed it from 2006 to 2019 and still leads the coca growers of the Chapare, his rural stronghold.
- —The background Road blockades in May and June lasted 53 days and left at least 16 people dead. Morales now faces two arrest warrants, one over those blockades and one in a 2024 trafficking case. Police have executed neither.
- —Why now On Saturday 26 September Morales gave President Rodrigo Paz until 3 October to repeal the decree that ended the diesel subsidy, or face protests from 13 October.
- —What happened On Sunday 27 September the Defence Ministry warned Morales that nobody is above the law and told him to face the courts. Lawmakers from three parties went further, urging pre-emptive arrests of protest organisers.
- —Who is who Ernesto Justiniano is defence minister; Marco Antonio Oviedo runs the police as government minister. Senator José Ormachea is among lawmakers urging arrests before protests start.
- —What it means for you Blockades are banned under a state of exception that runs until December. The last wave still cut roads for weeks, so travellers should watch routes around 13 October.
- —Still open Whether the police move on the Chapare before the deadline, and whether Morales’s supporters actually march.
Lawmakers from three Bolivian parties want protest organisers arrested before the mobilisation Evo Morales has called for 13 October. Police have yet to execute either of the two arrest warrants against the former president himself.
Morales, president from 2006 to 2019, gave President Rodrigo Paz until 3 October to repeal two economic decrees. On Sunday the Defence Ministry replied that nobody is above the law, however many people he can mobilise.
Lawmakers want arrests before 13 October
On Sunday legislators from three parties asked the government to enforce the state of exception, extended this month. Senator José Ormachea of the Libre alliance said the armed forces and police should be used.
The state of exception must be made operational, he told Unitel, “so that anyone conspiring against state security is detained in advance”.
Deputies Álvaro Cazasola of Unidad and Ricardo Rada of the Christian Democratic Party backed him. Alejandro Reyes, a Unidad lawmaker, said Morales’s meeting was meant “to confront, divide and generate death”.
Morales’s camp is regrouping too: his former ministers Gabriela Montaño and Teresa Morales reappeared at the meeting. Montaño said mobilisation was “the only road to defend our gains”.
What the government said
The warning came in a Defence Ministry press release quoted by the Spanish news agency EFE. Justiniano said Morales may criticise the government and call peaceful protests within the law.
What he may not do, the minister said, is impose decisions on the country “through threats, ultimatums or blockades”. He told Morales to appear before the courts “and exercise his defence with the guarantees established by the Constitution”.
“Nobody, for having been president or for being able to mobilise people, is above the law,” Justiniano said. He had made the same point to the broadcaster Unitel within hours of the ultimatum.
Two warrants, neither executed
The newer warrant was issued in July, after road blockades in May and June that Bolivian outlets say lasted 53 days. Prosecutors accuse Morales of armed uprising, terrorism, criminal association and public incitement to commit crimes, among other charges.
EFE reports that the blockades caused shortages of food, fuel and medical oxygen in some cities. At least 16 people died, 13 of them because they could not reach medical care in time.
EFE puts the economic losses at about US$3 billion. That is three-quarters of the central bank’s reserves, which Paz says now stand close to US$4 billion.
The older warrant comes from a case opened in 2024 in Tarija, in the south. Prosecutors there charged Morales with aggravated trafficking in persons, accusing him of fathering a child with a minor while he was president.
Morales denies the accusations and calls the cases political persecution. Police have not executed either warrant.
Why he has not been arrested
Morales has stayed in the Chapare, the coca-growing lowlands of Cochabamba department, since November 2024. Supporters there have pledged to protect him from capture.
Ministers insist an arrest will come. “Evo Morales will be detained, but for security reasons we will not discuss when,” Justiniano told Congress in mid-September.
Government Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo, who oversees the police, pointed to the capture of the Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset. “We did not give warning, we simply carried out an operation,” he said.
Both spoke in the debate on extending the state of exception by 90 days, which 100 of the 158 lawmakers present approved. The measure bans road blockades, and Justiniano says it gives the state better means to prevent them.
What Morales is demanding
The ultimatum targets Decree 5716, which ended the diesel subsidy on 19 September and raised the pump price 83 percent. Decree 5727 covers closing or reorganising loss-making state companies.
“If it is not the easy way, it will be the hard way,” Morales told supporters in Lauca Ñ on Saturday. The meeting and its demands are covered in Bolivia’s Wanted Ex-President Evo Morales Threatens Protests Over Diesel.
Paz took the argument to the UN General Assembly in New York earlier this week. Alluding to Morales, he said “another leader of my nation” had turned the coca leaf into “a betrayal” of the country’s development.
He told the assembly that the economy shrank 1.6 percent in 2025 and that inflation passed 20 percent. That is the backdrop to the subsidy cut Morales wants reversed.
What comes next
The deadline expires on Saturday 3 October. Organisers say a national meeting will then choose between a march on La Paz and rallies in each region.
Neither the warning nor the lawmakers’ call means an arrest is imminent; ministers refuse to say when they will act. Nor does the ultimatum make protests certain, since blockades are illegal until December.
What it does show is that neither side is stepping back. The earlier stand-off is described in Bolivia Orders Evo Morales Arrest Over Road Blockades.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Evo Morales wanted by Bolivian police?
He faces two arrest warrants. One, from July 2026, accuses him of armed uprising and terrorism over road blockades in May and June. The other comes from a 2024 case in Tarija in which he is charged with aggravated trafficking in persons; he denies both.
Why has he not been arrested?
Morales has stayed since November 2024 in the Chapare, a coca-growing region where supporters have pledged to protect him. Ministers say he will be detained but will not say when, citing security.
Is it safe to travel in Bolivia in October 2026?
No protests have started, and road blockades are banned under a state of exception until December. Morales’s allies have announced protests from 13 October, so overland travellers should check road conditions before setting out.
What is Evo Morales’s deadline to President Paz?
On 26 September Morales gave President Rodrigo Paz until 3 October to repeal the decree that ended the diesel subsidy, or face protests from 13 October.
Sources: EFE via Infobae, Defence Ministry warning to Morales, 27 September 2026, Unitel, Justiniano on Morales, 27 September 2026, Unitel via eju.tv, lawmakers urge arrests, 27 September 2026, eju.tv, Reyes and Rada reject blockades, 27 September 2026, La Patria, Morales ultimatum, 27 September 2026, Agencia de Noticias Fides, the Lauca Ñ meeting, 26 September 2026, eju.tv, Oviedo and Justiniano on arresting Morales, September 2026, Visión 360, Justiniano before Congress, 16 September 2026, NODAL, state of exception extended by 90 days, September 2026, Los Tiempos, Paz at the UN General Assembly, 24 September 2026. All retrieved 27 September 2026. The Defence Ministry statement was issued as a press release.
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