Bolivia Seeks Regional Help on 2 Evo Morales Warrants
POLITICS · BOLIVIA
Key Facts
- —The country Bolivia, an Andean nation of about 11 million people, governed since November 2025 by President Rodrigo Paz, after almost two decades dominated by Morales’s leftist MAS party.
- —Why it matters Evo Morales, president from 2006 to 2019, faces two unexecuted arrest warrants. Any foreign role in arresting him would draw in Bolivia’s new security partners, including Washington.
- —Why now The attorney general was removed and jailed last week. A senior minister now calls making Morales answer to the courts “a priority”.
- —What happened On Monday 5 October Presidency Minister Fernando Aramayo told the radio network Erbol that “a regional collaboration” is being activated in the Morales case.
- —What it means for you No operation has been announced. Morales has threatened protests from 13 October, so travellers should watch roads around Cochabamba that week.
- —Still open Which countries or agencies take part, whether the United States is involved, and whether police will try to enter the Chapare.
Bolivia’s government says it is working with other countries in the region towards an Evo Morales arrest. Presidency Minister Fernando Aramayo made the claim on Monday 5 October in La Paz. For foreign readers, the question is whether a US-backed security pact now reaches a former head of state.
Aramayo did not name a single country, agency or date. He spoke on La Mañana en Directo, a programme of the Bolivian radio network Erbol. The newspaper La Razón noted that he did not confirm any participation by the United States.
Morales, 66, led Bolivia from 2006 to 2019 and still heads the coca growers of the Chapare, his stronghold in Cochabamba. He has not been convicted in either case against him and is presumed innocent.
What the Minister Said on Monday
Aramayo is minister of the presidency, the cabinet post that runs the president’s office and coordinates the government. Asked whether Bolivia would get outside help, he answered: “Se está activando un trabajo y una colaboración a nivel regional.” In English: work and a collaboration at regional level are being activated.
He gave his reason in the same interview. “Porque él (Morales) es parte de una arquitectura internacional, organizaciones transnacionales,” he said. That translates as: because Morales is part of an international architecture and transnational organisations. Work must happen at that level, he added, and it is under way.
According to Visión 360, he called international cooperation “fundamental”. He linked Morales to ALBA, the left-wing bloc founded by Venezuela and Cuba. He also cited international disinformation during 53 days of road blockades.
He also set limits. Any coordination would respect “nuestro marco normativo”, he said, “en el ejercicio pleno de nuestra soberanía”. In plain terms: within Bolivian law and full sovereignty.
On who would carry out an arrest, he declined to give details. “No podemos dar más datos,” he said, arguing that Morales had built “social structures, even armed militias” around himself. He offered no evidence for the militia claim, as Brújula Digital pointed out.
Two Warrants and a Wider Clean-Up
Morales faces two arrest warrants that police have not carried out. One comes from Tarija, in a 2024 aggravated human-trafficking case over an alleged relationship with a minor. The second, issued this year, covers terrorism and related charges over road blockades. The Rio Times reported that order in Bolivia Orders Evo Morales Arrest Over Road Blockades.
A separate case abroad has closed. Last week Argentine federal judge Sebastián Ramos archived a probe into trafficking and corruption of minors, finding no crime. It concerned Morales’s 2019 to 2020 asylum there. El Deber reports that the Tarija case in Bolivia still awaits trial.
Morales has said, without presenting evidence, that the government planned to detain or even kill him with foreign help. The government has denied that. Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano says the warrant must be enforced. He adds that Morales is guarded by “five to six rings of security”.
The remarks came on the same day that President Paz called for a broader overhaul of the justice system. Speaking at the Palacio Quemado, the old presidential palace in La Paz, he said: “Este momento será el más difícil, el más complicado, pero es nuestro momento.” That means this moment will be the hardest, but it is our moment.
Paz spoke at a ceremony recognising José Armando Urioste as interim attorney general, after Congress removed Roger Mariaca. Mariaca was detained last week and is accused of protecting drug traffickers. None of the accusations has been proven in court. Urioste told reporters on Monday that the Morales case would not be paralysed. “Que se preocupen los delincuentes y los que tienen órdenes,” he said: criminals and those facing warrants should worry. Paz said the government had “preacuerdos”, or preliminary agreements, with international partners to modernise the prosecution service.
Lawmakers had already pressed for Morales to be next, as covered in Bolivian Lawmakers Call for Evo Morales Arrest.
What It Means for You
For US readers, the key link is the Shield of the Americas, a US-led security coalition that Bolivia joined this year. On 28 September the State Department cited it when it restricted visas for 21 Bolivians and designated Mariaca for “significant corruption”. Our analysis of that move is in US Visa Curbs Send Message to Morales, Analyst Says.
Nothing published so far ties Washington to any plan against Morales. Investors should read Monday’s words as political pressure, not an announced operation. Fuel shortages remain the bigger day-to-day story for business.
Travellers should note the calendar. Morales has threatened protests from 13 October against the end of the diesel subsidy. His supporters have warned they would stop any arrest, and past mobilisations have meant road blockades. The government, for its part, has promised to act within the law.
What Is Not Known
The government has not said which countries, police forces or international bodies are involved. It has not said whether Interpol has been asked to issue a notice. No court document published so far describes a foreign request.
Morales’s exact whereabouts are not confirmed. Officials and local reports place him in the Cochabamba tropics, but that cannot be independently verified. Nor is it known whether any arrest attempt is planned before the 13 October protests.
Is a foreign country going to arrest Evo Morales?
No country has said so. Bolivia’s presidency minister spoke on Monday 5 October of activating “regional collaboration” but named no country, agency or operation.
Why does Bolivia want to arrest Evo Morales?
He faces two arrest warrants. One stems from a 2024 human-trafficking case involving a minor, the other from road blockades this year. He has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.
Is the United States involved in the Morales case?
There is no public evidence of that. Bolivia belongs to the US-led Shield of the Americas. Washington restricted visas for 21 Bolivians on 28 September, but did not name Morales.
Sources: Erbol · La Razón · Visión 360 · Brújula Digital · Red Uno · ABI · El Deber · eju.tv · US Department of State via US Embassy Ecuador
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief