Bolivia Analyst Says US Visa Restrictions Are a Message to Evo Morales
BOLIVIA · POLITICS
Key Facts
- —The country Bolivia, an Andean nation of about 11 million people, led since November 2025 by Rodrigo Paz after almost 20 years of leftist rule.
- —The background On 28 September Washington announced US visa restrictions on 22 Bolivians, including the attorney general, judges and a former minister.
- —What happened On Saturday 3 October security analyst Jorge Santiesteban told the radio network Erbol the measures carry a message to ex-president Evo Morales.
- —His argument He says Washington sees Morales as a threat to democracy and may seek to capture him, not just cancel his visa.
- —The catch The State Department statement does not mention Morales; linking it to him is the analyst’s own interpretation.
- —What it means for you Morales has threatened nationwide protests from 13 October, so travellers in Bolivia should watch road conditions that week.
- —Still open Whether Washington targets Morales at all. Its 28 September statement is silent on him.
A Bolivian security analyst says the latest US visa restrictions are a coded warning to Evo Morales, the country’s former president. Jorge Santiesteban gave that reading to the radio network Erbol on Saturday 3 October.
The measures, announced by the State Department on 28 September, target 22 Bolivians and never mention Morales. Santiesteban’s reading is his own, and it goes well beyond the text Washington published.
What Washington Announced on 28 September
The statement, issued by spokesman Tommy Pigott, set out a visa policy against people who undermine elected governments in the Americas. It covered Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
In Bolivia, twelve named people lost their visas under a clause that bars foreigners whose entry would harm US foreign policy. They include prosecutors, judges, a constitutional magistrate, a police colonel and former justice minister Iván Lima.
Nine more Bolivians without visas were made ineligible for one, and their names were not released. Attorney General Roger Mariaca was publicly designated for “significant corruption”, which bars him and his family from the United States.
The department said Mariaca had “abused his public positions by soliciting and accepting bribes to facilitate narcotrafficking”. The full list was covered in US Visa Restrictions Hit 27 People in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
The Analyst’s Argument
Santiesteban, who comments on security affairs, argued that the US visa restrictions carry an implicit message to Morales. “They are not going to revoke Evo Morales’s visa without first taking him to the United States,” he told Erbol.
He described Morales as a threat to democracy and to any government that does not follow his line. In his view, Washington shares that concern about the region.
He also cited the Shield of the Americas, a US-led security alliance that Bolivia belongs to. That bloc, he said, “is not willing to cede ground in Latin America for the return of socialist regimes”.
Morales is acting as an opponent, “but a coup-plotting opponent”, Santiesteban said. He pointed to Morales’s threat of an open-ended national strike over fuel prices.
The Colonel He Cited
Santiesteban suggested Washington could go further than cancelling a visa. “They will take him anyway, with an operation like the one for an air force colonel they caught in Sucre,” he said.
In late August police in Santa Cruz arrested Henry Richard Crespo Guzmán, a reserve air force colonel wanted in the United States. He was then held in Sucre, the Spanish agency EFE reported.
Bolivia’s Supreme Court authorised his extradition on 16 September, Visión 360 reported. US prosecutors accuse him of protecting cocaine shipments from an air base in Santa Cruz department in 2020 and 2021.
Santiesteban added that US agencies rarely announce whom they are pursuing abroad. They act quietly, he said, until conditions allow an arrest.
Why Morales Is in the Frame
Morales governed Bolivia from 2006 to 2019 and still leads the coca growers of the Chapare, his rural stronghold. He faces two arrest warrants that police have not executed, as reported in Bolivian Lawmakers Urge Pre-emptive Arrests Before Evo Morales Protests.
On 26 September he gave President Paz until 3 October to repeal Supreme Decree 5716, which ended the diesel subsidy. Otherwise, he warned, a “great national mobilisation” would start on 13 October, eju.tv reported.
Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano replied that nobody “is above the law” for having been president. Morales, for his part, called the US visa restrictions a tool of political pressure, Radio Kollasuyo reported on 30 September.
What the Statement Does Not Say
The 28 September statement names neither Morales nor any member of his family. It announces visa measures, not criminal charges.
Santiesteban’s claim that Washington will seize Morales is his own forecast. Erbol’s report cites no evidence for it beyond the colonel’s case.
The measures do reflect a sharp turn in US-Bolivia relations under Paz. Since he took office, Bolivian anti-drug police and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have resumed joint operations, EFE reported in August.
For visitors and investors, the US visa restrictions change nothing: no visa rule changed for ordinary Bolivians. The practical risk lies elsewhere, in the protests Morales has called for 13 October.
What Comes Next
The 13 October date is the next flashpoint between Morales and the Paz government. Blockades are banned under a state of exception that runs until December.
Mariaca, the most senior Bolivian on the US list, was sent to pre-trial detention on Saturday. That ruling is covered in Bolivia Judge Orders Six-Month Mariaca Preventive Detention in Potosí.
Whether Washington ever acts against Morales remains, for now, a matter of speculation. The 28 September statement gives no hint of it.
More: Latin America news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
What did the United States announce about Bolivia?
On 28 September 2026 the State Department imposed US visa restrictions on 22 Bolivians over corruption and drug trafficking. They include Attorney General Roger Mariaca, judges, prosecutors and a former justice minister.
Does the US measure name Evo Morales?
No. The statement does not mention Morales. The link to him is the interpretation of the security analyst Jorge Santiesteban.
Who is Evo Morales?
He governed Bolivia from 2006 to 2019 and still leads the coca growers of the Chapare region. He faces two arrest warrants in Bolivia that police have not executed.
Do the restrictions affect ordinary travellers?
No. The US visa restrictions target named individuals and their families. No visa rule changed for other Bolivian citizens.
Sources: Erbol, 3 October 2026; Opinión, 3 October 2026; US Embassy in Bolivia (State Department statement), 28 September 2026; Visión 360, 16 September 2026; EFE via Swissinfo, 29 August 2026; eju.tv, 27 September 2026; Radio Kollasuyo, 30 September 2026.
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