Evo Morales to Be Arrested if He Reaches La Paz: Bolivian Interior Minister Warns

March in support of Evo Morales’ candidacy, May 16, 2025. X/ @jornalodia

May 16, 2025 Hour: 9:51 am

Thousands of citizens began a caravan to accompany Morales as he seeks to register for the presidential election.

On Thursday, Bolivian Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo warned that police would arrest former President Evo Morales if he appears in the city of La Paz to register his presidential candidacy.

Earlier, thousands of Morales supporters began a caravan toward the Bolivian capital to accompany the socialist leader as he seeks to register for the August presidential election.

People close to Morales said the former president was traveling with the caravan but had not made his presence visible for security reasons. On Thursday afternoon, police carried out searches and detained some members of the caravan.

Del Castillo said Morales is mobilizing his supporters “with the sole intention of trying to prevent the elections from taking place” and that he is “trying to stir up unrest” in La Paz despite being ineligible to run for office.

Con valentía y al grito de "¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!", la caravana desafía el bloqueo policial desplegado en El Tholar, manteniendo su avance. Los manifestantes denuncian este despliegue como un intento gubernamental de detener la movilización que es pacífica.… pic.twitter.com/Vn1uYCJJat
— Desordenado (@caos_desorden) May 15, 2025

The text reads, “With courage and shouting ‘The people united will never be defeated!’, the caravan continues to advance and defies the police blockade deployed in El Tholar. The protesters denounce the police deployment as a government attempt to stop a peaceful mobilization.”

On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court reiterated that presidential reelection in Bolivia is allowed only once consecutively, with no possibility of a third term. Therefore, Morales cannot be a candidate, having already served three terms (2006–2009, 2010–2014 and 2015–2019).

Since 2021, Morales has been estranged from President Luis Arce due to differences over the control of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), the party Morales led for nearly 30 years. Electoral authorities later recognized Grover Garcia, an ally of the Arce administration, as MAS party president.

Morales subsequently resigned from MAS and promoted the creation of the political bloc “Evo Pueblo,” a group through which he cannot run for president because it does not yet have legal status.

In October 2024, the prosecutor of Tarija department, Sandra Gutierrez, issued an arrest warrant for Morales, accusing him of allegedly having a child with a minor while serving as president in 2016.

The Arce administration say the arrest warrant against Morales remains in force, even though earlier this month a judge in Santa Cruz annulled the order. That judge was later placed in preventive detention, accused of misconduct and issuing rulings contrary to the Constitution.