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A new arrest warrant for Evo Morales was announced in Bolivia on July 29, 2026. The Santa Cruz prosecutor’s office suspects the former president of having contributed to the road blockades. These barricades paralyzed the country for more than seven weeks, amid a severe economic crisis. Sent to the police, the order has not yet been carried out. Morales disputes the accusations and denounces political persecution.
An Arrest Warrant Sent To Police
The Santa Cruz departmental prosecutor’s office issued the order against Evo Morales in an investigation opened after the May and June blockades. The publicly released warrant materials indicate that it was signed by prosecutor Brayan Melgar. They attribute six alleged offenses to the former head of state. These include terrorism and armed uprising against the security and sovereignty of the state. The prosecutor’s office also cites threats to transportation security and public incitement to commit an offense.
These are the prosecution’s charges. They do not constitute either a conviction or proof that Evo Morales directed the blockades. The full case files are not accessible. They would make it possible to identify precisely the acts alleged and the evidence retained against him.
The investigation follows a complaint from the Pro Santa Cruz Committee. This civic organization, influential in the eastern part of the country, was later joined by the Ministry of the Interior. Attorney General Roger Mariaca confirmed the existence of this warrant and of another, older arrest order. According to his statements on July 29, the prosecutor in charge of the case applied Article 226 of the Bolivian Code of Criminal Procedure. Under certain conditions, this provision allows an arrest without prior summons. It requires sufficient evidence as well as a risk of flight or obstruction of the investigation.
Mariaca specified that the police were to carry out the order. The Public Ministry could accompany a search or another operation if officers requested it, provided their safety was guaranteed. On July 30, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Romer Saucedo, said that the warrants in force had to be enforced. However, this stance sets no date or method for intervention.
The Blockades In Bolivia, A Composite Movement
The criminal procedure concerns a protest that began in early May. The country was then facing inflation, a shortage of foreign currency, and fuel shortages. The Bolivian Workers’ Center, peasant and Indigenous organizations, workers, miners, transport workers, and coca producers took part in the mobilizations. Their demands were not all the same: they ranged from wage and economic measures to the resignation of President Rodrigo Paz.
On May 18, supporters of Evo Morales joined the mobilization. By then, it had already cut off La Paz from part of the country for about two weeks. This timeline therefore does not make it possible to reduce the movement as a whole to an operation by the former president. Nor does it exclude judicial review of any individual responsibilities.
At the height of the conflict, more than a hundred blockades hindered traffic. The cities of La Paz and El Alto suffered severe shortages of food, medicine, and fuel. On June 7, Parliament authorized the use of the armed forces to help clear the roads. Rodrigo Paz then declared a state of emergency on June 20, after an agreement with the main labor federation. Other groups, including peasant organizations and coca producers from Chapare, then maintained some blockades.
The exact duration varies by source. The Agence France-Presse dispatch puts it at fifty days. The prosecutor’s office and several Bolivian media outlets count fifty-three. The established fact is that it was a paralysis of about seven weeks, between May and June 2026.
What Evo Morales Denies
In a post published on X on July 29, Evo Morales acknowledges that he is targeted by a new order. It accuses him notably of terrorism and armed uprising. He denies all criminal responsibility. According to him, the government is trying to pin the mobilizations on him to distract from the economic and social crisis. This is his political position; it has not been established by a court decision.
Rodrigo Paz, by contrast, accuses the former president of having orchestrated the protest. At this stage, no ruling on the merits has settled between these versions. The warrant allows the arrest and delivery of the individual concerned to the authorities in charge of the investigation. It does not prejudge his guilt.
Two Procedures Not To Be Confused
Evo Morales is in Chapare, his political and union stronghold in central Bolivia. He has been holed up there since another case was opened in 2024. Brought in the Tarija department, it concerns alleged human trafficking offenses. He also disputes those accusations. This first case is legally distinct from the investigation into the 2026 blockades. It does not constitute evidence in that case.
The presence of many supporters around the former president complicates any possible police operation. The attorney general is requesting guarantees before the new warrant is executed. The issue is therefore as much about security as about procedure. In the absence of an official timeline, no imminent arrest can be announced. The full publication of the warrant and the specific facts alleged against Evo Morales remains the necessary step to assess how strong the case is.
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