Bolivia judge cancels Morales arrest warrant following elections News
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Bolivia judge cancels Morales arrest warrant following elections

A Bolivian judge sitting in La Paz on Monday canceled a warrant for exiled former president Evo Morales. Morales, who has been in exile for more than a year in Mexico and then Argentina, would now be able to return to Bolivia without fear of arrest.

Morales fled the country in November 2019 in the aftermath of a contentious election, amid calls for his resignation as the commander of the armed forces and the national police commander. In December, prosecutors in the conservative interim Bolivian government accused Morales of sedition and terrorism and issued a warrant for his arrest.

The warrant alleged that Morales was responsible for violence against election protests. However, in a report published last month, Human Rights Watch said that its investigations revealed no evidence that Morales committed acts of terrorism. It observed that the planned prosecution “appears to be a political attack on Morales and his supporters rather than enforcement of the law.”

Monday’s warrant cancellation follows the 2020 election results in Bolivia earlier this month. In a new presidential election to replace the annulled 2019 election, the undisputed winner was Luis Arce, the candidate of Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement for Socialism), Morales’ party.

Morales has been declared unable to run for senate by Bolivian courts and does not have a position in Arce’s government, though he is the head of their party. He has not said when or even whether he will return to Bolivia.

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