Supporters of Bolivia's ex-President detain over 200 soldiers as tensions rise

Supporters of former President Evo Morales in Bolivia have taken more than 200 soldiers hostage, the country’s government reported Saturday, as unrest prompted by an abuse investigation of the ex-leader continued for a third week.

Bolivia’s Foreign Ministry in a statement identified those involved in the hostage taking as members of “irregular groups” and accused them of also stealing weapons and ammunition. It did not identify the groups, nor did it explain how the soldiers were taken hostage. But a day earlier, President Luis Arce said those protesting and attacking military units were supporters of Morales.

Arce characterized the seizing of three military barracks in a coca-growing area in central Bolivia as “an absolutely reprehensible criminal act that is far from any legitimate social claim of the Indigenous peasant movement.”

The conflict broke out three weeks ago when Bolivian prosecutors launched an investigation into accusations that Morales fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2016, classifying their relationship as statutory rape. Morales has refused to testify in court.

Morales has been holed up in the rural area of Chapare, in central Bolivia, since reports of a possible warrant for his arrest emerged. Loyalist coca growers have kept watch to prevent his arrest, and supporters have threatened to take over police and military barracks, demanding the closure of the judicial cases against the former president.

The Foreign Ministry in its statement Saturday said it is open to dialogue with “all social sectors of the country” but warned that the process “cannot be established while the Bolivian people continue to be victims of abuse by these groups who are not interested in the national and popular economy, and who only seek to materialize the personal and electoral interests of a former president.”

Last week, 30 police officers were injured and more than 50 protesters were arrested after a standoff between security forces and supporters of Morales.

Arce and Morales are in a fierce battle for control of the ruling party, which remains divided between their supporters ahead of the 2025 elections