Versión Español
Spanish – Evo Morales has at least five open investigations and, as if that were not enough, he has added another one: romance with a minor. For a month now, the Bolivian Ministry of Government has been investigating whether the former president had a romantic relationship with a teenage girl while in office.
The young girl, whose full name is Noemí Meneses Chávez, was only 14 years old when the romance began, according to the Spanish website OK Diario, which had access to the 46-page secret police report containing photographs and compromising conversations.
According to the authorities, the relationship began five years ago, so the young woman is now 19 years old. OK Diario points out that the commission of the crime of statutory rape carries a penalty of three to six years in prison, according to the Bolivian Penal Code.
The research is focused on confirming whether Morales had sex with the young woman when she was a minor. One of the pieces of evidence is a video that Noemí Meneses sent to the former president, congratulating him on the fifth anniversary as a couple. The video is already being circulated on Twitter.
#Pedófilo #ElMasNuncaMás pic.twitter.com/NSQPzUQL10
— #SOSBolivia 🇧🇴 (@Pitita67855416) August 7, 2020
On July 7, the authorities began their investigation. The alarm bells were set off by the arrest of an official vehicle with false registration number 3151-GAH in the department of Cochabamba, in which three people were traveling. The passengers were Noemí Meneses, her sister, and a third person.
Case evidence
The first proof of the relationship was a WhatsApp message that the young woman sent to Evo Morales to warn him that she had been arrested. Within hours, the three occupants of the vehicle were released.
The follow-up to the case allowed the authorities to gather more evidence. Besides the compromising video, there are 348 missed calls from Morales to Noemí Meneses and photographs of both in the president’s personal offices such as the San Jorge residence and the 29th floor of the Casa Grande del Pueblo building.
Moreover, There are air tickets for the young woman to Mexico and Argentina to visit Morales during his political asylum. The itineraries coincide with the dates on which he initially stayed in Mexico after his resignation as president, and later in Argentina, where he has been residing since December 12.
Complaints are accumulating
Just this Monday, the Bolivian Attorney General’s Office admitted another complaint against former President Evo Morales, this time for the crime of genocide. This process also involves Luis Acre and David Choquehuanca, candidates of his MAS party, as well as union leader Juan Carlos Huarachi, according to EFE.
On 30 July, Bolivia’s interim government filed a lawsuit against the former president and several leaders of his party for crimes against public health for promoting demonstrations during the pandemic.
At the beginning of July, the Prosecutor’s Office issued a formal accusation against Evo Morales for alleged terrorist crimes. In January, another trial was initiated for terrorism, armed uprising, genocide, violation of the rights of the people, and other crimes derived from the events that led to his departure from power on November 10, 2019.
The first two cases opened were for the crimes of sedition and terrorism, as well as other crimes presented separately at the end of last year by officials of the interim government of Jeanine Áñez.
