Bolivia Wonders: Where Is Evo Morales?

The almost monthlong disappearance from public view of Bolivia's towering socialist icon, ex-leader Evo Morales, shortly after the Jan. 3 US seizure of former Venezuelan president and his close ally Nicolás Maduro, is alarming his supporters, roiling his enemies, and galvanizing the internet. On Monday, he missed a ceremony that he typically attends welcoming students back from summer break. On Sunday, Morales was a no-show for the fourth straight weekly broadcast of his political radio show, which he has hosted without interruption for years, the AP reports.

Since early January, he has skipped scheduled meetings with members of his coca-leaf growing union in Bolivia's remote Chapare region and his daily stream of social media content has all but dried up. Although Morales has spent the past year evading an arrest warrant on charges of human trafficking, his fugitive status hasn't stopped the firebrand union leader from speaking at rallies, receiving supporters, giving interviews, posting on X, and even running an unconventional presidential campaign last year, all from his political stronghold in the Chapare.

The question of Morales' whereabouts has set off furious speculation as the Trump administration imposes its political will in South America through sanctions, punitive tariffs, electoral endorsements, financial bailouts, and military action. Morales' close associates have privately declined to provide an explanation for his absences while publicly telling supporters that the former president has been recovering from dengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral illness with symptoms that typically last no longer than a week.

• For Morales' rivals, the mystery has stirred resentful memories of 2019, when he resigned under pressure from the military after his disputed bid for an unconstitutional third term provoked mass protests. Morales fled to Mexico then took refuge in Argentina, only to return home when Luis Arce, his former finance minister, took the presidency in 2020. "Evo Morales is in Mexico," declared right-wing lawmaker Edgar Zegarra, offering no evidence but demanding that the government prove otherwise.

• Security officials within Bolivia's first conservative government following almost 20 years of dominance by Morales' Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party, have been cryptic. "The former president has not left Bolivia," said Police Commander Gen. General Mirko Sokol, "at least not through any official channels."
• Bolivia's election of centrist President Rodrigo Paz last October came as part of a wider ideological swing across Latin America. In the last two years, right-wing would-be saviors have come to power in countries wracked by economic crisis like Argentina and consumed by fears of violent crime, like Chile. Costa Rica's election of a right-wing populist Monday reinforced the trend.
• Like Maduro and his mentor and predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez , Morales was openly hostile to the United States and cozied up to its political foes during his 14 years as Bolivia's first Indigenous president from 2006 to 2019. Now Paz is trying to reverse the political direction. His government has scrapped visa requirements for American tourists, held talks with US officials on securing loans to rescue Bolivia's economy, and paved the way for the return of the Drug Enforcement Agency to Bolivia, a regional cocaine-trafficking hub.
• Coca farmers in the Chapare say they haven't seen Morales since Jan. 8, as panic about a rare overflight by a Super Puma helicopter gripped the jungle region. Deputy Social Defense Minister Ernesto Justiniano later explained it was a data collection mission in coordination with foreign agencies, including the DEA, but had nothing to do with Morales.
• Bolivia's judiciary, with its history of tacking where political winds blow, has already freed right-wing opposition figures and pursued cases against former officials, detaining former President Arce just weeks after Paz's inauguration. But unlike Arce, Morales retains a strong, albeit small, base of support. Loyalists protecting him from arrest have vowed to resist with guerrilla tactics if security forces invade the Chapare.