In the deep jungles of Chapare, Bolivia’s coca country, the former President and socialist icon Evo Morales is currently holed up in a compound surrounded by supporters armed with sticks and homemade shields.
It was like being in a low-budget movie set of a Bolivian Game of Thrones, according to journalist Tiago Rogero, as he traveled to meet with Morales, asking him about the arrest warrant he is facing over allegations of trafficking and fathering a child with a minor while in office. He sought to defy the constitution by running for a fourth term and blames the country’s problems on Luis Arce, his former finance minister and the current president. Now that Arce has dropped out of the August presidential election, what does this all mean for the state of Bolivia’s democracy?
Watch the film Tiago Rogero and Tom Silverstone made about their trip to Bolivia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk7o1T-XFbU
Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/todayinfocuspod
Farmers guard with wooden sticks to protect former President Evo Morales at his hideout in the Chapare region of Bolivia.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2025/may/15/from-president-to-fugitive-in-the-jungle-hideout-of-evo-morales
