Plotting a comeback, Bolivia’s ex-leader defies arrest warrant in jungle hideout

Evo Morales is charged with statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl but still hopes to oust former ally Luis Arce as president

If it were not taking place in a small village deep within the Bolivian jungle, the scene could easily have been mistaken for a film set or live-action role-playing game: hundreds of people brandish wooden spears and improvised shields made from iron or plastic drums, some of which still bear the pictogram of the toxic products they once contained.

Behind them a wooden fort – with an elevated observation post where a man holds a bow and arrow – blocks the main path leading to a radio station, where Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales, 65, has been entrenched for seven months, seeking to avoid arrest.

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