Bolivian judge orders arrest of ex-president Evo Morales in sex abuse case

Populist leader allegedly had a child with a teen girl in 2016, which would constitute statutory rape under Bolivian law

A Bolivian judge has ordered the arrest of the former president Evo Morales over his alleged abuse of a teenage girl while in office, raising the stakes in the state's months-long showdown with the former leader.

The judge in the southern city of Tarija called for Morales, 65, to be arrested after Bolivia's first Indigenous president ducked out of a hearing on his possible pre-trial detention for a second time.