LA PAZ, July 30, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Bolivian prosecutors on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for former socialist president Evo Morales, accusing him of fomenting recent protests that paralyzed the country.

Enormous anti-government demonstrations choked the Andean nation in May and June, causing severe fuel, food and medicine shortages in some cities.

The movement started with workers and Indigenous communities voicing their grievances over Bolivia's worst economic crisis in decades.

But protests escalated to demand the resignation of US-backed President Rodrigo Paz, who has accused Morales of orchestrating the unrest.

Wednesday's warrant was related to an investigation into dozens of roadblocks erected during that period, Attorney General Roger Mariaca said.

The probe stemmed from an "armed uprising" and "terrorism" complaint filed by a right-wing conglomerate of civic leaders and businesses against Morales, trade unionist Mario Argollo and Indigenous figure Vicente Salazar.

A section of the government later joined the complaint.

The president has also accused Morales, who hails from the coca-growing Chapare region, of drug trafficking -- without providing evidence.

Morales, Bolivia's first-ever Indigenous leader, is in hiding in his political stronghold Chapare to escape separate charges of trafficking a minor.

He is accused of having relations with a 15-year-old girl, with whom he is alleged to have fathered a child while in power.

The teenager's parents allegedly consented to the relationship in exchange for benefits. Morales denies the allegations.

Paz previously said he was planning an operation in the former president's political bastion, without specifying when.

The conservative leader managed to quell public unrest by declaring a state of emergency in June, allowing him to deploy the army and outlaw demonstrations.

He took office last year on a promise to revive the economy after two decades of socialist rule.

His cost-cutting program has however run into stiff opposition from trade unions, farmers and Indigenous organizations.

Morales believes Paz's neoliberal policies are "stoking a civil war," he told AFP in an interview in June.

"There is no reason to intervene," he said of a potential government operation in Chapare.