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A BOLIVIAN COURT court has ordered the ex-girlfriend of President Evo Morales to present the child she says he fathered with her nearly a decade ago, a son the leftist leader insists has died.
The dispute is at the center of a political drama that has gripped Bolivia since an investigative journalist revealed Morales’s relationship with Gabriela Zapata, a high-powered executive who is now accused of abusing her influence to win contracts for the Chinese company where she worked.
Morales has acknowledged he had a child with Zapata, whom he says he dated from 2005 to 2007.
But he says the boy died soon after birth, while her family insists he is alive.
Confusing matters further, Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera later said the baby never existed.
Judge Elsa Sangueza ordered Zapata, 28, to present the child in family court “for the purpose of conducting an interview in private” said a ruling published in the Bolivian press.
The ruling is a win for Morales, 56, who took Zapata to court earlier this month to make her prove the boy is alive.
Zapata is currently in jail pending trial on charges of money laundering, embezzlement and influence peddling.
A former manager at Chinese engineering group CAMC, she is accused of using her ties to the president to land $560 million in government contracts for the company.
The case exploded onto the political scene just as Bolivia prepared to hold a referendum on whether to change the constitution to allow Morales to run for a fourth term.
Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, went on to lose the 21 February vote – his first electoral defeat in a decade in power.
The president has said his son with Zapata would now be eight or nine years old, and that he would like to raise him if he were alive.
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Someone needs to give Jeremy Kyle a call
Bolivia, the AAA/PBP dream. A socialist government. Though they have 5 million malnourished citizens and poverty and corruption are rife. 64% of the population lives below the poverty line. Bolivia’s GDP pee capita us $5,400 less than the average for Latin American states
Sounds like Ireland
Oh give it a rest, Diffley
What the foooooo#k has this got to do with the story? Ahhh look at you trying to show everyone you know stuff. Ah Bless!!! Ur mummy will be proud.
Ah diffley, you do know that the Bolivian minimum wage has increase by 87% in the last 8 years and extreme poverty has decreased by 49% since Morales took over. But hey don’t let the fact get in the way of your rant!
Okay point taken.
Nice Kinsella.. Back in your box Diffley
Strange one
With a head like he has should be too difficult to determine parentage
Oh thats funny Richard. But hopefully the kid looks like his Mum..
have your say