A judge in Bolivia ordered the arrest of the country’s former President Evo Morales over his alleged abuse of a teenage girl while he was in office. On Friday, the judge in the southern city of Tarija called for Morales’ arrest after Bolivia’s first Indigenous president skipped a hearing on his pre-trial detention for a second time.

A Bolivian judge on Friday ordered the arrest of ex-president Evo Morales over his alleged relationship with a teenage girl while in office, raising the stakes in the nation’s months-long showdown with the former leader.

The former leader, who is accused of having a child with a minor, says the allegations are meant to torpedo his bid for a political comeback A Bolivian judge ordered the arrest of Evo Morales on Friday,