Bolivia sentences two elderly priests for concealing colleague’s child abuse

A Bolivian court sentenced two elderly Spanish Jesuit priests to a year each in prison on Tuesday for concealing decades of child sex abuse committed by their colleague in the church.

The convictions of the priests, Marcos Recolons, 81, and Ramon Alaix, 83, mark Bolivia's first successful criminal prosecution against high-ranking members of the Catholic Jesuit order implicated in concealing abuse cases.

Prosecutors argued that Recolons and Alaix led the Jesuit order in Bolivia while the abuse occurred. 

They were aware of the allegations against a priest, Alfonso Pedrajas, but failed to report them to police, allowing him to continue contact with children, according to the prosecution.

The case came to light in 2023 with the publication of a diary belonging to Pedrajas, who died in 2009. 

In it, he wrote about abusing at least 85 minors between 1972 and 2000, many of whom were Indigenous students on scholarships at a prominent boarding school.

The diary entries sparked international outrage and intensified the debate over the Catholic Church's accountability in child sex abuse scandals across Latin America.

The judge on Tuesday ordered the defendants to serve a year in the San Sebastian prison in the city of Cochabamba, pay court costs to the state and compensate the victims. The ruling also requires them to undergo psychological treatment.

In addition, prosecutors will pursue new cases against other priests named by victims during the trial, the judge said.

Pedro Lima, a spokesperson for a Bolivian sex abuse survivors' group, said the one-year sentence for each priest was "not very severe" but still "makes clear that they were responsible."

He called the ruling a historic moment.

"We want this to be a precedent so that no boy or girl in Bolivia suffers sexual abuse," Lima added.