Bolivia investigates three priests for child abuse cover-up

LA PAZ (Reuters) -Bolivia's top prosecutor's office said on Thursday it is launching an investigation against three Jesuit priests accused of covering up child abuse in the city of La Paz, the latest development in a string of pedophilia scandals that have shaken the South American country.

The investigation is targeting priests who may have helped cover up the 1961 rape of a young boy in an education facility allegedly committed by then-Archbishop of La Paz, Alejandro Mestre Descals, the office said.

The prosecutor's office said Mestre had raped the child on at least two occasions.

In a statement Bolivia's Attorney General, Juan Lanchipa Ponce, named three priests accused of keeping silent for decades despite prior knowledge a crime had taken place, and that his office had requested their house arrest among other measures. Those named were Bernardo Mercado, Ignacio Suñol and Osvaldo Chirveches.

The investigation follows another incident involving Spanish priest Luis Maria Roma, who targeted at least 100 minors from indigenous communities in the Bolivian city of Charagua between 1994 and 2005 while working as a missionary. He later recorded acts in his personal diary that were made public.

Despite church authorities being informed, no measures were ever taken against Roma, who died in 2019 without ever facing prosecution.

Earlier this year, Bolivia's Society of Jesus, as the Jesuits are known in Bolivia, admitted to their failings after new evidence was published by Spanish newspaper El Pais documenting victims' testimonies. Representatives from the Society did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the investigation.

(Reporting by Sergio Limachi in La Paz. Writing by Sarah Morland. Editing by Lucinda Elliott.)