The nearly monthlong disappearance from public view of Bolivia’s towering socialist icon, ex-leader Evo Morales, just days after the Jan. 3 U.S. seizure of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, his close ally, is alarming his supporters, roiling his enemies and galvanizing the internet.

Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga was once seen as a sideshow in Bolivia’s presidential races, his pleas for free markets and small government falling on deaf ears in a country dominated by leftism.