Argentine adviser arrested in Bolivia embroils regional presidents
Fernando Cerimedo, Argentine political consultant, was arrested in Bolivia following an attack on his ex-partner. His network of contacts implicates several regional leaders.
The Argentine consultant who triggered a political crisis in several countries
Until 17 August, Fernando Cerimedo was barely a known name in circles that closely follow electoral campaigns and disinformation operations on social media. According to reporting by elcomercio.pe, that day everything changed: in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, lawyer and political operator Nadia Beller survived a shooting attack carried out by hired killers disguised as food delivery workers, who shot her three times in the vicinity of a hotel.
"He clearly wanted to get rid of me," Beller stated from the clinic where she was treated. The "he" she was referring to was Cerimedo, her ex-partner.
Arrested at the airport whilst attempting to flee
Less than 24 hours after the attack, the 45-year-old consultant was arrested at Santa Cruz's Viru Viru international airport when attempting to board a flight bound for Buenos Aires. Since then he has been held in preventive detention at Palmasola prison, Bolivia's largest, charged as the alleged intellectual author of attempted femicide.
The arrest immediately drew focus to his relationship with Bolivian president Rodrigo Paz and, beyond that, began to reveal his proximity to various leaders across the right-wing spectrum of the region, both in the shadows and in a more public manner.
Links reaching Argentina, Chile and Peru
In Argentina, Cerimedo co-founded La Derecha Diario in 2021, a news and opinion portal. Shortly after, he jumped into active politics and became part of the communications team of then-candidate Javier Milei during the 2023 presidential campaign. According to reporting by France 24, his role went beyond managing social media: Cerimedo himself acknowledged that he employed "negative campaigns" and "troll farms". Although the Milei government claims that he no longer holds any official position, Argentine media documented visits by the consultant to Casa Rosada following the libertarian leader's triumph.
In Chile, Congress approved this week the formation of an investigating commission to clarify the links between the digital strategist and the entourage of former president José Antonio Kast. The commission has a 60-day deadline to issue a report on the use of malicious bots in campaigns and Cerimedo's role in those operations. The day after this legislative decision, the Chilean prosecution opened an investigation into possible computer crimes linked to the consultant. The sitting president stated that he never worked with Cerimedo nor maintains advisory links with him, although he acknowledged knowing him.
In Peru, the tentacles of the case also reached the political establishment. Keiko Fujimori herself came out on Wednesday 2 to deny that the digital expert participated in her latest electoral campaign and stressed that she has no "personal or work relationship" with him, despite Cerimedo being present at the ceremony in which she was sworn in as president on 28 July, barely 20 days before the attack on Beller.
Paz, the mandatary most compromised
The one appearing in the most compromised situation is Bolivian president Rodrigo Paz. Unlike other regional leaders, Paz admitted that Cerimedo was part of his campaign for the second electoral round in the second half of 2025, although he clarified that the consultant "never had the authorisation" to represent his government.
But the complications do not end there. A second judicial proceeding opened in Bolivia against the consultant investigates alleged illicit enrichment: the aim is to trace money received from the Bolivian state for his supposed participation as external adviser in the modification of two supreme decrees and a law. Cerimedo has described his relationship with Paz as "collaborative" and informal. However, his ex-partner Beller presented alleged screenshots that would indicate a much closer link with the ruler.
A profile constructed in digital battle
Cerimedo's trajectory shows him as an operator who navigated between opinion journalism and political campaign consultancy, with particular emphasis on digital dispute. His own description of the work—"negative campaigns", "troll farms"—points to methods that have generated growing concern in several countries in the region regarding the integrity of electoral processes.
The case opens questions about the real scope of his network of contacts and about how much the various governments that, according to evidence emerging, would have resorted to his services, knew—or did not know. For now, Bolivian justice is proceeding with two simultaneous cases: the attempted femicide and the illicit enrichment.
Source: Google News BO — Crime