Bolivia replaces attorney general detained on drug-trafficking links
Bolivia's Congress suspended Attorney General Roger Mariaca and appointed José Armando Urioste as interim replacement following an emergency session that extended until dawn.
Bolivian Congress appoints interim attorney general after arrest of incumbent on drug-trafficking charges
Bolivia's Congress suspended Attorney General Roger Mariaca on Saturday and appointed José Armando Urioste as interim replacement, according to clarin.com, following a lengthy emergency session that ran from late Friday night until 06:30 local time (10:30 GMT).
Urioste's appointment, with an extensive background as a judge and academic in the Beni department in the north-east of the country, was approved with 113 votes in favour and 11 against by show of hands. "There are more than two-thirds, therefore Doctor Urioste has been selected," declared Senate president Diego Avila in announcing the result.
Mariaca, who held the position of head of the Public Ministry from 2024 until his arrest on Wednesday, faces charges of money laundering, drug trafficking and organised crime, accusations which he denies. Washington revoked his visa this week, along with other senior officials and businesspeople from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, accused of alleged links to drug trafficking.
To enable the suspension of the attorney general, Congress first had to amend existing regulations, which did not provide for such a mechanism in the event of criminal charges or preventive detention. On Friday night, centre-right president Rodrigo Paz enacted the new law, after which the legislative session resumed.
His arrest was "the result of investigation efforts and silent, meticulous work," said Paz from the government headquarters. Hours after Mariaca's arrest, the Public Ministry had appointed Luis Montaño as interim, the longest-serving official in the institution, but Paz's government rejected that appointment and announced that Montaño would be detained for usurping functions and obstructing investigations.
The case also involves 13 other people arrested on the same Wednesday: three prosecutors, six Public Ministry officials and four individuals who attempted to withdraw approximately 300,000 dollars from Mariaca's home, hidden in an ambulance.
According to the Ministry of Government, the former head of the Public Ministry allegedly provided protection to Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset, arrested by police in March of this year with assistance from the DEA and subsequently deported to the United States.
Paz highlighted the participation in these arrests of the Shield of the Americas, an alliance of right-wing governments promoted by Washington to combat transnational crime.
Source: Google News BO — Crime