Bolivian Attorney General Roger Mariaca arrested over drug cartel links
Bolivia's Attorney General Roger Mariaca was arrested on Wednesday, two days after the U.S. revoked his visa over alleged drug trafficking ties.
Bolivian top prosecutor detained days after U.S. visa revocation
Bolivian police arrested Attorney General Roger Mariaca on Wednesday, two days after Washington revoked his visa over alleged links to drug trafficking, cbsnews.com reports, citing a government source who spoke to AFP.
"The arrest of Prosecutor Mariaca has been confirmed," a source from the Ministry of Government said, requesting anonymity.
Santa Cruz prosecutor Alberto Zeballos, who has also been sanctioned by the United States, was arrested on the same day, according to local media. Both men were among nearly 20 individuals from Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador whom the U.S. State Department accused this week of corruption, drug trafficking connections, or conspiring against their respective governments.
Police simultaneously raided the attorney general's offices in Sucre on Wednesday. The operation was broadcast live on the institution's social media accounts, showing hooded officers surrounding staff members. The head of communications, Claudia Pardo, addressed the camera directly: "We denounce before the entire Bolivian population this intervention that is being carried out illegally."
According to Reuters, a prosecutor's office official described Mariaca's detention as an "abduction" during a separate live broadcast. Local media reported he was detained at Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz.
The U.S. State Department said on Monday that Mariaca had received "bribes to facilitate drug trafficking and help violent criminals evade justice." Mariaca denied the accusations the same day, characterising the visa revocation as "interference" and "political pressure" in response to his own investigations.
In total, Washington revoked the visas of 12 Bolivian officials; nine additional Bolivian nationals who do not currently hold U.S. visas were rendered ineligible to obtain them.
The arrests come months after a separate high-profile development in Bolivia's drug enforcement record. Earlier this year, notorious Latin American narcotrafficker Sebastián Marset — who had evaded police for years — was handed over to U.S. authorities following his arrest in Bolivia. Marset, listed amongst the U.S.' most-wanted fugitives, was transferred to agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport and flown to the United States. In March, he made his first appearance in a federal court in Virginia.
The Office of the Attorney General and the Santa Cruz prosecutor's office did not immediately respond to AFP's requests for comment.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)