La Paz prosecutor resigns in Bolivia following detention of senior officials on drug trafficking charges
The departmental prosecutor Luis Carlos Torrez resigned amid a corruption and drug trafficking investigation that has already resulted in the detention of several senior officials.
Resignation of La Paz prosecutor shakes Bolivian Public Ministry
The prosecutor of the La Paz department, Luis Carlos Torrez, submitted his resignation following a police raid on the offices of the Public Ministry, an operation forming part of an investigation that led to the detention of the state's attorney general, Roger Mariaca, according to nvinoticias.com. The reasons for Torrez's resignation have not been disclosed.
Mariaca was detained along with departmental prosecutors Alberto Zeballos, from Santa Cruz, and Martín Irusta Flores, from Sucre. The three face formal charges of drug trafficking and criminal organisation. The Public Ministry requested six months of preventive detention for the three officials, according to a statement made by the Vice-Minister of Government, Marco Antonio Oviedo, before Parliament.
The United States Department of State sanctioned Mariaca and other senior Bolivian officials and former officials, barring them from entry into United States territory. Washington identified the attorney general for "abusing his public position to solicit and accept bribes to facilitate drug trafficking and help violent criminals evade justice".
In response to the institutional crisis, Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz enacted a law approved by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly that empowers that chamber to directly suspend the attorney general when he is charged with a serious crime. The regulation also enables political authorities to appoint an interim official for a period of three months, as explained by the president of the Assembly, Diego Ávila, during the plenary session.
Source: Google News BO — La Paz