Bolivia's attorney general arrested for leading network protecting narco-terrorism
The Bolivian government accused Roger Mariaca of heading a criminal organisation within the Public Ministry. Fourteen people were detained in the operations.
Roger Mariaca, head of Public Ministry, arrested over drugs trafficking links
The Bolivian Government accused on Thursday Attorney General of the State Roger Mariaca, detained the previous day in Santa Cruz, of heading a "criminal organisation" entrenched in the Public Ministry that, according to authorities, operated to protect "narco-terrorism" in the country. This was reported by panampost.com citing news agency EFE.
Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo confirmed before the media in La Paz that between Wednesday night and Thursday early morning "a criminal organisation embedded in the Justice system and administration" of the Public Ministry had been dismantled, allegedly "headed by Roger Mariaca".
Fourteen detained in simultaneous operations
The operations carried out in recent hours resulted in the detention of fourteen people, "four of them holding hierarchical positions in the general prosecutor's office" and in the prosecutor's offices of Santa Cruz and La Paz, Oviedo specified at a press conference, accompanied by Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano and Minister of the Presidency Fernando Aramayo, alongside senior police chiefs.
Among those detained are the departmental prosecutor of Santa Cruz, Alberto Zeballos, a senior prosecutor, a police major, four people intercepted in a condominium where Mariaca resided—where "huge quantities of money" were found—and six Public Ministry officials accused of attempting to remove documentation from the attorney general's residence.
The shadow of Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset
Oviedo stated that Mariaca was detained because "the crime committed by this narco-structure in the Public Ministry has been continuous and permanent" and that it was "a criminal organisation that protected, participated in and became enriched through trafficking in controlled substances".
The minister mentioned the case of Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset, captured last March in Bolivia and subsequently sent to the United States. According to Oviedo, Marset had been detained for the first time in 2023, when Mariaca was serving as departmental prosecutor of Santa Cruz, but at that time the Uruguayan was released quickly. "That is the type and model of narco-terrorism that took over the Public Ministry in Bolivia," the minister added.
The Government imputes to Mariaca the alleged crimes of criminal organisation, money laundering and illicit trafficking in controlled substances.
Pressure from Washington and previous sanctions
The arrests come days after the United States Government announced on Monday the revocation of visas for senior officials from Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, whom it accuses of being "corrupt" and of "undermining democratically elected governments". Bolivia tops the list of countries with the most sanctioned citizens published by the United States State Department, among which Mariaca and Zeballos already featured.
According to local media, the prosecutors detained in Santa Cruz were transferred to La Paz and remain in offices of the anti-drug force in the neighbouring city of El Alto.
The Government denied having detained former Interior Minister and former presidential candidate of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) Eduardo del Castillo, although Oviedo confirmed that "he is being sought".
Mariaca rejects the charges
Mariaca himself rejected the accusations against him and linked the United States decision to the "implications" that some Public Ministry investigations had, within and outside Bolivia. Among these he cited criminal cases against Argentine political consultant Fernando Cerimedo, accused, among other crimes, of alleged attempted femicide against his ex-partner.
Source: Google News BO — Crime