Bolivia's attorney general Roger Mariaca arrested over narcotics trafficking links
Attorney general Roger Mariaca was detained along with 13 others, accused of protecting drug traffickers. The United States had denied him entry three days earlier.
Bolivian attorney general detained at airport following US veto
Roger Mariaca, attorney general of Bolivia, was arrested in the early hours of Thursday at Santa Cruz de la Sierra international airport alongside 13 others, including the departmental prosecutor for Santa Cruz, Alberto Zeballos. The Bolivian government accuses him of having turned the public ministry into a "criminal organisation designed to encourage and protect narco-terrorism in the country," according to a statement made by the government minister, Marco Antonio Oviedo.
According to bbc.com, the detention occurred just three days after the US State Department published a statement identifying Mariaca for "engaging in serious cases of corruption" and prohibiting him entry to United States territory. Washington indicated that the then attorney general "abused his public positions by soliciting and accepting bribes to facilitate narcotics trafficking and helped violent criminals evade justice."
The Marset case and links to the Uruguayan trafficker
The accusations against Mariaca and his associates centre on Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset, extradited to the United States in March. Oviedo publicly described him as an "accomplice, protector and collaborator" of Marset. Shortly before the arrest, a video circulated on social media in which the drug trafficker allegedly referred to the Bolivian attorney general as his friend and claimed to warn him of "what he needs to warn about." The BBC was unable to independently verify the video.
Mariaca had been elected attorney general in 2024 by the National Assembly—then controlled by the ruling coalition of former president Luis Arce and the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS)—for a six-year term. He had previously served as departmental prosecutor for Santa Cruz since 2020, a position from which he first became involved with the Marset case.
In July 2023, in a major police operation, Marset—considered one of the main narcotics trafficking bosses based in Santa Cruz—managed to escape the authorities. Officials from the Arce government pointed to regional prosecutors, including Mariaca, as responsible for the escape at that time. The prosecutor rejected that accusation and stated that it was precisely the Santa Cruz Prosecutor's Office, under his direction, that led the operation.
US cancels visas for 12 Bolivian officials
Washington also announced the cancellation of valid visas for 12 current and former Bolivian officials for supposedly "undermining democratically elected governments" through "narcotics trafficking or corruption activities." Among those affected was Zeballos, detained alongside Mariaca under the same circumstances at Santa Cruz airport.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed support for Bolivian president Rodrigo Paz hours after the arrest through a post on X. "Bolivia's actions demonstrate the type of leadership needed to make our hemisphere a safer, stronger and more prosperous place," wrote Rubio. The previous week, Rubio and Paz had met in New York as part of the UN General Assembly.
Mariaca denied the accusations and spoke of political pressure
In statements made on Tuesday, one day before his arrest, Mariaca described the restrictions imposed by the US as retaliation for his investigative work. "We know that the work we have been doing has not been to the liking of certain political sectors, both within and outside our country," he stated, and explicitly mentioned the case of Argentine political consultant Fernando Cerimedo, adviser to presidents Javier Milei and Rodrigo Paz.
The prosecution led by Mariaca accused Cerimedo of attempted femicide, among other crimes. The investigation began following a contract killing attack in August against Nadia Beller, lawyer and former partner of Cerimedo, who survived despite receiving five gunshot wounds. Beller directly identified Cerimedo as responsible from her hospital bed. Since August, Cerimedo has remained detained in La Paz.
"No national or international political pressure should become an obstacle to clarifying facts that must be investigated," Mariaca stated on Tuesday.
The prosecution describes the detention as "unlawful"
The communications office of the General Prosecutor's Office of Bolivia reacted immediately. Claudia Pardo, head of communications for the institution, denounced in a live broadcast on the official social media accounts that it was "an unlawful intervention." "We denounce to the entire Bolivian population this intervention that is being carried out unlawfully," declared Pardo.
The EFE and AFP news agencies confirmed that both Mariaca and Zeballos were detained at Santa Cruz de la Sierra international airport.
Source: Google News BO — Crime