Marset bribed senior Bolivian official to traffic drugs without government interference
The U.S. Prosecutor's Office reveals that Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset paid regular bribes to Bolivian officials to protect his drug trafficking operations.
U.S. court documents detail Marset's bribery network in Bolivia
Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset paid regular bribes to a senior Bolivian official, who distributed those funds among other members of Government to ensure that his network could traffic drugs without state interference. This is revealed by documents presented by the United States Prosecutor's Office before the judge handling his case, according to lapatria.bo.
U.S. prosecutor Anthony T. Aminoff filed the brief on 11 November, requesting authorisation to incorporate additional evidence about other crimes attributed to Marset in the trial scheduled for January 2027 before the Eastern District Court of Virginia.
Bribes in four countries, return of seized shipments
The prosecution argues that Marset operated corruption networks in Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela to obtain protection and information from law enforcement. In the Bolivian case, the mechanism was particularly systematic: the senior official receiving the payments was responsible for redistributing the money among other Government members.
"The prosecution expects to present testimony about the payment of regular bribes between the defendant and a senior official in Bolivia. Said official distributed the money among other members of the Bolivian government. These payments allowed the organisation of the agreement to traffic drugs without government interference; furthermore, if any cargo of cocaine was seized, the corrupt officials would return it to the defendant in exchange for an additional sum," prosecutor Aminoff describes in the document.
The bribes would also have given Marset access to files of anti-drug investigations held by Bolivian law enforcement, allowed him to anticipate capture operations and receive information about meetings between the DEA and Bolivian officials.
"Money or lead": threats and murder orders
Aminoff described how Marset applied the method known as "plata o plomo": he offered money to officials to ensure their collaboration and resorted to threats or violence when he encountered resistance. According to the prosecution, the Uruguayan gathered information about possible collaborators of the authorities and, when he identified one, ordered him to be threatened and even eliminated.
Sky ECC messages and threats against a prosecutor
Among the evidence that the Prosecution seeks to incorporate are also messages exchanged by Marset with members of his organisation through the Sky ECC application, which offers anonymous and encrypted communications. In those conversations, the drug trafficker spoke of a grenade attack on Uruguay's anti-drug directorate and threats directed at prosecutor Mónica Ferrero, whom he later described as "incorruptible" before DEA agents.
Marset's defence opposes the admission of these messages as evidence, so the judge still must rule on their incorporation into the trial.
From Santa Cruz to a prison in Virginia
Marset was detained on 13 March in a night-time operation carried out in Santa Cruz and transferred to the United States with DEA assistance. He is currently held in preventive detention at Alexandria jail, in the state of Virginia. He was initially accused of money laundering and subsequently charged with drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.
U.S. prosecutors consider that the bribes and threats are central elements in demonstrating how Marset sustained his international drug trafficking structure and secured protection from officials in several countries in the region.
Source: Google News BO — Crime