Chief of Bolivia's Supreme Court flees to exile with arrest warrant for drug trafficking
Romer Saucedo, Bolivia's top judicial authority, left the country following an arrest warrant issued by prosecutors for trafficking in controlled substances. The Public Ministry will seek a red notice from Interpol.
Head of Bolivia's Supreme Court flees following arrest warrant for drug trafficking
Romer Saucedo, president of Bolivia's Supreme Court of Justice—the country's highest ordinary court—left the country after the Public Ministry issued an arrest warrant against him for trafficking in controlled substances and criminal association, according to crhoy.com.
"I have left the country, I am in exile with my whole family," Saucedo himself announced on the social network X. The 38-year-old magistrate also denounced "attempts at persecution and intimidation" by the government, and warned: "I know they are going to plant evidence to discredit me."
Interim Attorney General José Armando Urioste, appointed by Congress following the detention of former Attorney General Roger Mariaca, confirmed to media that the warrant was issued the previous day. He did not specify Saucedo's particular involvement in the crimes under investigation, but stated that the inquiries "will continue their course" in a confidential manner, with the collaboration of "protected witnesses."
Saucedo's immigration records indicate that he entered Bolivia on Tuesday, but did not register an official departure. Authorities do not know his whereabouts and suspect he crossed the border by land. Urioste announced that his office will request a red notice from Interpol. "We have to activate these international alerts to prevent him from leaving or entering Bolivia," he said.
Since October, several high-ranking officials in Bolivia's judicial system have been detained on suspicion of links to drug trafficking. Among them is Mariaca, arrested days after the United States cancelled his visa and those of other officials and businesspeople from Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. The US government accuses Mariaca of receiving bribes "to facilitate drug trafficking and help violent criminals evade justice."
Vice Minister of Internal Affairs Peter Maldonado linked Saucedo's flight to the Mariaca case. "Many of Mariaca's accomplices and criminals are fleeing," he told the local press.
Centre-right president Rodrigo Paz, who was in Spain to participate in a business meeting ahead of the Ibero-American Summit, stated on Wednesday that Saucedo "is leaving the country because there is a series of accusations or investigations regarding our judicial system model."
In the absence of the court president, judges of the Supreme Court appointed senior judge Rosmery Ruiz as interim president. If Saucedo does not appear before the court within the next six days, he could lose his post.
Saucedo was elected representing Santa Cruz with more than 700,000 votes in the elections held in late 2024, and a month later his peers elected him to preside over the court. In Bolivia, high judicial authorities are elected by popular vote.
Paz's government, nearing completion of its first year in power, has sought to draw closer to Washington and in March joined the Shield of the Americas, a regional alliance led by the Donald Trump administration to combat transnational organised crime.
Source: Google News BO — Crime