Bolivia's Attorney General arrested over suspected links to drug trafficking
Roger Mariaca, Bolivia's Attorney General, was arrested after being placed on a blacklist by the United States State Department. Washington accuses him of receiving bribes to facilitate drug trafficking.
Arrest of Bolivian Attorney General following American sanctions
Roger Mariaca, Bolivia's Attorney General in office since late 2024, was arrested, a source from the Interior Ministry confirmed laconically to lalibre.be: "The arrest of the prosecutor (Mariaca) is confirmed." Alberto Zevallos, prosecutor of the Santa Cruz department, also sanctioned by Washington, was detained simultaneously, according to local press reports.
Both men were among around twenty Bolivian, Colombian and Ecuadorian officials and businessmen placed on a United States State Department list this week. These individuals are accused of corruption, links with drug trafficking or conspiracy against their respective governments.
Search at Sucre prosecutor's office
On Wednesday, police also searched the prosecutor's offices in Sucre, the country's constitutional capital. Images broadcast live by the institution on social media showed hooded police officers surrounding several public ministry officials.
Claudia Pardo, head of communications for the prosecutor's office, denounced the operation in front of cameras: "We denounce to the entire Bolivian population this intervention that is taking place in an illegal manner." A public ministry official, quoted by Efe news agency, described the arrest as a "kidnapping".
American accusations and La Paz response
According to the American government, Mariaca received "bribes to facilitate drug trafficking and help violent criminals escape justice". The Bolivian executive had reacted as early as Monday by demanding that Washington substantiate its accusations and transmit its information in order to allow investigations to be opened into the individuals targeted.
These arrests are part of a broader dynamic: since his return to the White House, American President Donald Trump has made fighting drug trafficking and cartels in Latin America and the Caribbean one of the priority axes of his regional foreign policy.
Source: Google News MA — Crime (fr)