Second preventive detention against Cerimedo in Bolivia for illicit enrichment
A Bolivian court ordered six months of preventive detention at Chonchocoro against Argentine political consultant Fernando Cerimedo for illicit enrichment, in addition to a prior case of attempted femicide.
Second preventive detention for Cerimedo: judge orders transfer to Chonchocoro for illicit enrichment
Judge Douglas Borda issued a second six-month preventive detention order on Saturday against Argentine political consultant Fernando Cerimedo, this time for alleged illicit enrichment. According to infobae.com, the ruling was adopted following a virtual hearing of approximately six hours held in La Paz, whilst Cerimedo remained in Palmasola prison in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where he was already serving a first preventive detention for attempted femicide against his former partner, Bolivian lawyer Nadia Beller.
The judge ordered that Cerimedo be transferred to the maximum-security prison at Chonchocoro, in the La Paz highlands, although at the close of the hearing it remained undefined which of the two proceedings would take precedence in executing the transfer. Defence lawyer Ernesto Giraldes told television network UNO that the Prosecution "failed to demonstrate" how his client had harmed the State, and warned that Cerimedo's life "was in danger" if he were transferred between prisons.
Cerimedo spoke from his cell: "They ruined my life"
From Palmasola, Cerimedo participated virtually in the hearing and broke down in tears on three occasions, always in relation to references to his family, according to reports in local newspaper El Deber. "I am not going to flee, your honour. I want to finish this process because they ruined my life," he stated before the court.
The defendant also rejected the Prosecution's version of an alleged attempt to evade justice: "It was falsely proven in another case that I was not escaping." He added: "I am in a prison, I am locked up, your honour, for something that did not happen."
Seized money and declared income
During raids on residences linked to the defendant, authorities confiscated 500,000 dollars in cash, plus Bolivian national currency and euros in unspecified quantities. At the hearing, Cerimedo declared that his annual income reaches one million dollars, a figure he attributed to his work as a consultant and strategist for political campaigns.
In addition to the case for illicit enrichment and the attempted femicide proceedings, Cerimedo faces two other active cases: one for domestic violence and another for money laundering. A fourth investigation for alleged drug trafficking is also under way.
Political tension: clash with Vice-President Lara
The hearing descended into a moment of high tension when Edmand Lara, Vice-President of the Bolivian State, took the floor to request that Cerimedo be transferred to Chonchocoro. The Argentine strategist responded harshly to the second-ranking official.
"What the mythomaniac Vice-President is saying, saying that I had great power in the Executive Branch, great influence: if I had had great influence, your honour, I guarantee you that many of the things that happened in Bolivia would not have occurred," he stated.
Cerimedo also denied the characterisations that, according to him, Lara had made about him: "I am not a murderer as the mythomaniac Vice-President said, who is already judging me in a way designed to influence the judges. I am not a drug trafficker—I have reported drug trafficking with positive results—. And I am not violent, your honour."
For the defendant, the Vice-President's presence at the hearing was motivated by personal interest: "It appears designed to intimidate or to try to influence decisions, on account of a personal matter he has with me, because he believes that his failure in management is connected to decisions of mine, which I did not make."
The "principal adviser" card and the link with President Paz
Another point of debate was a business card found among Cerimedo's belongings bearing the title of "principal adviser" to President Rodrigo Paz. The strategist ruled out that the title held any validity and explained that it was "a model card that I requested, but which was not printed because the position does not exist." He further noted that, even if he had formally entered State employment, that position would not exist either because "it is not an item that exists within the State."
Cerimedo acknowledged having advised Paz during the second electoral round that brought him victory, and confirmed his presence in the early stages of the government, although without formal office in the state structure, as confirmed by presidential spokesman José Luis Gálvez. "I came to Bolivia to establish my digital companies and planned to bring my family. With the president I had a conversation between friends; I travelled permanently and the president needed a person who was permanent and present, which I was unable to be," he explained at the hearing.
Regarding the Beller case, Cerimedo was categorical: "The Nadia Beller matter was a fling and the entire accusation is based on TikTok. It ruined my life."
Paz distances himself; scandal splashes the government
Two days before the hearing, President Paz publicly distanced himself from the consultant through a televised message: "He never had authorisation to represent this Bolivian, the Presidency, the government or my family."
The Cerimedo case has become one of the major political scandals facing Paz's government. Beller, who was the strategist's partner, accused him of sending hitmen to silence her. After surviving three gunshots, she launched a series of accusations that reached State ministers, legislators and members of the presidential inner circle, whom she linked to the payment of bribes.
At the end of Saturday's hearing, Judge Borda had not yet resolved Vice-President Lara's request to transfer Cerimedo to the maximum-security prison at Chonchocoro.
Source: Google News BO — Crime