Roma System Under Review: Did Reserved Information Leak to Drug Trafficker Marset?
Interim Attorney General Urioste orders technical audit of the Roma computer system amid suspicions of external access linked to Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset.
Urioste Orders Audit of Roma System Amid Suspicions of Leaks to Drug Trafficking
The interim attorney general, José Armando Urioste, announced a comprehensive technical review of the Public Ministry's Roma computer ecosystem, according to El Deber. Suspicions suggest that members of criminal organisations would have accessed reserved case files through this platform, including Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset.
"How could a citizen, neither Bolivian nor foreign, know if an arrest warrant or search warrant is issued? The only possibility was that the Attorney General would call him by phone or that he has access to the Roma system on his phone," Urioste declared from Sucre, seat of the Attorney General's Office.
The investigation seeks to establish whether Marset knew in advance of arrest and search orders thanks to access to that platform. The Public Ministry building in Sucre remained under police guard and several facilities continued to be under investigation, following the dismissal and arrest of former attorney general Róger Mariaca Montenegro, currently imprisoned in Cantumarca.
Urioste took office on Monday in La Paz and announced the first measures the following day: to verify the security of computer systems and to preserve the facilities under investigation. "We have received reports that there are Roma system servers outside their facilities. That would be inadmissible," he stated, although he clarified that technical conclusions on those suspicions have not yet been reached.
A meeting was scheduled for this Wednesday with the engineer responsible for the system, who according to Urioste has already indicated that no irregular external servers exist. International specialists are expected to arrive next week to carry out an independent review. The authority mentioned negotiations with experts from the Shield of the Americas and the Latin American Institute for Forensic Investigations. "We will listen and we will judge based on evidence," he assured.
What is the Roma System
Roma—whose initials stand for Repository of Operations, Modules and Applications—was officially presented on 23 May 2025 by then attorney general Mariaca. Urioste questioned whether the first two syllables of that name coincide with the initials of the former attorney general.
The platform integrates digital case files, legal proceedings, electronic notifications, document management, administrative services, mobile applications and artificial intelligence tools. It also allows information exchange with other institutions and tracking of criminal cases. Its development was undertaken by technology personnel from the Public Ministry itself.
Despite having been presented as a modernisation project aimed at reducing procedural times and strengthening transparency, reports of complaints from litigants emerged in recent hours regarding delays or irregular payments for their cases to progress.
Tracking of Prosecutors and Access to Cameras
The suspicions go beyond access to reserved case files. Urioste revealed having received information about mechanisms for tracking the location of prosecutors and accessing cameras on their phones through the system. These aspects will need to be verified during the audit.
The new interim attorney general clarified, however, that the accumulated technological advances will not be dismantled. The review aims to determine who could access reserved information, from what locations the connections were being made and what controls existed over authorised users.
Source: El Deber