The Washington Post profiles Cerimedo: from Milei adviser to accused of ordering an attack in Bolivia
The American newspaper published an extensive profile of Argentine consultant Fernando Cerimedo, detained in Bolivia accused of having ordered the attack against his former partner.
The Washington Post portrays Argentine consultant detained in Bolivia for ordering an attack
The Washington Post published an extensive profile this weekend of Fernando Cerimedo, the Argentine political consultant and former adviser to Javier Milei currently detained in Bolivia. According to lanacion.com.ar, the American newspaper titled its article: "Pushed MAGA in Latin America and now he is accused of ordering a murder".
The text, signed by journalist Terrence McCoy, reconstructs Cerimedo's rise as a strategist for Latin American right-wing movements, his links to operatives close to Donald Trump, and his arrival in Bolivia, where he became an influential figure in the circle of President Rodrigo Paz. To produce it, the Post reviewed hundreds of pages of court files—including messages exchanged between Cerimedo and his former partner, Nadia Beller—and interviewed the woman who was shot. "What emerged is something out of a real-life soap opera: infidelity, lover's quarrels, violence and ambition," the newspaper stated.
Campaigns in Argentina, Honduras and Bolivia
The Post describes Cerimedo as one of the most well-known political consultants in the region. He worked on campaigns that brought conservative leaders to power in Argentina, Honduras and Bolivia. In the Argentine case, he played a central role in Milei's digital strategy and acknowledged having coordinated an army of "thousands" of trolls on social media. Lanacion.com.ar had previously reported that he was an important piece of that presidential campaign and that for a period he was responsible for vote monitoring, before being removed from that task.
Links to the MAGA universe
The profile places particular emphasis on Cerimedo's relationship with the MAGA movement and with American political operatives close to Trump. The newspaper recalls that he helped connect Tucker Carlson with Milei for the interview the journalist conducted with him in September 2023, and that he worked alongside Miami consultant Damian Merlo, linked to the Trump circle, during Milei's campaign.
His closest connection within that world was, according to the Post, with Brad Parscale, who directed Trump's digital campaign in 2016. Last year, Cerimedo's then media outlet, La Derecha Diario, announced that he would be the Latin American representative of two of Parscale's political technology platforms. In February of this year, Cerimedo received an award at Mar-a-Lago as the best Hispanic political consultant of 2025. The Economist had already described him in 2025 as "MAGA's man in LatAm".
Questioned credentials
The Washington Post also reviewed the background that Cerimedo presented about himself, and describes his history as "a mix of embellishment and contradiction". In interviews and on his LinkedIn profile, he claimed to have studied at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to have obtained a doctorate in marketing from the University of Phoenix, to have trained with the Navy SEALs and to have worked in the White House during the Barack Obama administration.
The Post consulted the institutions mentioned: MIT and University of Phoenix said they had no records of Cerimedo as a student. Harvard and the public affairs office of the American Navy did not respond to the newspaper's inquiries.
The article also mentions that Cerimedo worked as a taxi driver in Mar del Plata and that in 2016 he was convicted of a fraud related to selling the same apartment to two families. Lanacion.com.ar had reported that Argentine courts imposed a sentence of two years and six months of suspended imprisonment on him for fraud and embezzlement.
The relationship with Nadia Beller and the attack
The Post places Cerimedo's landing in Bolivia within that regional expansion. The consultant backed Rodrigo Paz's campaign, who came to the presidency after two decades of left-wing governments, and came to have influence in his circle. It was in this context that he met Nadia Beller, a Bolivian lawyer and political analyst. According to the newspaper, contact began when Cerimedo sought her opinion on a legislative project important to Paz; the professional relationship later evolved into a romantic relationship.
The profile reconstructs a conflictive link. Beller recounted that in June a discussion ended in violence and that Cerimedo had grabbed her by the neck. She also said that he had assured her that his marriage was over and that he wanted to marry her. During the summer, Beller discovered she was pregnant. The relationship deteriorated after she communicated the pregnancy to Cerimedo's wife.
On 17 August, Beller went to a luxury hotel after receiving a message from an anonymous informant who offered her compromising information about a political rival. According to the Post, Cerimedo encouraged her to go. While waiting in front of the hotel, two people dressed as delivery drivers approached; one of them drew a weapon and shot her three times.
The investigation and detention
Beller accused Cerimedo of having ordered the attack. He denies any involvement and his lawyers argue that it is a political operation by the Bolivian left against him and against the Paz government.
According to the Post, investigators found a message in the notes folder of Cerimedo's phone that said: "Don't tell anyone anything. But she betrayed us... Nadia. Either we get rid of her once and for all or we're done for. Do you know anyone who can do this job?". The newspaper clarifies that it is not clear whether that message was actually sent.
Prosecutors are also investigating a request for 50,000 dollars that Cerimedo allegedly made days before the attack, as well as other items found in his devices and tens of thousands of dollars found in his apartment. Cerimedo remains detained in a maximum-security prison.
Source: Google News BO — Crime