Star Metro - Bolivia's attorney general arrested on drugs, money laundering charges

Mariaca was arrested on Wednesday night in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, two days after the United States blacklisted him for allegedly taking bribes to facilitate narcotrafficking.

"A criminal organization entrenched in the justice system has been dismantled," Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo told a press conference.

Oviedo said that in the early hours of Thursday, four people were caught trying to remove $300,000 in a mix of local bolivianos and dollars from Mariaca's house in an ambulance.

A video released by the interior ministry showed police removing wads of cash from the vehicle's panels.

Oviedo said that the Attorney General's Office, "headed by Roger Mariaca, became a criminal organization dedicated to protecting, encouraging, and safeguarding narco-terrorism."

Washington this week barred Mariaca and his family from the United States, claiming he "abused his public positions by soliciting and accepting bribes to facilitate narcotrafficking and helped violent criminals evade justice."

Mariaca denied the accusations on Monday and said the decision to revoke his visa stemmed from "political pressure" related to his investigations.

Oviedo said that Mariaca's arrest took place with the "cooperation of the US government" as part of the "fight against terrorism."

Writing on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the Bolivian government's "bold and decisive actions to combat narco-trafficking, systemic corruption, and transnational organized crime in Bolivia."

In total, four prosecutors, six employees of the public prosecutor's office and the four people found aboard the ambulance were arrested.

The raids come as Bolivia's center-right President Rodrigo Paz, who took office in November 2025, seeks to strengthen ties with the United States after two decades of socialist rule marked by mutual enmity.

Bolivia has joined "Shield of the Americas," a US-led alliance of right-wing Latin American governments set up to fight organized crimes and cement US power in a region Washington sees as its exclusive sphere of influence.

Apart from Mariaca, the United States this week imposed visa bans on 12 other Bolivians, including several senior prosecutors and a police colonel, for "corruption or narcotrafficking activities."

- 'Mariaca is my friend' -

Mariaca was appointed Attorney General by Congress in October 2024.

At the time Congress was dominated by the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party of Indigenous ex-president Evo Morales and his successor Luis Arce.

Morales, a staunch anti-imperialist who sought in vain to run for a fourth term in office last year, said Mariaca's arrest was proof that "here in Bolivia, the United States governs."

The Attorney General's Office stated in a press release that, given Mariaca's "definitive absence," the next most senior public prosecutor, Luis Montano Morales, would replace him on an interim basis.

Congress will hold an emergency session on Friday to discuss appointing his successor.

Mariaca's lawyer Romel Ipamo told local media that his client would "cooperate fully" with the investigation but asked that "due process be guaranteed."

During Mariaca's tenure, Bolivian police captured Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastian Marset, one of South America's most-wanted men, who was later deported to the United States.

Local media on Wednesday broadcast a video purporting to show Marset on the day of his arrest declaring: "Mariaca is my friend."

AFP has been unable to verify the authenticity of the video.

Police also raided the headquarters of the public prosecutor's office in the southern city of Sucre as well as local offices in Santa Cruz and the administrative capital La Paz.

N.Fournier--SMC