Bolivia's attorney general arrested, accused by US of ties to drug traffickers

Police arrested Bolivia's attorney general, Roger Mariaca, on Wednesday, two days after the United States revoked his visa due to alleged ties to drug trafficking. According to Marco Antonio Oviedo, Bolivia's interior minister, the arrest was carried out on suspicion of criminal organization, money laundering and drug trafficking.

"The arrest of the attorney general" Mariaca "has been confirmed," said a source from the Ministry of the Interior who preferred to remain anonymous. Arrested alongside him was Alberto Zeballos, a prosecutor from Santa Cruz, who was also sanctioned by Washington, according to local press reports, AFP reports. Both were detained at Viru Viru Airport in the city of Santa Cruz, local media reported.

Both were included this week on a list from the U.S. Department of State among nearly twenty officials and businesspeople from Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador whom it accuses of corruption, ties to drug trafficking or conspiring against their respective governments.

Following Mariaca's arrest, the Attorney General's Office stated in a press release that, given Mariaca's "definitive absence," Luis Montaño Morales, "the senior-most prosecutor" within the institution, will assume the position on an interim basis.

Mariaca's attorney offers to cooperate

Mariaca was appointed prosecutor by Congress in October 2024, and it is this branch of government that must vote to appoint a new prosecutor. His attorney, Romel Ipamo, told local media that "we will cooperate fully. The only thing we ask is that due process be safeguarded," he stated.

According to the Trump administration, Mariaca received "bribes to facilitate drug trafficking and help violent criminals evade justice." The attorney general denied the allegations on Monday and asserted in a statement to the press that the decision to revoke his visa is an act of "interference" and "political pressure" stemming from his investigations.

During Mariaca's tenure, Bolivian police arrested Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset in March, who was subsequently deported to the United States with the support of the DEA. Local media released a video on Wednesday showing Marset on the day of his arrest, alongside elite police officers at his home, allegedly stating: "Mariaca is my friend."

His office is also investigating attempted femicide, illicit enrichment and money laundering, among other alleged crimes, involving Argentine consultant Fernando Cerimedo, a former personal advisor to Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, who collaborated with several right-wing campaigns in Latin America.

As part of the Shield of the Americas initiative

Police also raided the offices of the Attorney General's Office headquarters in Sucre on Wednesday, in the southern part of the country, as seen in a live broadcast on the agency's social media accounts.

The Prosecutor's Office in Santa Cruz (in the east) was also raided by police officers, according to footage from local media.

The Paz administration is part of the Shield of the Americas, the alliance of right-wing governments to combat transnational organized crime led by the Donald Trump administration.