Bolivia's ex-president, leftist Luis Arce, arrested for alleged corruption

(AFP) Bolivia's former president, Luis Arce, was arrested on Wednesday by police officers in La Paz over a case of alleged corruption when he was a minister under former President Evo Morales (2006-2019), according to authorities.

Leftist Arce, 62, left power on November 8. His departure marked the end of 20 years of socialist governments initiated by Morales and the coming to power of center-right Rodrigo Paz.

Sources in the prosecutor's office told AFPthat Arce will have to answer for the alleged crimes of "breach of duties" and "anti-economic conduct."

"I want to congratulate the troops (...) of the Anti-Corruption Division (...) for having apprehended, complying with an apprehension resolution issued by a prosecutorial authority," former president Arce, Bolivian Vice President, and Edmand Lara said in a video broadcast by local media.

When Arce was economy minister in Morales' government, he allegedly authorized transfers from the public treasury to personal accounts of peasant leaders, according to the complaint that led to the arrest.

The former president will spend his first night in police custody.

Imputation

The alleged diversion of money that compromises Arce was carried out through the state Fund for the Development of Native Indigenous Peoples (Fondioc), which was closed due to irregularities in 2015 and was replaced by the Indigenous Development Fund.

One of the beneficiaries was former leftist congresswoman Lidia Patty, who last week was arrested and revealed during an interrogation that the money transfer was endorsed by the then Minister of Economy.

According to the investigation disclosed by the press, the former legislator received about $100,000 for a tomato growing project.

The head of the Public Prosecutor's Office, Roger Mariaca, pointed out that Arce decided to remain silent during Wednesday's proceedings.

"Now this person goes back to police cells to await his formal indictment," until a judge decides the measures that correspond to him,"" the prosecutor said.

According to Mariaca, as the facts occurred when Arce was minister, he will be investigated by the ordinary justice system.

It does not correspond to him a "liability trial", which implies a previous approval of the Congress due to his condition of ex-president.

In a press conference, the Minister of Government (Interior), Marco Antonio Oviedo, pointed out that in spite of the fact that this case was denounced "many years ago," today, "we have found the main person responsible for this millionaire economic damage," estimated at more than 51 million dollars.

Arce did not run for presidential reelection due to the unpopularity of his government, in the midst of a severe economic crisis.

In the spotlight

Arce's former minister (2020-2025), María Nela Prada, pointed out that the former president was arrested in the Sopocachi neighborhood, near downtown La Paz. "He was alone. They put him in a minibus with black windows," Prada said.

Photos published by the press show Arce inside a vehicle during his transfer to the offices of the Special Anti-Crime Force.

Prada said she was surprised by the capture; and she assured that "no type of notification has been made to him."

"We had said it once: Luis Arce is going to be the first to go to jail. And we are complying. All those who have stolen from this homeland are going to return every last cent," declared Vice President Lara.

In his first week in office, Rodrigo Paz denounced that he found a State turned into a "sewer of extraordinary dimensions" due to the alleged mismanagement of the governments of the Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS).

At the same time, he announced audits of public companies. This week, the prosecutor's office charged six former executives of the state oil company YPFB with corruption.