On Wednesday, Bolivian Attorney General Róger Mariaca and Santa Cruz Departmental Prosecutor Alberto Zeballos were arrested at the Viru Viru International Airport. Shortly after, agents from the Special Center for Police Investigation raided the Attorney General’s Office in Sucre, Bolivia’s capital. After the arrests, Interpol agents were reportedly seen at the airport, and staff at the prosecutor’s office began broadcasting live on social media, saying police raided their offices without a warrant.
Mariaca is leading the investigation into Fernando Cerimedo, who was recently arrested in connection with an attempted assassination of his former partner, Nadia Beller. Beller, who survived, exposed Cerimedo’s disinformation operation and its ties to the White House. The operation played a major role in manipulating elections in several Latin American countries. She also accused Cerimedo of having power over Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz and various law enforcement agencies.
The arrests come on the heels of the U.S. Department of State sanctioning 27 Latin American officials, judges, and prosecutors in various countries, 22 of whom are Bolivian. The sanctions included a dozen visa revocations, and at least 9 people who did not hold U.S. visas were barred from receiving them. The allegations, however, are alarming. The U.S. accuses all on the list of sanctioned individuals of being narcotraffickers and undermining democracy in the region.
“This policy restricts visas for foreign nationals – and their immediate family members – who undermine a democratically elected government through corruption or narcotrafficking activities in our region,” reads a statement from Tommy Pigott, Department of State spokesperson.
While the statement alleges all are somehow involved in undermining democracy and drug trafficking, for Mariaca, the allegations are more severe as the State Department singled him out. According to the statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims to have “credible information of involvement in significant corruption or a gross violation of human rights” against Mariaca and is allegedly acting on behalf of the Shield of the Americas.
“Mariaca, elected in 2024 to a six-year term as attorney general during the tenure of far-left president Luis Arce, and a prior attorney general of Santa Cruz, abused his public positions by soliciting and accepting bribes to facilitate narcotrafficking and helped violent criminals evade justice,” reads the statement. “His actions endanger President Trump’s efforts to combat narcoterrorism while undermining the very democratic institutions Bolivia, as a Shield participant, is working to strengthen. President Trump and Secretary Rubio’s message is simple: corrupt officials – and the criminals they protect – are not welcome in the United States.”
The allegations against Mariaca and Minister of Government Eduardo Del Castillo, who is still being sought by authorities, stem from older videos of a Uruguayan drug trafficker alleging his friendship with both men. Those allegations never produced any viable evidence against the men and have driven the latest accusations.
The Bolivian Minister of Defense, Ernesto Justiniano, said Bolivian authorities will request thorough explanations from Washington about the seriousness of the allegations directed against prominent Bolivians. The Bolivian Vice President, Edmand Lara, said that if evidence exists, the case should be investigated and prosecuted according to the law. While saying that if due process was violated, those detained should be released immediately, and anyone acting outside the law should be held accountable.
Lara also requested that the case be subjected to judicial review.
Two people in Colombia were sanctioned. Euclides Antonio Torres Romer, a businessman who owns a conglomerate operating in the energy, traffic-signal, and public-lighting sectors, and Martha Isabel Peralta Epieyu, a senator affiliated with the Historic Pact (Pacto Historico) and the Alternative Indigenous and Social Movement (Movimiento Alternativo Indigena y Social, MAIS), had their visas revoked.
Two unnamed Ecuadorians had their visas revoked, while one Peruvian, Juan Carlos Ninez Matos, a Lima First Circuit Constitutional Court Judge, also had his visa revoked. The nine unnamed Bolivians who do not currently have U.S. visas were declared as “generally ineligible to receive visas.” Of those named in Bolivia, many are prosecutors, judges, and prominent business people.
- Martin Daniel Irusta Flores, Senior Prosecutor
- Albania Chane Caballero Saavedra, First Anti-Corruption and Violence Against Women Investigating Judge in the Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia
- Alberto Zeballos Flores, Santa Cruz Head Prosecutor
- Rosario Ximena Flores Paniagua, Criminal Instruction Judge in the Department of Santa Cruz
- Ivan Manolo Lima Magne, Former Minister of Justice and Institutional Transparency
- Alvaro Mauricio Nava Morales Carrasco, Current Senior Prosecutor and Former Departmental Prosecutor of Chuquisaca, Bolivia
- Israel Ramiro Campero Mendez, Constitutional Magistrate
- Alberto Samuel Soto de la Via, Former Executive President of the National Customs
- Ivan Ramiro Campero Villalba, Former Alternate Supreme Court Magistrate
- Rodrigo Aldo Vedia Espinoza, Judge of the First Criminal Instruction Court of La Guardia
- Frans William Cabrera Quispe, Colonel, Bolivian Police
- Jose Luis Iriarte Cussi, Private Businessman
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