Bolivian opposition leader transferred to maximum security prison for alleged terrorism

Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho, the main Bolivian opposition leader, was taken Friday to a prison on the outskirts of La Paz to serve four months in pretrial detention on terrorism charges as his region went on strike with power cuts. routes and surveillance.

Camacho was taken to the Chonchocoro prison, 25 kilometers from La Paz, after completing the hearing on precautionary measures in which Judge Sergio Pacheco ordered his preventive detention due to a possible flight risk and while the investigation progresses. The governor will be isolated from the rest of the prison population, according to information from the police.

“I will never give up in this fight for democracy in Bolivia. I tell the Bolivians that we do not let a dictatorship be imposed on us like in Venezuela and Cuba,” said the governor in the virtual audience.

Camacho is being investigated for alleged terrorism for his participation in the 2019 political crisis that led to the resignation of then-President Evo Morales after elections considered fraudulent. He led massive protests that lasted 21 days and left 37 dead in the streets that forced Morales to resign after observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) denounced vices in the elections.

Chonchocoro is a maximum security prison where dangerous criminals are taken. It is at 3,900 meters of altitude in the cold altiplano region.

The opposition condemned Camacho’s arrest and denounced that it did not comply with due process. “The violent and illegal kidnapping of Governor Camacho is outrageous. It violates constitutional principles and shows the government’s decision to continue the persecution of opposition leaders under any legal guise,” tweeted former President Carlos Mesa, leader of the centrist Comunidad Ciudadana.

For the governor’s lawyer, Martín Camacho, the judge did not assess the exculpatory evidence presented by the defense “to distort procedural risks such as the danger of flight and obstruction of justice,” which are the grounds for preventive detention. The Prosecutor’s Office, which had requested six months of preventive detention, said that “all legal procedures” were fulfilled.

For the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) led by Morales, the judge’s decision “is an act of justice for the victims who still mourn their loved ones who died in the coup,” said deputy Deisy Choque. That party is the main accuser of Camacho.

The city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s economic engine and opposition stronghold, experienced a wave of riots after Camacho’s arrest on Thursday. Protesters burned several public offices, including the prosecutor’s office and the house of a minister of President Luis Arce. The police reported about twenty detainees.

The strike called by the Civic Committee of that region for Friday was not yet felt very forcefully. However, the region was isolated by roadblocks executed by supporters of the governor. In the rest of the country the situation was calm.

Camacho’s arrest surprised the leaders of that region, which seeks to recover from the 36-day strike between October and November led by Camacho and the Civic Committee against the government of Arce, Morales’s political heir, to demand a population census that It will allow the region to increase seats in the Legislature and have more weight against the political power of La Paz, the seat of government.

“We are going to give a forceful response to the government and we are going to promote an international complaint,” said Civic Vice President Stello Cochamanidis.

When Camacho led the protests against Morales, he was president of the Civic Committee of his region.

Morales alleges that he was the victim of a right-wing coup following the 2019 elections in which he was seeking a fourth consecutive term. But the opposition maintains that it was a popular rebellion against the fraud that led to a constitutional succession after the resignation of Morales. In fact, the Legislative Assembly continued to function until the elections that were won by Arce in 2020.

For these events, former interim president Jeanine Áñez was sentenced to 10 years in prison and more than fifty opposition and military leaders are in prison and on trial for alleged conspiracy and terrorism.

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