The governor of Santa Cruz and Bolivian opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho, jailed on sedition chargesdealt a hard political blow to the government of Luis Arce after promulgating a regional law that ratifies him to continue holding office from a prison in La Paz.
Camacho promulgated the “temporary absence law” approved by the Santa Cruz Legislature, dominated by his Creemos party. “With this law, it is fully established that the governor of Santa Cruz continues to be Luis Fernando Camacho and will continue to serve from prison,” said Efraín Suárez, legal director of that governorate, on Friday.
Suárez said that the prison authorities prevented her from visiting Camacho in his cell for three days until finally on Thursday -prison visiting day- she was able to enter the prison for Camacho to sign the law that will enter into force on Friday after its publication.
The 43-year-old businessman led the 2019 protests that forced the resignation of then-President Evo Morales, head of the current ruling party, after elections denounced as fraudulent in which the former president sought a fourth consecutive term and that sparked a social unrest. which left 37 dead.
After being elected governor of Santa Cruz, Camacho led 36-day protests against the Arce government.
He was arrested at the end of December last year to stand trial for sedition and conspiracy in the 2019 protests that the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) called a coup.
Jeanine Áñez, the interim president who took office in 2019 and called a year later for elections that were won by Arce, Morales’s political heir, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for the same events.
The Vice Minister of Autonomies, Álvaro Ruiz, described the promulgation of the norm as a “serious error”. “It is clear that they have sought a more political figure rather than respecting the statute of regional autonomy. They claim respect for the institutionality, but they do not comply with what they preach, ”he said.
The government was betting that Camacho would leave office to the lieutenant governor. The political opposition described Camacho’s arrest as political persecution.
As head of the MAS, Morales remains active in politics, although he is in fierce conflict with the Arce government.
Santa Cruz is the economic engine of Bolivia and stronghold of the opposition. It is also the most populous and extensive region and was the epicenter of the latest protests against Morales when he was president (2006-2019) and now against Arce.
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