The Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office reopens the case of a Spanish priest who abused hundreds of indigenous girls

The religious died in 2019, but the investigation seeks to hold his cover-ups responsible

June 18 () –

The Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office announced this Monday that it has reopened the investigation against a Spanish priest, Luis Roma Pedrosa, known as Lucho Roma, who abused more than a hundred indigenous girls for decades and who died in 2019 at the age of 84, if Well now, with new evidence, he will seek to hold his cover-ups responsible.

“The investigation will be carried out for the crime of cover-up against those who would have become aware of the sexual assaults committed against minors and did not report the fact to the relevant authorities,” explained the attorney general, Juan Lanchipa Ponce, who has emphasized that “the main author of these abuses died in 2019”

Furthermore, he explained that the ‘Padre Roma’ case, which is in the Departmental Prosecutor’s Office of Santa Cruz, was closed because it did not have sufficient evidentiary elements to support an accusation. Now, given the new evidence, there is the “possibility of having witnesses who can assist in reopening the investigation,” he added.

Finally, Lanchipa has asked the authorities “to create a special unit to prevent these cases because children cannot even take that risk with these people.” “We also ask society to report these events that have occurred on previous dates,” she concluded.

This announcement took place just one day after the newspaper ‘El País’ revealed the priest’s personal diary, in which he recounted the abuses he had committed between 1994 and 2005 during his stay as a missionary in Charagua, in the southeast of the country. Rome also photographed and recorded them on video. The Jesuits conducted an internal investigation that confirmed the crimes but hid it from the authorities.

After the publication, the company of Jesus (Jesuits) in Bolivia has stated that “it will not protect anyone who is responsible in cases of abuse, because the victims are the priority”, and has shown its willingness to collaborate with the country’s Justice Department. , both in the ‘Padre Roma’ case and in “those considered appropriate, given the evidence of the testimony of victims” and new evidence.

“The current authorities in charge have the moral obligation not to act as was done in the past, worthy of strong condemnation. Therefore, in addition to having materialized their collaboration with the investigations (…) by presenting complaints with the documentation with which was told, in a line of absolute transparency so that the truth of the facts is known, we urge the Prosecutor’s Office to reopen the case,” reads a statement.

Furthermore, he has recognized “with deep regret that the actions of those who were in charge of addressing the complaints of sexual abuse of girls, boys and adolescents and acting on behalf of the victims were negligent, indolent and disastrous.” For this reason, he has maintained that “those who acted in this way must be held responsible for their actions in the handling of such situations as established” by the law.