Oct 1 (Reuters) – Bolivia’s Attorney General Roger Mariaca has been arrested two days after the United States revoked his visa and accused him of accepting bribes to facilitate drug trafficking, the country’s Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo said on Thursday.
Mariaca was arrested along with 13 other people on Wednesday as part of an operation targeting what authorities described as a “criminal organization” embedded within the judiciary and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Oviedo told a press conference.
The operation followed the circulation of a video and audio recordings attributed to suspected Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastian Marset.
“A criminal organization embedded in the justice system and in the administration of a very important institution in our country, the Public Ministry, has been dismantled,” Oviedo said. He alleged that the network, led by Mariaca, worked to protect and facilitate drug trafficking activities in Bolivia.
Marset was captured in Bolivia in March and later transferred to the US, where he awaits trial.
Authorities launched the operation after the release of material in which Marset allegedly referred to Mariaca as a “friend” and claimed he had paid $500,000 to remain in Bolivia and continue his operations.
The arrests come at a time of improving relations between La Paz and Washington after years of strained ties. President Rodrigo Paz, who took office in November 2025, has pledged to rebuild relations with the US, as his government seeks to secure a $1.9 billion IMF program approved by Bolivia’s congress last month.
On Monday, the US State Department accused Mariaca of taking bribes “to facilitate drug trafficking and help violent criminals evade justice.” Mariaca denied the accusations, calling the US decision political interference linked to investigations he had overseen.
Local media said Mariaca was detained at Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz. During a live broadcast on the Attorney General’s Office’s social media accounts, an official denounced what he described as an “abduction.”
Nearly 20 people from Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador were blacklisted by Washington this week for corruption, links to drug trafficking or plotting against their governments. The United States revoked the visas of 12 Bolivian officials.
(Reporting by Daniel Ramos; Writing by Iñigo Alexander. Editing by Lucinda Elliott)
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