LA PAZ (Reuters) -Bolivian police have detained Luis Fernando Camacho, the governor of Santa Cruz and a prominent opposition leader, Bolivia’s interior minister and Camacho allies said on Wednesday.
Authorities have not said why Camacho was arrested but he recently helped lead many weeks of protests that blocked streets and halted trade in the relatively affluent farm hub of Santa Cruz.
The protests relate to the national government’s delay in carrying out Bolivia’s population census, a census that would likely result in Santa Cruz – which has long butted heads with Bolivia’s highland political capital La Paz – securing more tax revenues and seats in Congress.
Camacho was taken to a local airport to be flown to La Paz, local media reported. Video of the arrest shared by local news outlets showed Camacho handcuffed on the side of the road and the windows of the car he was traveling in broken. It was not immediately clear who recorded the video.
Several of Camacho’s allies, including lawmakers Paola Aguirre and Erwin Bazan, said firearms were used in the arrest. Others, including former President Carlos Mesa, called the arrest a “kidnapping.”
“The operation to kidnap the governor was carried out in the streets near his home, as he was returning from his duties,” the Santa Cruz government said in a statement. “In these moments, the governor’s whereabouts are unknown.”
Bolivian interior minister Carlos Eduardo Del Castillo said on Twitter that police had detained Camacho, without giving further details.
The Bolivian police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Protesters entered two airports in Santa Cruz, video showed, in an apparent attempt to prevent Camacho from being transported to another location. It was unclear whether Camacho had already been taken to La Paz.
Opposition Senator Erik Moron said in a video Camacho had been taken by helicopter to an unknown location.
(Reporting by Daniel Ramos in La Paz and Kylie Madry and Raul Cortes in Mexico City; Editing by Anthony Esposito and Rosalba O’Brien)
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