Bolivia’s Attorney General Roger Mariaca has been arrested, two days after the United States revoked his visa over alleged links to drug trafficking, according to a source in the country’s Ministry of Government.
“The arrest of Prosecutor Mariaca has been confirmed,” the source said, requesting anonymity.
Alberto Zeballos, a prosecutor in Santa Cruz who was also sanctioned by Washington, was arrested as well, according to local media reports.
The two men were among almost 20 people in Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador accused by the US State Department this week of corruption, links to drug trafficking or conspiring against their governments.
Police also raided the public prosecutor’s offices in Sucre on Wednesday. Footage broadcast on the institution’s social media accounts showed hooded officers surrounding communications chief Claudia Pardo and several colleagues.
“We denounce before the entire Bolivian population this intervention that is being carried out illegally,” Ms Pardo said during the broadcast.
A prosecutor’s office official reported Mariaca’s “abduction” in a separate live broadcast, while local media said he had been detained at Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz.
The US State Department has alleged that Mariaca accepted bribes to facilitate drug trafficking and help violent criminals evade justice. He denied the accusations on Monday, describing the visa decision as an act of “interference” and “political pressure” linked to his investigations.
The United States revoked the visas of 12 Bolivian officials, while nine other Bolivian nationals without current visas were declared ineligible to receive them.
The arrests come after Sebastián Marset, a Latin American drug trafficker who had evaded police for years, was arrested in Bolivia earlier this year and handed over to US authorities. He was transferred to Drug Enforcement Administration agents at Santa Cruz airport and later appeared in a federal court in Virginia.
