“Murillo’s sentencing is scheduled for January 4th. This is an important step towards justice for Bolivia,” wrote lawyer Thomas Becker on his Twitter account.
Former government minister of the de facto regime, Murillo, pleaded guilty Oct. 20 to the crimes of international bribery and money laundering in the country that helped overthrow former President Evo Morales in November 2019.
As the lawyer explained at a conference at the Nayra Wiri Cultural Center attended by Prensa Latina, the US Department of Justice said he is likely to be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison at the hearing.
Advocate for the victims of the repression against those who opposed the breach of constitutional order in the highland country in 2019, Bécker believed at the time that the verdict would be an important step for the families of the dead and injured in Sacaba, Cochabamba . and Senkata in El Alto during the de facto government (2019-2020).
In 2019, on the basis of Decree 4078 – known as “Tot” – the police and military repressed unarmed civilian defenders of democracy with battlefire.
As a result, 38 people died, hundreds were injured and thousands were persecuted, arbitrarily arrested and tortured in what the report of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts said constituted a massive violation of human rights.
In his capacity as government minister (Home), Murillo was the most visible face of the de facto regime’s repression, and while calling for a media “hunt” on those he labeled terrorists and criminals, he committed international crimes.
From his portfolio, he paid $5.7 million to buy tear gas from intermediary Bravo Tactical Solutions, but they only paid Brazilian company Condor $3.3 million for the purchase.
The additional $2.3 million was transferred to accounts in the United States for the benefit of the former minister and his accomplices.
According to information that emerged during investigations in the United States, of that $2.3 million, $582,000 went to Rodrigo Méndez, Murillo’s former chief of staff, and the rest was divided among three North American citizens.
Arrested and imprisoned in a Miami jail since 2021, Murillo could not hide the fact that he was using US banks to mobilize these economic resources.
memory/jpm