First change: 01/01/2023 – 14:50 Last change: 01/01/2023 – 14:55
The governor of the department of Santa Cruz, the influential opponent Luis Fernando Camacho, was sentenced on Friday, December 30, 2022 to four months in prison for “terrorism”, in a case related to the resignation of President Evo Morales in 2019, was unleashed in his region, violent street fights broke out between civilians and the police. RFI was able to speak to a person close to Camacho, who is denouncing a kidnapping orchestrated by the police and military.
A report by Raphaël Moran
in Bolivia, the governor of Santa Cruz Luis Fernando Camacho, a radical opponent of the left-wing MAS government, a 43-year-old lawyer and businessman remains in preventive detention for 4 months. A judge decided on December 30 because of the alleged risk of absconding. Camacho has been charged with “terrorism” over his role in the riots that led to the ousting of former President Evo Morales from the presidency in 2019.
Santa Cruz It is one of the nine departments of the State of Bolivia and the department with the greatest economic importance in Bolivia. Its capital and most populous city is Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
Luis Fernando Camacho (R), Santa Cruz governor and former presidential candidate, was arrested on December 28, 2022 on charges related to the impeachment of former President Evo Morales. © LUIS GANDARILLAS / AFP
Arrested in Santa Cruz this week, Luis Fernando Camacho was one of the right-wing opposition (Creemos party) who pushed for the resignation of Evo Morales from the presidency in 2019. While the ruling party has accused him of a coup d’état, Camacho’s relatives have insisted his behavior was legitimate in response to alleged fraud in the 2019 election.
Interview with Zvonko Matkovic for RFI
in the holy cross, the President of the Department Assembly Zvonko Matkovic (of the Creemos party that leads Camacho) condemns the manner in which Luis Fernando Camacho was arrested on December 28, describing him as kidnapping:
“The operation in which this was carried out can only be described as a kidnapping because he was executed by undercover police officers disguised as civilians, they smashed the windows of his vehicle, they attacked him, they threw him in the Boden, they handcuffed him, as well as his assistant, they ambushed them, they took him to the City of Peace, to the seat of government, more than two thousand kilometers away, and now, in a military helicopter, then This was a joint action by police and military to kidnap an elected authority of a ministry and now, of course, a judge acting with the consent of, and apparently under pressure from, the executive branch.
The Bolivian Justice Ministry has dismissed the kidnapping allegations, reiterating that the arrest was because Camacho never testified in court.
During the hearing, which took place via an internet platform, Camacho declared: “I will never give up.”
The opposition leader called on Bolivians to prevent “Maismo from imposing a dictatorship like in Venezuela and Cuba,” alluding to the ruling Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) party. La Paz, Caracas and Havana are political allies of leftist governments.
After the hearing, the governor was transferred from a police station to Chonchocoro prison in the pampa of the Bolivian Andes west of La Paz using a powerful security device, according to TV images.
In the city of Santa Cruz, the country’s economic capital of nearly 2 million people, streets and avenues have been blocked to demand the release of its governor.
Protesters set fire to the offices of the regional attorney general’s office in Santa Cruz following the arrest of Governor Camachode on Wednesday, December 28, 2022. © Ipa Ibañez / AP
Reactions to Camacho’s arrest
Florencia Soto Niño-Martínez, Deputy Spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a statement that he was “concerned about recent events in Bolivia”.
The influential Bolivian Bishops’ Conference said in a statement that the detention “is against the law [y] human rights” and which “brought the collective memory of the hard times of the military dictatorships that we believed to have been defeated forever”.
(With AFP)
Listen to Raphaël Moran’s report for RFI here:
Bolivia Module Detention Camacho / Response to RFI by Zvonko Matkovic, Pdte of Santa Cruz Departmental Assembly