Protesters and police clashed in Santa Cruz, in central eastern Bolivia, after the arrest on Wednesday of the governor of the Santa Cruz region, Luis Fernando Camacho, one of the main opponents of the Bolivian government.
Camacho, one of the main leaders of the Bolivian right, was arrested in the city of Santa Cruz by order of a prosecutor who accused the governor of “terrorism” for an alleged “coup” against former leftist president Evo Moralesin November 2019, according to the indictment.
Several areas of Bolivia’s most populous city have been blocked by protesters, who have clashed with the police, with no injuries reported so far, according to the France-Presse news agency.
Protesters also set fire to local prosecutors after others tried to occupy the two airports in Santa Cruz, Viru Viru (international) and El Trompillo (internal), in an attempt to prevent the governor’s transfer to the capital, La Paz.
The director of the Bolivian air and airport transport company, Elmer Pozo, announced that the flights were interrupted.
subject of several investigations, Camacho has repeatedly denied having carried out a coup and prefers to speak of a popular rebellion against Evo Morales (2006-2019)whom he accused of having manipulated the 2019 presidential elections to stay in power.
“Currently the whereabouts of the governor are unknown and we hold the government of President Luis Arce responsible for the physical integrity and life of the governor,” according to a statement from Camacho’s office, which denounces an “absolutely irregular police operation.”
Luis Fernando Camacho is one of the main leaders of the Bolivian right and leads the second opposition political force in parliament, Creemos, behind the Community of Citizens (CC) party of former centrist president Carlos Mesa.
Former Bolivian heads of state Jeanine Añez (2019-2020) and Jorge Quiroga (2001-2002), both right-wing, and Mesa (2014-2018) condemned the governor’s arrest.
Añez was also accused of the same crimes and sentenced to ten years in prison in June.
Supporters of Luis Arce’s socialist government, on the other hand, hailed Camacho’s arrest. The state attorney general, Wilfredo Chávez, former minister of Evo Morales, said that “justice must do its job.”
Source: Observadora
