image source, Getty Images
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- Author, Dario Brooks
- Author title, BBC News World
Bolivia’s former president Luis Arce was arrested in La Paz on Wednesday and charged with alleged corruption involving his previous management as economy minister.
The Attorney General’s Office requested his arrest for the crimes of “dereliction of duty and uneconomic conduct,” according to the State Department’s arrest warrant.
The allegations against Arce, who ended his government last month, are related to the alleged embezzlement of the Indigenous Fund when he was economy minister in President Evo Morales’ government between 2006 and 2017.
María Nela Prada Arce, Minister of the Arce Presidency, assured that the former president had been transferred to a prison on the outskirts of La Paz as part of a “kidnapping”.
“At this moment I am on the way to the Felcc (Special Crime Unit) where we know (…) that they would have taken him, a completely illegal kidnapping,” Prada said in her release.
The case of the Indigenous Peoples Development Fund (Fondioc) has been investigating for years an embezzlement of millions of dollars in which resources were allegedly diverted to development projects for indigenous communities that were left unfinished or never existed.
Several officials and politicians have been implicated in the case, including former MAS MP Lidia Patty, whose statements were used by the Attorney General’s Office to request arrests.
Vice President Edmund Lara confirmed the arrest as part of an anti-corruption campaign, he said. “All those who stole from this country will return every penny and be held accountable in court,” he added.
image source, Getty Images
Arce ended his mandate last November, after almost 20 years in government of the left-wing Movement for Socialism (MAS), during which Morales (2006-2018) and Arce (2020-2025) were in government.
The two became rivals in recent years and their party became divided.
The MAS lost power in this year’s presidential election, marking a shift toward the center-right after two decades of left-wing rule.
The new president, opposition senator Rodrigo Paz, promised to fight corruption in the outgoing government.
The president called for the creation of a dozen special commissions to investigate cases, including that of Fodioc.
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