A former minister of the interim government of Bolivia has been arrested and charged in the United States as part of a corruption investigation, the US government announced on Wednesday (May 26th).
Former Interior Minister Arturo Murillo, 57, his former chief of staff Sergio Mendez, as well as three American entrepreneurs were arrested on May 21 and 22, in Florida and Georgia, according to a statement from the Ministry of Justice.
Read also: Bolivia is in turmoil again
The Americans are, according to the indictment, suspected of having paid between November 2019 and April 2020 approximately $ 602,000 in bribes to Bolivians in exchange for a contract to purchase tear gas intended for the Ministry of Defense of this Andean country. The five men are being prosecuted for money laundering and face up to twenty years in prison. Arturo Murillo is also targeted by an arrest warrant for "
sedition
" in his country, like the former interim president Jeanine Añez.
At the head of Bolivia from November 2019 to November 2020, the elected conservative and several of her ministers were indicted in mid-March as part of an investigation into an alleged "
coup
" against the former -Socialist President Evo Morales. Jeanine Añez and two of her former ministers were arrested and detained in their country. The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken had called for their release at the end of March. Arturo Murillo had left the country before being arrested.