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The 'number two' of the former president of Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez, arrested in the United States

2021-05-28T16:04:55.763Z


Arturo Murillo, the former Minister of Government (Interior) of Bolivia, is accused of receiving bribes


Arturo Murillo with the former president of Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez, in a photo taken on November 23, 2019 in La Paz.Juan Karita / AP

The former Minister of Government (Interior) of Bolivia of former President Jeanine Áñez, Arturo Murillo, was arrested in Miami along with his former assistant and three American businessmen.

All are accused of putting together a bribery and money laundering scheme to take advantage of an importation of tear gas carried out by the South American country when Murillo was in office.

According to the United States Department of Justice, Murillo, his former “chief of staff” (main assistant) Rodrigo Méndez Mendizábal, and an unidentified Bolivian Ministry of Defense official received $ 602,000 in bribes from the three detained Americans. These are the owners of Bravo Tactical Solutions, a Florida-based company that acted as an intermediary between the Bolivian State and the Brazilian supplier Cóndor for the purchase, by Bolivia, of tear gas and other non-lethal equipment for a value of approximately 5 , 6 million dollars.

The report indicates that this company delivered the bribes between November 2019, days after the arrival of Jeanine Áñez to power, and April 2020, with the intention of “obtaining and maintaining” this intermediation contract.

For the Bolivian government, Bravo Tactical Solutions was left with just over 2.3 million dollars of the total contract, since the actual payment to the factory amounted to only 3.3 million.

More information

  • 'Latin America: integration or alignment?', By Rafael Rojas

  • The European Parliament describes the former Bolivian president Jeanine Áñez as a “political prisoner”

The United States Department of Justice reported that, according to FBI investigations, the three owners of Bravo Tactical Solutions “laundered the money” they received from the transaction in South Florida banks and “orchestrated the payment of $ 582,000 in cash to Murillo and Méndez ”.

Murillo's successor in the government ministry, Eduardo del Castillo, assured that Bolivia would request the extradition of him and the former Minister of Defense of Áñez, Fernando López, who signed the contract for the purchase of the gases.

López said in a tweet that he sees the FBI investigation as "a glimmer of hope", suggesting that the only person responsible for what happened was his former colleague Murillo.

Both were considered the "hawks" of the interim government that took over the country after the overthrow of President Evo Morales, and took a leading role in the repression of the protests that exploded against Áñez's arrival in power, which resulted in more than 30 dead. Murillo was the main person in charge of the judicial and police persecution against the leaders of the Movement to Socialism (MAS), the party of Evo Morales. He also drew attention with statements such as that he would carry out a "manhunt" against a Morales collaborator and that he would "give his life" as long as the MAS did not return to power.

Shortly before these events, Del Castillo had accused Murillo of "making disappear" 400 kilos of cocaine seized by the police and of having prevented the extradition of the "big fish" of drug trafficking Einar Lima Lobo, who had to be transferred to Brazil before the management of the interim government, but he was only expelled from Bolivia when that management ended. Del Castillo also denounced that 52 former officials of the Ministry of Government in Murillo's time were involved in corruption cases.

Murillo became the main minister of Jeanine Áñez because of his friendship with the former president. Both were senators from the toughest wing of the opposition when the MAS fell. Murillo was so close to the president that in some public appearances of both he dictated aloud the points that he should touch. According to the current Bolivian government, Áñez is related to the "mafia clan" made up of his two former security ministers. Today she is in a prison in La Paz, accused of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy to oust Evo Morales from power. This accusation has been criticized by several international human rights organizations.

Luis Fernando Camacho, governor of Santa Cruz and staunch opponent, has joined the extradition request.

"At the time we were clear: the people fought against fraud [that Morales is accused of having carried out in the October 2019 elections], but later the old politicians seized power and betrayed our struggle," he declared.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-05-28

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