Bolivia arrests attorney general after US alleges drug-trafficking links

Bolivian police arrested Attorney General Roger Mariaca and 13 other people on Oct. 1 in an operation centred on Santa Cruz, after US authorities accused him of taking bribes to assist drug trafficking and violent criminals. According to reports, police took Mariaca into custody at Santa Cruz’s Viru Viru airport, while officers also entered the prosecutor’s headquarters in Sucre.¹²⁵⁸

Government alleges network inside justice system

Bolivia’s Ministry of Government said the operation broke up a suspected criminal network operating within the country’s courts and prosecution service. Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo identified Mariaca as its alleged leader and said the organisation protected and profited from trafficking controlled substances. The allegations have not been presented in the dossier as findings by a court.¹⁶⁷⁸

The ministry said four senior officials were detained, four people were intercepted while allegedly trying to remove concealed money, and six officials were stopped while attempting to take away documents. Authorities said investigators found money in an ambulance leaving Mariaca’s home. One report said officers recovered 3.53 million bolivianos and another $10,000, describing the money as proceeds of extortion.³⁵⁷

Mariaca and Santa Cruz departmental prosecutor Alberto Zeballos were reported apprehended at Viru Viru airport. CBS News, citing a Bolivian government source, also reported Zeballos’s arrest, but that detail had not been independently confirmed in the dossier.²¹⁰

US measures preceded the arrests

The detention came two days after the United States revoked Mariaca’s visa over alleged links to drug trafficking. Washington revoked visas held by 12 Bolivian officials and made nine other Bolivian nationals ineligible for visas. US authorities alleged that Mariaca accepted payments to enable drug trafficking and help violent offenders avoid prosecution.¹²⁸

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio endorsed the Bolivian operation. The Associated Press reported that the arrests followed US visa restrictions and came as President Rodrigo Paz expanded security cooperation with Washington. Relations between La Paz and Washington had been improving after a period of strained ties, according to reports cited in the dossier.¹⁴⁸

The case also involves allegations concerning Sebastián Marset, a suspected Uruguayan drug trafficker now awaiting trial in the United States. Material attributed to Marset described Mariaca as his friend and alleged that he paid $500,000 to remain in Bolivia. A separate report said Bolivian authorities detained and released Marset in 2023, when Mariaca was the chief prosecutor in Santa Cruz, and returned seized assets; those claims were reported by a single source.¹³⁸¹⁰

Prosecutor’s office contests intervention

Mariaca denied the US accusations and described the decision against him as “political interference”, according to reports. A communications official at the prosecutor’s office said police had not presented formal documentation for a search, while another official characterised the intervention as an abduction. The Independent reported that Mariaca was detained without a warrant and would face money-laundering and drug-trafficking charges; those details were not independently confirmed in the dossier.¹³⁶⁸

Police also entered the Attorney General’s Office in Sucre and detained prosecutors who were present during a live broadcast, according to reports. Mariaca had been appointed in 2024 to a six-year term under Bolivia’s previous government.⁴⁶⁹