Bolivia Judge Orders Six-Month Mariaca Preventive Detention in Potosí
BOLIVIA · JUSTICE
Key Facts
- —The country Bolivia, an Andean nation of about 11 million people, where Congress elects the attorney general who leads all criminal prosecutions.
- —The background Roger Mariaca Montenegro, attorney general since October 2024, was detained on 30 September after Washington accused him of taking traffickers’ bribes.
- —What happened Late on Saturday 3 October a La Paz judge set the Mariaca preventive detention at six months, in Cantumarca prison, Potosí.
- —The charges Prosecutors accuse him and three co-defendants of drug trafficking and criminal organisation for allegedly protecting Uruguayan trafficker Sebastián Marset.
- —The twist Hours earlier the same judge had ordered the case moved to Santa Cruz, and prosecutors responded by ordering his arrest.
- —What it means for you Bolivia’s prosecution service, which handles every criminal complaint, is changing leaders, so pending cases may move slowly for a while.
- —Still open The transfer to Potosí had not happened by Saturday night, and both sides are appealing. Nothing has been proven in court.
The Mariaca preventive detention ruling came late on Saturday 3 October, after a hearing of about 15 hours. A La Paz judge sent Roger Mariaca, Bolivia’s ousted attorney general, to Cantumarca prison in Potosí for six months.
Three co-defendants received the same measure, and all four face drug trafficking and criminal organisation charges. Hours earlier, prosecutors had ordered the same judge’s arrest for moving the case to another city, Santa Cruz.
What the Judge Decided
The ruling came from Juan Carlos Montalbán, the fifth investigating judge for anti-corruption cases in La Paz, according to Opinión and EFE. Such judges supervise investigations and rule on custody before trial.
Preventive detention in Bolivia means jail before trial, while prosecutors build their case. The Mariaca preventive detention order runs for 180 days, the Spanish news agency EFE reported.
The hearing was held by video link and began at 5:00 a.m., Unitel and El Deber reported. Early on, the judge rejected the defence’s request for a special “trial of responsibilities” for top officials under Law 044.
He kept that question in the ordinary criminal courts, La Patria reported, and the defence says it will appeal.
A Judge Who Prosecutors Want Arrested
The judge also accepted a defence objection that La Paz was the wrong venue. He ordered the case moved to Santa Cruz.
“It has been appealed by the prosecution, so the custody hearing went ahead,” defence lawyer Jerjes Justiniano told the site Informe Exclusivo. The defence had argued that the accused should be tried where they live, in Santa Cruz and Sucre, eju.tv reported.
Prosecutors then ordered the judge’s own arrest for “prevaricato”, knowingly issuing an unlawful ruling, Opinión and Urgente reported on Saturday evening. Urgente said police had started an operation near his office.
Local media had not reported an arrest by early Sunday. EFE and the Bolivian news site Visión 360 both named Montalbán as the judge who later issued the detention order.
Four Defendants, Four Prisons
Alberto Zeballos, the former chief prosecutor of Santa Cruz department, is assigned to El Abra prison in Cochabamba. Martín Irusta, a senior prosecutor, is assigned to Patacamaya prison in La Paz department.
Rubén Aparicio, a police major, is assigned to Chonchocoro, a maximum-security prison outside La Paz. The Mariaca preventive detention is to be served in Cantumarca, the prison of Potosí, a historic silver-mining city in the southern highlands.
The judge ordered the four moved to these prisons, but that had not happened by Saturday night. El Deber reported that they would stay in La Paz until each can be transferred.
They had been held at the anti-drug police base in El Alto, next to La Paz, according to EFE.
What Prosecutors Allege
The formal accusation says the group protected Sebastián Marset, a Uruguayan drug trafficker who long operated from Bolivia. According to the document, quoted by Opinión, Marset paid “up to US$500,000 a month” for that cover.
Prosecutors say the protection reaches back to Mariaca’s years as chief prosecutor of Santa Cruz, a post he took in 2020. Erbol reported that they link it to Marset’s escape from a police raid there in 2023.
In court, prosecutors showed a video circulating since 1 October in which Marset calls Mariaca his “friend”, Erbol reported. Marset’s lawyer, Santiago Moratorio, has declined to confirm or deny that the video is authentic, El Deber reported.
In support of the Mariaca preventive detention request, prosecutors presented cash, high-end phones, documents and intelligence reports, El Deber reported. Mariaca denies wrongdoing, and he has not been convicted of any crime.
A Second Case Over Cash in an Ambulance
Prosecutors have opened a second case against Mariaca, this time for money laundering. A detention hearing in that case was set for 7:00 a.m. on Sunday 4 October, Unitel and El Deber reported.
It concerns cash found on 1 October in an ambulance leaving the gated complex in Santa Cruz where he lives. The find was covered on 2 October in Bolivia Police Find US$303,000 in Ambulance at Condo.
A notarised count found Bs 3,532,100 (about US$294,000) plus US$10,000, prosecutors said at the time. The conversion uses 12.00 bolivianos per US dollar, the central bank’s official rate for 4 October 2026.
How the Case Unfolded
On Monday 28 September the US State Department accused Mariaca of taking bribes to protect drug traffickers. Two days later he was detained at Viru Viru airport, as reported in Bolivia Attorney General Mariaca Detained at Airport.
On Friday 2 October President Rodrigo Paz signed Law 1773, which lets Congress suspend a charged attorney general. Lawmakers voted 113 to 11 that night to suspend Mariaca, as covered in Bolivia Congress Backs Mariaca Suspension 113 to 11.
Early on Saturday Congress chose José Armando Urioste Viera, a former judge, as interim attorney general. That vote was reported in Bolivia Picks Interim Attorney General After Five Votes.
What the Ruling Does and Does Not Mean
The Paz government accuses Mariaca of heading a criminal network inside the prosecution service. For the government, the Mariaca preventive detention is a political win.
Washington and 13 other governments backed the crackdown on 1 October, as reported in US and 13 Nations Back Bolivia’s Antidrug Effort. Yet the ruling is not a verdict, only a finding that there are grounds to hold the accused.
The defence has called the arrests illegal from the start, arguing that nobody was caught in the act. All four defendants are presumed innocent until a court rules otherwise.
The clash between prosecutors and the judge shows how contested the case remains. For residents and businesses, the practical effect is slower justice while the prosecution service changes leaders.
What Comes Next
Sunday’s money-laundering hearing will decide whether a second detention order is added to the first. The transfer to Potosí still has to be carried out, and no date has been announced.
The prosecutors’ appeal will settle whether the case stays in La Paz or moves to Santa Cruz. The defence appeal on jurisdiction is the next test of whether the Mariaca preventive detention holds.
Urioste is due to be sworn in on Monday 5 October and has promised to appoint prosecutors on merit. Whether the judge himself is detained will also shape how the case proceeds.
More: Latin America news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Who is Roger Mariaca?
Roger Mariaca Montenegro is a lawyer who became chief prosecutor of Santa Cruz department in 2020. Bolivia’s Congress elected him attorney general in October 2024 and suspended him on 2 October 2026.
What does preventive detention mean in Bolivia?
It is jail before trial, ordered by a judge while prosecutors investigate. The Mariaca preventive detention lasts six months and is not a finding of guilt.
Why is the United States involved?
On 28 September the US State Department publicly designated Mariaca for “significant corruption”, barring him and his family from the United States. Bolivian prosecutors now link the case to the Uruguayan trafficker Sebastián Marset.
Who runs Bolivia’s prosecution service now?
Congress elected José Armando Urioste Viera as interim attorney general on 3 October 2026. He is due to be sworn in on Monday 5 October.
Sources: El Deber, 3 October 2026; Erbol, 3 October 2026; El Deber, 3 October 2026; La Patria, 4 October 2026; Unitel, 3 October 2026; Opinión, 3 October 2026; EFE via Cooperativa, 4 October 2026; Banco Central de Bolivia, 4 October 2026; Informe Exclusivo, 3 October 2026; Opinión, 3 October 2026; Urgente, 3 October 2026; eju.tv, 3 October 2026; US Embassy in Bolivia, 28 September 2026; Visión 360, 3 October 2026.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief