Bolivia: the Arce regime kidnaps the governor of Santa Cruz

By Mauricio Ríos García

Everything pointed to the fact that the most significant event of the year, without a doubt, had been the civic strike for 36 days in the entire department of Santa Cruz, in fair demand for the carrying out of a population and housing census that allows, among several other aspects, a new reallocation of resources and parliamentary seats.

However, around 2:20 p.m. this Wednesday, it was learned that the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, was intercepted on fifth ring avenue between radio stations 26 and 27 by heavily armed police vans that opened fire on the the vehicle in which he was traveling after lunch, to illegally detain him, kidnap him, and presumably take him to La Paz, the city of the Government.

The Minister of Government, Eduardo del Castillo, spoke about the fact through social networks confirming the arrest of Camacho, as follows: “We inform the Bolivian people that the Bolivian Police complied with the arrest warrant against of Mr. Luis Fernando Camacho. Information in development”.

Del Castillo has not given any further explanations about the reason for the kidnapping of the governor from Santa Cruz, but more importantly, he has not said that there was no arrest warrant, that they handcuffed and beat him, that the police opened fire on two occasions during the operation, that they could have injured or even caused the death of Camacho, his companions and any innocent bystanders, both when the abduction took place and when immediately afterwards his bodyguards tried to follow the police to the Viru Viru airport. 

That he was transferred in a Super Puma helicopter without his whereabouts being known so far, and that Camacho is not being tried by a judicial authority as mandated by the current Political Constitution of the State.

On the kidnapping of the governor from Santa Cruz, increasingly large crowds have reacted spontaneously, taking over the airports of Viru Viru and El Trompillo in Santa Cruz, and invading platforms and landing strips, until they have news about where Camacho is, for which all flights were canceled until further notice. Likewise, blockades of the country’s main highways in Santa Cruz have also been observed in protest of the kidnapping of the highest Santa Cruz authority.

In the same way, different groups of civil society organized in the interior of the country, such as the National Committee for the Defense of Democracy (CONADE), have announced emergency meetings to later pronounce themselves and also announce measures on the kidnapping of Luis Fernando Camacho.

As it could not be otherwise, the Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee announced the emergency call to all its affiliates to hold a Santa Cruz Assembly in the next few hours, which will make decisions in different areas.

Many wonder what has motivated the regime to carry out the arrest of Camacho on these dates and in such a brutal and abusive manner, and the conjectures contain the idea that in the face of some possible announcement or highly unpopular measure that Arce eventually determines in the energy or economic sphere, such as an elimination, even partial, of the hydrocarbon consumption subsidy (given the advanced deterioration of the main state energy company in the country), or an exchange devaluation (given the very low level of international reserves of the Central Bank), or the expropriation of citizen savings that are still managed by the Pension Fund Administrators (given the lack of financing for public spending), who could lead the protests would be Camacho from Santa Cruz, so Arce thus seeks to heal in health.

All this is about a series of news still in development, and the tension and uncertainty are maximum in the country, especially in Santa Cruz, and while they wait for more news about Camacho’s whereabouts, the citizens also turn to the radio stations. fuel, supermarkets and supply centers, presuming that the event could generate conflicts with great potential to spread and intensify.

In the meantime, it is worth noting that this authentic case of violation of fundamental rights by the Arce Catacora regime against Luis Fernando Camacho, has echoed immediately even in the European Parliament. 

Hermann Tertsch, Spanish MEP for the formation of Vox, has stated through a video published on his social networks, that they are monitoring these events very closely and that they are waiting for more news about the whereabouts of Camacho, but it has also identified the Arce Catacora regime as a dictatorship, and has made it responsible for everything that happens as a result of the kidnapping without any kind of explanation.

It is to be hoped that they will also pronounce distinct institutions such as the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations Commission for Human Rights, the European Union, the United States Department of State, and various governments around the world that defend individual property and property rights. Rule of law.

The last time something similar happened in Bolivia was in September 2008, when the Evo Morales regime decided to militarize Pando, the smallest and youngest department in the nation, to kidnap Governor Leopoldo Fernández. 

The opposition was politically destroyed, or what little remained of it preferred to remain silent, while Fernández was forced to serve prison for 10 years, a fact about which one can learn more through the documentary by journalist Carlo Valverde Bravo, What Happened?

If there is something that this country must avoid right now, it is that the terrorist narco-dictatorship of the Movimiento al Socialismo, Arce Catacora, Evo Morales and the Puebla Group finish consolidating. That is: the MAS or Santa Cruz, Plurinational State or Republic with full rule of law, dictatorship or freedom.

With information from La Gaceta de la Iberosfera