Bolivian judge rules Santa Cruz governor to remain in detention
A Bolivian judge has ruled that Luis Fernando Camacho, a prominent right-wing politician and governor of the South American country’s largest department, will remain in detention as he awaits trial on charges of “terrorism”.
The ruling from Judge Rosmery Lourdes Pabon upholds a previous decision, made by a different judge in late December. It called for the Santa Cruz governor to be held for four months in pre-trial detention after prosecutors suggested he could be a flight risk or obstruct the ongoing investigation.
Fernando Camacho faces charges that he helped instigate the 2019 political crisis that resulted in the resignation of Evo Morales, the country’s first Indigenous president, after his election for a controversial fourth term in office.
On Thursday, prosecutor Omar Mejillones said Fernando Camacho’s actions as a leader in the civil unrest led to a “power vacuum” in the country.
Fernando Camacho has denied any wrongdoing, and his sudden arrest in December sparked outrage in Santa Cruz, a relatively wealthy agricultural region that had already been gripped by widespread protests.
Earlier in the year, demonstrations broke out after the left-wing government of President Luis Arce announced it would postpone the country’s census, which was expected to show population growth in Santa Cruz and thereby allot more resources and legislative representation to the department.
Barely a month after those demonstrations ended, Fernando Camacho was arrested, igniting new protests in the region. His supporters called the arrest a politically motivated “kidnapping”, designed to silence a prominent voice in Bolivia’s far right.
Fernando Camacho, a former presidential candidate who placed third in Bolivia’s 2020 elections, rose to prominence during the 2019 anti-Morales protests. A leader of the prominent Christian conservative party Creemos — which translates to “We Believe” — Fernando Camacho was among those who denounced Morales’s fourth term in office as “fraud”.