Former Bolivian President Luis Arce is arrested for alleged corruption

La Paz.- Former Bolivian President Luis Arce was detained this Wednesday and taken to police cells in the city of La Paz, apparently due to an investigation for alleged corruption, indicated his former Minister of the Presidency María Nela Prada. «He (Arce) was alone, they put him in a minibus with black windows, that’s what we know», Prada told the media at the doors of the Special Force to Fight Crime (Felcc) in La Paz, where the former minister arrived to obtain more information about the arrest of the former president. Prada pointed out that Arce (2020-2025) was not notified, nor formally summoned to testify, “they simply grabbed him, put him in a minibus” and transferred him to the Felcc. You can also read: https://efe.com/mundo/detenido-luis-arce-bolivia-corrupcion/ According to local media, the arrest may be due to an investigation opened for alleged corruption in the management of the Indigenous Development Fund when Arce was Minister of Economy and Public Finances in the Evo Morales government (2006-2019).

Accusation of abandonment by former official

The president also has an open case due to a former high-ranking official who accuses him of having impregnated and abandoned her, although it has not yet been confirmed which case he was arrested for. Prada told the media that if it’s about the Indigenous Fund case, Arce presented “all the corresponding discharges” at the time, when he was a minister, and recalled that as a former president, he would be subject to a trial of responsibilities. The former minister considered that “a complete abuse has been committed” with Arce’s detention and insisted that he was not notified to testify. According to a law in force since December 2020, high-ranking Bolivian former authorities must remain in Bolivian territory for at least three months once their term ends, in order to “provide all necessary reports” and to “avoid impunity in the face of a possible act of corruption”. The management of Arce, from the Movement for Socialism (MAS), ended on November 8th, when the centrist Rodrigo Paz Pereira was inaugurated as president. Before concluding his term, Arce assured several times that he would not leave the country and that he would return to teach at the university. At the moment, no Government authority, Police, nor the Public Ministry have commented on Arce’s detention.