accused by the power in place of having fomented a coup in 2019, Luis Fernando Camacho, figure of the right opposition in Bolivia, received four months in prison.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
Luis Fernando Camacho, the governor of Santa Cruz and one of the main opponents of the Bolivian government, was imprisoned Friday, December 30 for four months, which triggered in his region violent street clashes between civilians and police.
Judge Sergio Pacheco had previously ordered “the application of preventive detention for the accused Luis Fernando Camacho Vaca” who “must serve four months in the Center Penitentiary in Chonchocoro”, a high security prison in the Bolivian Andes 30 kilometers from the PAZ. He was transferred soon after, according to images broadcast by television.
The prosecution had requested Thursday six months of preventive detention against Mr. Camacho, 43 years old. He had been arrested on Wednesday on the orders of the prosecution which accuses him of “terrorism” for an alleged “coup” against the ex-president of the left, Evo Morales, in November 2019.
violent Clashes
The incarceration of the influential leader of the opposition sparked clashes on Friday between demonstrators and police in Santa Cruz, the most populous city in Bolivia and the country’s economic engine. At least four civilians have been arrested, according to first information.
During these events, young people besieged the offices of the departmental police command, the France-Presse agency noted. Clashes to which the police responded with the widespread use of tear gas. A journalist from the unitel television was injured.
For his part, Mr. Camacho defended himself several times to have fomented a coup and prefers to speak of a popular rebellion against Evo Morales (2006-2019), which he accuses of having faked Presidential elections in 2019 to stay in power. 2> the opposition condemns the arrest
Luis Fernando Camacho is one of the main leaders of the Bolivian right and directs the second political force of opposition to Parliament, Creemos, behind the Citizen Community Party (CC) of the former centrist president, Carlos Mesa.
The former Bolivian heads of state Jeanine Añez (2019-2020) and Jorge Quiroga (2001-2002), on the same political edge as Mr. Camacho, as well as Mr. Mesa (2014-2018) condemned the arrest of the governor. M me añez was also targeted by the same accusations as him and sentenced to ten years in prison in June. With the editorial staff of the “world” to discover section>
supporters of the socialist government of Luis Arce, they praised Mr. Camacho’s detention. The prosecutor general of the State, Wilfredo Chavez, a former minister of Evo Morales, said in particular that “justice had to do his job”.