Bolivia arrests attorney-general Roger Mariaca over drug trafficking ties

Raids and senior arrests

Bolivian police arrested attorney-general Roger Mariaca and 13 other individuals in overnight operations across Santa Cruz on 30 September 2026. Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo announced on 1 October that Mariaca faces formal charges of money laundering, criminal organisation, and illicit drug trafficking. Among those detained are Santa Cruz departmental prosecutor Alberto Zeballos, a senior prosecutor, a police major, and several administrative officials from the public prosecutor's office.

“We have dismantled a criminal organisation entrenched in the justice system.”

Oviedo delivered the announcement alongside Defense Minister Ernesto Justiniano and Presidency Minister Fernando Aramayo in La Paz. The government stated that the operation received intelligence support from the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Anti-drug prosecutor Miguel Gonzales stated that officers detained Mariaca without an arrest warrant upon his arrival at Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz.

Ties to Sebastián Marset

The charges against Mariaca center on his interactions with alleged Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset. In 2023, while Mariaca served as chief prosecutor of Santa Cruz province, Bolivian authorities briefly detained Marset before releasing him and returning his confiscated property. Marset evaded capture until March 2026, when police rearrested him in Bolivia and extradited him to the United States on money laundering charges.

“The offense committed in the prosecutor's office has been continuous and permanent. It was a criminal organisation that protected, participated in, and profited from the trafficking of controlled substances.”

Recent leaked recordings attributed to Marset claimed he paid $500,000 to operate freely in Bolivia and referred to Mariaca as an associate who provided warnings. Mariaca was appointed in 2024 to a six-year term as attorney-general during the previous leftist administration.

Cash seizures and institutional clashes

Police operations extended directly to Mariaca's residence in Santa Cruz during the early hours of Thursday. Prosecutor Daniel Ortuño reported that officers intercepted an ambulance leaving the property, seizing 3.53 million bolivianos (around $294,000) and an additional $10,000 in cash. Oviedo stated that the funds represented proceeds from extortion operations against citizens seeking services from the justice system. Six employees were also arrested while attempting to remove case documents from the residence.

Simultaneously, masked police units from the Special Police Investigation Center entered the state prosecutor's headquarters in Sucre. Officials inside the Sucre office broadcast live footage of the operation, describing the actions as an unlawful raid, while colleagues in Santa Cruz claimed Mariaca's detention at the airport constituted an illegal kidnapping.

US sanctions and diplomatic realignment

The arrests occurred three days after the US State Department revoked visas for Mariaca, Zeballos, and 11 other Bolivian officials on 28 September 2026, accusing them of facilitating illicit drug trades. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the Bolivian operations as decisive actions against transnational organized crime.

Prior to his detention, Mariaca rejected the US allegations as political retaliation linked to his active cases. His office had been investigating Fernando Cerimedo, a political adviser to conservative President Rodrigo Paz who is linked to an alleged assassination plot. Paz took office in 2025 after nearly two decades of socialist governance, aligning Bolivia with Washington's Shield of the Americas regional security coalition.