São Paulo, Brazil — Ex-President Luis Arce was detained by Bolivian police on Wednesday amid corruption allegations, according to a former member of his cabinet, María Nela Prada.
In a video shared on her Facebook account, the former Minister of the Presidency, who appeared crying in the seat of a car, characterized the arrest as a “kidnapping.”
“I want to announce to the Bolivian people and the international community that former President Luis Arce has just been kidnapped in Sopocachi, in the city of La Paz,” said María Nela Prada.
“At this moment, I am addressing the FELCC (Special Force for the Fight Against Crime), which is where we have learned, through unofficial means, that he has been taken,” she added.
State-owned channel Bolivia TV claimed Arce, who governed the country between 2020 and 2025, was being investigated for the handling of an Indigenous public fund while he served as Minister of Finance from 2006 to 2017, during the administration of former President Evo Morales.
According to Marco Antonio Oviedo, Bolivia’s current Interior Minister, the charges include facilitating illicit enrichment, issuing resolutions contrary to the Constitution and the laws, dereliction of duty, abuse of influence, and economic misconduct.
The damage of Arce’s alleged actions amounted to Bs 360 million (around USD$ 52 million), according to officials.
Born in La Paz in 1963, Arce studied Economics at Universidade Superior de San Andrés (UMSA) and earned a Master’s in the same field at the University of Warwick in the U.K.
He served for decades under Morales, a former union organizer and coca grower, and in 2019, after Morales was forced to resign amid allegations of electoral fraud, he followed the left-wing leader into a brief exile.
A year later, amid increasing frustration over the interim President Jeanine Áñez’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Arce returned to Bolivia and won the presidency.
He lost a bid for reelection this year to center-right Rodrigo Paz amid increasing concerns over the deteriorating security situation in the country.
Featured image credit:
Image: Former Bolivian president Luis Parce
Source: Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional
