Ex-Bolivian President Luis Arce Arrested in Corruption Probe

Former Bolivian President Luis Arce was arrested on Wednesday as part of a sweeping corruption investigation, just a month after conservative President Rodrigo Paz took office and ended two decades of left-wing rule, according to the Associated Press.

Marco Antonio Oviedo, a senior official in the Paz administration, told reporters that Arce faces charges of breach of duty and financial misconduct tied to the alleged embezzlement of public funds during his time as economic minister under former president Evo Morales, who governed from 2006 to 2019, the AP said.

“It is the decision of this government to fight corruption, and we will arrest all those responsible for this massive embezzlement,” Oviedo said, presenting the arrest as a flagship example of Paz’s pledge to pursue graft “at the highest levels.”

Authorities accuse Arce and other former officials of diverting an estimated $700 million from a state-run development fund meant to support Indigenous communities and peasant farmers, the core base of Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party, according to the report.

Arce served on the board of the Indigenous Peasant Development Fund from 2006 to 2017, overseeing allocations to social projects in rural areas. Investigators allege that during that period he siphoned part of the money for personal expenses, the AP said.

“Arce was identified as the main person responsible for this vast economic damage,” Oviedo said in the report.

Bolivia’s attorney general, Roger Mariaca, told local media that Arce had invoked his right to remain silent during questioning. He said the former president would remain in police custody overnight before appearing before a judge, who will decide whether he stays detained pending trial. The charges carry a maximum prison term of four to six years.

Arce’s supporters strongly rejected the allegations and denounced the arrest as politically motivated.

Maria Nela Prada, a former minister in Arce’s government and one of his closest allies, insisted on his innocence and said the case was “a total abuse of power,” the news agency said. She claimed that although prosecutors said they had issued an arrest warrant, Arce was never formally notified before being seized.

Mariaca rejected those claims, saying the case was solely about tackling graft. “This is not persecution, nor is it a political act,” he said.