MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

IACHR steps in on behalf of arrested Bolivian governor

Camacho's needs are taken care of, Richter insisted

The Government of Bolivia Friday said that every requirement regarding the health of imprisoned Santa Cruz Governor Luis Fernando Camacho had been met and that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will be briefed on this issue in due time.

“We have information that all those requirements, fundamentally, regarding the health and well-being of this person, Mr. Camacho, in the Chonchocoro prison, have been attended to in such a way as to guarantee all the security that a person like him requires,” Presidential Spokesman Jorge Richter said in a radio interview.

“According to what corresponds, it will be answered and, of course, we are always going to wait for the results of what is indicated, in this case, by international organizations such as the IACHR, but we are confident that reason will assist what the Penitentiary Regime is processing and doing,” he added.

According to the Bolivian Government, Camacho has at his disposal at the Chonchocoro prison a team of 18 general practitioners and specialists, as well as medical equipment and even an ambulance. In addition, he has a conditioned environment to welcome family members, such as his wife. Camacho also receives his medication from a nurse appointed by his family and has had access to all the necessary legal counseling, the authorities insisted.

On Friday, the IACHR gave the Bolivian government in a note delivered to Foreign Minister Rogelio Mayta 10 days to respond to a 7-item request regarding Camacho's arrest in the so-called “coup I” case.

The IACHR was particularly keen on “the health situation of the proposed beneficiary and the medical care he is receiving” and requested the Bolivian authorities to produce “the pertinent documentary support” about Camacho's arrest and his conditions of detention, including “the measures adopted to guarantee Mr. Camacho and his technical defense counsel access to the justice system for the filing of appeals and constitutional actions with respect to his detention and the circumstances in which he is being held.”

Richter explained that the prisons bureau was drafting the report.