MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Bolivian de facto minister to be released from US jail in July

Bolivian authorities want Murillo repatriated or extradited to his country to serve other sentences

Arturo Murillo, a former Bolivian Minister during the interim and arguably illegitimate government of Jeanine Áñez, will be released from a US prison on July 21, 2025, the US Federal Bureau of Prisons published on its website.

Murillo was convicted of money laundering and bribery related to a US$ 602,000 corruption scheme involving overpriced tear gas purchases. Initially sentenced to 70 months in January 2023, his prior detention since May 2021 reduced his term.

However, his freedom is expected to be short-lived since Bolivian authorities are working on his repatriation via expulsion or extradition to serve two sentences: an eight-year term for incompatible negotiations and harmful contracts, and a five-year, four-month term for breach of duty in the “Ecuador tear gas” case, Justice Minister César Siles explained. Murillo also faces trials in the Senkata and Sacaba massacres. The Bolivian State Attorney General’s Office is seeking to ensure Murillo faces at least six ongoing legal processes.

“We will make the necessary arrangements to make these sentences effective or, failing that, under the modality of extradition, it will be done through the corresponding channels, making all the necessary arrangements with the competent authorities, whether Foreign Ministry, Supreme Court of Justice, among others involved, because there is a protocol through international agreements,” Attorney General Ricardo Condori stressed.

According to court documents, Murillo and others involved received approximately $602,000 in bribes between November 2019 and April 2020, in exchange for facilitating contracts to a US company for the provision of riot gear.

“We have been following up and coordinating the respective coordination, because we consider that -I say it categorically- Mr. Murillo has to answer to the Bolivian justice for the crimes he has been accused of, for the processes in which he has been involved, and even two convictions that have already been issued,” Siles told reporters.

On October 4, 2024, the 6th Sentencing Court of La Paz sentenced Murillo to eight years in prison for the crimes of incompatible negotiations and contracts harmful to the State. Along with Murillo, his former colleague Fernando López Julio was also convicted, but was granted asylum in Paraguay.

In February 2025, Murillo, Roxana Lizarraga, and Fernando López were sentenced to 5 years and 4 months' imprisonment for breach of duty in the case of the loan of tear gas from Ecuador.