MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Bolivian President Arce arrested in corruption probe

Arce's detention stems from his tenure as Economy Minister under Evo Morales

Former Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora was arrested in La Paz on Wednesday afternoon in connection with a major corruption case involving the now-defunct Indigenous Peoples Development Fund (Fondioc).

María Nela Prada, who served as Minister of the Presidency under Arce, described his detention as a “totally illegal kidnapping.” She posted on social media that Arce was apprehended in the Sopocachi neighborhood and transferred to the offices of the Special Force for the Fight Against Crime (FELCC) in La Paz.

“I want to denounce to the Bolivian people and the international community that they have just kidnapped former president Luis Alberto Arce Catacora,” Prada stated, adding that she was heading to the FELCC headquarters. She insisted that the former leader was innocent and arrested while alone.

According to local State-run media and privately owned outlets, Arce's arrest stems from his tenure as Economy Minister of Economy under former President Evo Morales (2006-2017).

The prosecution accuses Arce of allegedly authorizing the disbursement of state money into private accounts intended for Fondioc projects that were never executed, in addition to his links to the Fondioc case, whose administrators are currently under investigation for illicit enrichment and economic damage to the state.

The arrest was triggered by the testimony of former Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) Deputy Lidia Patty, who was recently placed in preventive detention on a breach of contract charge. Patty claimed it was Arce who authorized the state funds to be disbursed into her personal account.

Arce's detention is part of a series of at least 10 truth commissions activated by the new administration of President Rodrigo Paz Pereira to investigate the previous Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) government.

The Fondioc case, a major corruption scandal involving millions in damaged state funds, was reopened to include Patty. The prosecutor's office accuses her of receiving US$100,000 between 2009 and 2010 for agricultural initiatives that failed.

Arce, who handed power to President Paz on November 8, had pledged to remain in the country and return to teaching after the final stretch of his presidency was marked by an intense rivalry with Morales, thus contributing to the left's defeat.

Fondioc's former President Nemesia Achacollo was found guilty in 2015 of failing to account for nearly US$10 million allocated to rural productive projects. The institution ceased operations that same year.