MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia’s vice president points to Urubó as possible hideout for fugitive Uruguayan trafficker Marset

Marset, 34, has been on the run since July 2023, when he escaped a police operation in Santa Cruz

Bolivia’s Vice President Edmundo Lara said fugitive Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset may be hiding in Urubó, an affluent residential area on the outskirts of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and urged security forces and Interpol to carry out “urgent” raids to verify the lead. In a video posted on social media, Lara questioned why major operations had not been conducted in the area “for a long time,” suggesting a gap in enforcement that could be shielding the suspect.

Lara also claimed police sources warned him that a police captain had become Marset’s “right-hand man,” implying internal protection networks. No public evidence has been released to substantiate the allegation against a specific officer, and Bolivian authorities have not formally detailed any case file linked to the claim. The remarks nonetheless raise the stakes in a cross-border manhunt that has repeatedly collided with accusations of corruption and local complicity.

Marset, 34, has been on the run since July 2023, when he escaped a police operation in Santa Cruz. His case has evolved into one of the region’s most politically charged fugitive searches, with investigative threads reaching into Paraguay and Uruguay. Uruguayan reporting has documented his earlier run-ins with authorities over irregular travel documents and described alleged efforts to use political and diplomatic contacts to address legal exposure abroad.

In Uruguay, the fallout has been particularly acute due to the passport scandal that triggered high-level resignations after revelations surrounding documentation that enabled Marset to leave Dubai, where he had been detained.

Paraguay’s broader anti-trafficking investigations —including the A Ultranza Py case— have also kept Marset in the spotlight as a suspected key figure in transnational drug logistics and money laundering, according to reporting cited by Uruguayan outlets and investigations published with regional partners.