Bolivian Court Orders Opposition Governor’s Detention for 4 Months
Bolivian opposition figure Luis Fernando Camacho gives a thumbs up outside the presidential palace in La Paz after President Evo Morales was deposed by a military coup.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – A Bolivian court has ordered pre-trial detention of Luis Fernando Camacho, opposition governor of the province of Santa Cruz, in a coup d’état case for four months, Bolivian media reported on Friday. After a hearing that lasted more than seven hours, Judge Sergio Pacheco ordered four months’ pre-trial detention for Camacho, while the prosecutor’s office requested a six-month term. The governor himself maintained his innocence, saying that he had only participated in the popular struggle for democracy, local newspaper said. “I tell my people, who elected me, that I will never give up and that this is a fight for democracy in Bolivia,” the governor was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Camacho was detained on coup d’état charges on Wednesday. He refused to testify to the prosecutor’s office. The Santa Cruz department has repeatedly staged protests against various government decisions. Some politicians also consider Camacho a key figure in the coup against Evo Morales in 2019. In November 2019, Morales resigned as president and left Bolivia under pressure from the military, after the Bolivian opposition claimed that there had been mass violations during the October 2019 vote. In 2020, Camacho ran for president but lost to the elected head of state, Luis Arce, receiving 14% of the votes.
