The governor of the department of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, has argued this Thursday, during an appeal hearing on his preventive detention, that the process against him is politically motivated for leading the «historic struggle of the Bolivian people».
Camacho has briefly argued that his intention is not to leave the country. «This complaint was filed in 2020 when I was neither president of the (‘civic’) committee nor governor. I could have left, but I did not leave. That’s not me,» he has assured, as reported by the newspaper ‘El Deber’.
Following this, the member of the Second Criminal Chamber of the Departmental Court of Justice, Rosmery Pabón, has urged Camacho — who was arrested in December and placed under preventive detention due to the possibility of his escape — to be specific in his statement.
Camacho is one of the main opposition figures to President Luis Arce and the driving force behind the more than month-long strike that affected the region as part of the conflict over the new population census date.
The also leader of the opposition platform Creemos is being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office for his possible participation in the political crisis that devastated Bolivia in 2019, when Evo Morales was forced to resign from the Presidency due to pressure from part of the Armed Forces and suspicions of irregular elections.
Following the arrest of the Bolivian governor, demonstrators blocked roads and took to the streets to protest. However, the leader of the Civic Committee of Santa Cruz, Rómulo Calvo, announced on Monday the unblocking of roads, although he called for a massive assembly for January 25 in at least nine Bolivian cities.
Camacho is the governor of the richest region of Bolivia and historically opposed to the governments of the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), scene in the last month of new protests and blockades, this time to oppose the population census law.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
