Bolivia | The previous president is already in prison, and now the police arrested another important opposition leader in Bolivia

Luis Fernando Camacho leads the anti-government and capital Santa Cruz.

Bolivian the police arrested an important opposition leader on Wednesday Luis Fernando Camachon on the basis of terrorism charges, the news agencies AFP and Reuters report. Camacho was taken from the cradle of his support, the country’s largest city, Santa Cruz, to a police station in the administrative capital of La Paz.

The arrest is likely to deepen Bolivia’s political crisis, which has engulfed the long-time president Evo Morales resign amid unrest in November 2019. According to Reuters, the public prosecutor said that the arrest of the right-wing Camacho is related to the ousting of the left-wing Morales.

America’s the organization of states (OAS) recently interpreted Morales’ election victory as the result of tampering with the vote count, but subsequent analyzes did not come to the same conclusion. Morales initially went into exile but returned his allies Luis Arcen won the presidential election in October 2020 and was appointed to the leadership of the ruling party.

In the meantime, the position of president had gone to the highest opposition member of the senate, a rightist To Jeanine Áñez. He was imprisoned on coup charges after the election won by Arce and sentenced to ten years in prison last June.

According to Reuters, a constitutional lawyer estimated for state media that Camacho could face a prison sentence of 15 to 20 years.

Luis Fernando Camacho underwent a medical examination after his arrest. Picture: Carlos Eduardo del Castillo del Carpio

Before Before Camacho’s arrest, he had led weeks of protests against the government in Santa Cruz. The government has postponed Bolivia’s census, which has been speculated to increase the weight and influence of Santa Cruz, an economic powerhouse that relies on agriculture, at the expense of La Paz. A larger relative share of the population than before would mean more tax money and MPs for Santa Cruz.

Camacho’s allies, such as former President Carlos Mesa, called Wednesday’s arrest a kidnapping. In the last presidential election, Mesa came second after Arce, Camacho third.