Page Seven / La Paz
A confrontation between military personnel from the Strategic Operational Command for the Fight against Smuggling (CEO) and smugglers and residents of Orinoca, in the department of Oruro, ended on Friday with at least one person dead, according to the relatives of the deceased.
However, the Vice Minister of Fight Against Smuggling (VLCC), Daniel Vargas Carrasco, denied that the confrontation had left fatalities.
In that town in Oruro, a group of armed smugglers and with the help of local residents prevented the seizure of trucks with illegal merchandise. According to Vice Minister Vargas, the smugglers are becoming more aggressive and receive the support of some residents who live in the sectors where the operations are carried out.
“What happened in Orinoca is that trucks with contraband merchandise have been seized; However, the hostile action of the residents and the smugglers has prevented the contraband merchandise from being removed, they have attacked officials from Customs, the Police, the vice-ministry and the CEO, and in some way they allege that there has been a dead, but the body does not exist, we have been trying to identify where the dead person is, however there is none”, the authority said yesterday.
Yesterday morning, the family of Jaime, a 27-year-old man, found his body in a sandy area located half an hour from Orinoca and reported that the CEO’s military moved the body to that place.
“My brother came to look for opportunities in Orinoca, he was in a meeting and he went out to see what was happening and the soldiers just shot him, at this moment I feel a lot of pain. Then they have lifted the body and brought it to the sandbank so that they will not find it,” the brother of the deceased told the ON TV news portal in Oruro.
The residents also speak of a second fatal victim of the clashes, but this information was not confirmed.
Coordinated actions
As part of the fight against smuggling, the VLCC promoted a meeting to coordinate, plan and apply strategies to combat smuggling in the department of Oruro.
“This coordination activity is to strengthen the fight against smuggling, to strengthen the institutions that are committed to this activity to fight these illicit activities, in such a way that the activity that we are going to be carrying out from now on is going to be more coordinated. We are going to be more effective and we are going to be more forceful in the fight against smuggling,” Vargas said.
Among the important points, the decision was made to carry out constant and fluid coordination between the Vice Ministry for the Fight Against Smuggling, the Strategic Operational Command for the Fight against Smuggling, the Bolivian Police, the corresponding unit of the National Customs and the Public Ministry, among other actors.
Likewise, it was determined that the National Customs meet with the Bolivian Police, in order to support this institution with fuel, for its collaboration in the operations.
Other operations
- trucks In operations to combat smuggling, five high-tonnage trucks with contraband merchandise were intercepted, three were incinerated and two were taken to the Pasto Grande customs facility in Oruro.
- Weapons The Deputy Minister of Fight Against Smuggling, Daniel Vargas Carrasco, reported that these events are recurrent in different border areas of the country, where smugglers use war weapons to recover merchandise. With the idea of protecting the lives of the troops, the decision was made to incinerate three trucks.
