The former ministers of Evo Morales issued a statement in support of President Luis Arce on the recent changes in the Bolivian Police, after drug trafficking protection scandals and violent deaths emerged in 10 days. Nevertheless, They attacked the Minister of Government, Eduardo Del Castillo, and described his management as “unfortunate”.
“We see with deep concern the unfortunate management of public security policy and the leadership by the Ministry of Government, on whose authority the Bolivian Police depends. The innumerable and permanent police corruption scandals in their various hierarchies have bottomed out and an unsustainable limit has been reached,” says part of the document.
The former authorities noted that “in the absence of a strong political command” Added to the discrediting of the Bolivian Police, citizen confidence in the Government, in the Plurinational State and in the Process of Change is undermined”.
The letter with harsh criticism not only of Del Castillo, but also of the Government, does not carry the usual list of former authorities who sign the pronouncementHowever, the former minister and current councilor of El Alto, Wilma Alanoca, confirmed to EL DEBER that it was prepared by a group of former ministers, although she did not specify how many or who signed it.
Yesterday, the new general commander of the Bolivian Police, Orlando Ponce Málaga, was sworn in, replacing Jhonny Aguilera Montecinos, who was removed from his post after one year and seven months.
During the ceremony, the head of state recognized that there are “bad police officers” within that institution and called for the reconstruction of the Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking (Felcn), after the questions raised about the triple assassination in Porongo and the contradictions about the capture of the main defendant in this case, Misael Nallar Viveros.
Evo’s former ministers also warn of a possible “pact of silence and complicity” to cover up crimes between senior officials of the Ministry of Government and police officers.
“It would seem that, as in the old days of neoliberalism, there has been a pact of silence and complicity between senior officials of the Ministry of Government and police officers around scandalous cases of corruption and cover-up of crimes that They damage not only the security of the country, the reputation of the Plurinational State in the international context, the image of the current Government but also everything that has been achieved since 2006, which is already the heritage of our people,” they sentenced.