July 7, 2023, 4:00 AM
July 7, 2023, 4:00 AM
Prosecutors removed from the ‘drug flight’ investigation they even seized cell phones “from certain authorities”, revealed yesterday Roger Mariaca, the representative of the Public Ministry in Santa Cruz. Meanwhile, from the Legislature they asked that Juan Lanchipa, who is the State Attorney General, report on the reasons for these changes.
“The proceedings carried out (by the prosecutors) to the extreme of to be able to request, on the spot, the cell phone from certain authorities in order to collect evidence. There is no political overtone here,” revealed Mariaca to rule out “political overtone pressures” on this investigation or that these procedures have led to the surprising change of the authorities in charge of the investigations of the case.
“It has been a continuous month of work, even for 24 hours a day. That made me see that my person recognizes a fatigue and an abandonment of the portfolio of cases that the prosecutors have. Quite apart from the ‘narco flight’ case, they had a number of processes in the preparatory stage and in the trial stage. In addition, the prosecutors have a family and newborn children and that made it possible for three other prosecutors, with the same capacity, to continue with the investigation,” Mariaca remarked and promised “important progress” over the next few years. days with raids and possibly apprehensions.
Rocío Medrano, together with her colleagues Rubén Ordóñez and Fernando Mejía, were the prosecutors who were in charge of the investigation of this drug trafficking case. instead toThe commission made up of professionals Julio César Porras, Emanuel Ferrada and Vinicius Osvaldo Castillo took over. The Santa Cruz prosecutor said that the investigators who left the case will remain in the specialized anti-drug unit “and will be able to help” in the investigations.
During the investigation, raids and searches were carried out at the Vivu Viru and Jorge Wilstermann airports in Cochabamba. Prosecutors sought clues about the way in which airport controls were violated so that 484 kilos of cocaine are shipped on a regular flight to Madrid operated by the state airline BoA on February 12. The Minister of Government, Eduardo Del Castillo, said then that his office had not received official reports from Spain and questioned that country for the lack of information. Those criticisms dissipated after the confirmation of the Spanish Government to carry out an anti-drug meeting during the month of November.
Deputy Saúl Lara, from the Comunidad Ciudadana (CC) alliance, reported that he had requested a report from the prosecutor Lanchipa to explain in detail to the Government and Defense Commission the reasons for this change. He also said that he will summon Ismael Villca, the new commander of the Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking (Felcn) who replaced José Illanes, but in the midst of this sensitive investigation.
“We have summoned Lanchipa and I presume that the appearance here in Parliament will take place in the next few days. youWe have 249 cameras in Viru Viru. How is it possible that such a quantity of drugs because of those checkpoints?” Lara wondered.
In this case, I am aware that They were going to summon national directors and those close to a government minister. So, for me, there is a hand here getting into justice to, precisely, save their skins”, said deputy Patricio Mendoza (MAS), who also hopes to hear the prosecutor’s version regarding the change of prosecutors.
In La Paz, the Spanish ambassador, Francisco Javier Gassó, pointed out that the problem of drug trafficking worries his country. “To all governments, The Government of Spain, the Government of Bolivia are very concerned about drug trafficking at a global level and what I can say is that there is very close collaboration at all levels of the Spanish authorities and Bolivian authorities involved in all these issues,” the diplomat said yesterday after the information session promoted yesterday by the European Union (EU). to carry out the next presidential summit with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac).
“Is clear, we are not naive, we are supporting Bolivia in this fight and we are going to continue with this role”, said the EU ambassador, Michael Dózcy, after the same event.
According to what EL DEBER learned, the case ofThe ‘narcoflight’ has not yet been closed in Spain.
