Former Bolivian President Arce arrested in corruption investigation a month after leaving office

LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivian law enforcement officials on Wednesday arrested former President Luis Arce as part of a corruption investigation, opening an uncertain chapter in the country's politics a month after the inauguration of conservative President Rodrigo Paz ended 20 years of socialist rule.

A senior official in Paz's government, Marco Antonio Oviedo, told reporters that Arce had been arrested on five charges related to the alleged embezzlement of public funds during his stint as economy minister in the government of his erstwhile ally and predecessor, former leader Evo Morales. The anti-corruption unit - a special police force dedicated to fighting corruption - confirmed to The Associated Press that Arce was in their custody.

Oviedo described Arce's arrest as proof of the new government's commitment to fighting graft at the highest levels in fulfillment of its flagship campaign promise.

“It is the decision of this government to fight corruption, and we will arrest all those responsible for this massive embezzlement,” Oviedo said, accusing Arce and other officials of diverting an estimated $700 million from a state-run fund dedicated to supporting the Indigenous people and peasant farmers who formed the backbone of Morales' Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party.

He added: “Arce was identified as the main person responsible for this massive economic damage,” Bolivia's attorney general, Roger Mariaca Montenegro, told local media that Arce had invoked his right to remain silent during police questioning.

Arce's key ally and former government minister, Maria Nela Prada, insisted on the ex-president's innocence and denounced the corruption scandal as a case of political persecution.

Paz’s government denied that, portraying anti-corruption efforts as a key part of its agenda. Paz swept to victory on a wave of popular outrage over Bolivia’s worst economic crisis in four decades while his straight-talking vice president, Edman Lara, drew a massive following through his backstory as a former police captain who was fired from the force after denouncing corruption on social media.

Far from being a neutral arbiter, the courts in Bolivia have been seen — especially in the country’s past few politically volatile years — as a prize to control by both the left and the right.

Morales became the country’s first Indigenous president in 2006 and governed for 14 years before his 2019 ouster in the wake of mass protests over his disputed re-election to a fourth term.

A divisive right-wing interim government took over and swiftly issued arrest warrants for Morales and his officials, accusing Morales of terrorism and Arce of corruption, among other charges.

But the tables turned in the country's 2020 elections that brought Arce to power. He went on to pursue his political rivals, arresting and ultimately sentencing former interim president Jeanine Añez to 10 years in prison on charges of sedition.

With the pendulum now swinging back to the right under Paz, key opposition leaders including Añez have been released from prison pending further trial.

Celebrating Arce's arrest on social media, Lara vowed that this marked the first of many efforts to prosecute former officials for alleged corruption.

“Those who have stolen from this country will return every last cent,” Lara said, ending his video by wishing “death to the corrupt.”