Former Bolivian President Luis Arce has invoked his right to remain silent in a case involving alleged corruption in the management of a fund for indigenous projects. He was arrested in connection with this case on Wednesday and will await a hearing in a police cell. This was reported by the country's Attorney General, Roger Mariaca. Mariaca stated in the southern city of Sucre that Arce (2020-2025) 'was given a formal statement in the presence of a commission of prosecutors' and 'exercising his constitutional right and being assisted by his legal defense (...), he has decided to remain silent.' 'This person will now return to police cells to await his formal arraignment, and we will await the judicial authority, be it a judge, to set a hearing for precautionary measures for this person who is currently apprehended,' the Attorney General said. Arce was apprehended after noon in La Paz and transferred to the offices of the Special Force for the Fight Against Crime (Felcc), being investigated as the 'main responsible' for the 'multi-million dollar economic damage' to the Indigenous Development Fund, reported earlier by the Minister of Government (Interior), Marco Antonio Oviedo. According to Oviedo, the investigation is due to the fact that, at the time, transfers of 'huge amounts of money' from the state 'to private accounts' were authorized from the so-called Indigenous, Peasant and Agropecuary Development Fund (Fondioc) for 'ghost projects' or those carried out 'halfway.' The minister affirmed that Arce 'has direct responsibility' for these facts because, as Minister of Economy in the government of Evo Morales (2006-2019), he chaired the board of that body. 'The crimes denounced are illicit enrichment, resolutions contrary to the Constitution and the law, failure to fulfill duties, improper use of influence, and economic conduct,' stated Oviedo. The minister and the attorney general separately explained that the facts for which Arce is investigated occurred during his tenure as minister and not as president, so in this case he is subject to a criminal process and not a process of responsibilities. Former Minister of the Presidency of Arce María Nela Prada told the media that 'an abuse has been completely committed' with Arce's detention and assured that she was not notified to testify. According to Prada, Arce presented 'all the corresponding rebuttals' at the time, when he was minister, regarding the Fondioc case investigations. Fondioc was created in December 2005, a month before Evo Morales assumed the presidency of the country for the first time, to manage and receive resources for development projects in indigenous communities. Various corruption cases in the management of Fondioc became known in 2013, but at the time the only prosecuted person was the director of that body, Marco Antonio Aramayo, despite the fact that he was the one who denounced the alleged mismanagement. Aramayo died in 2022 from an illness after being in preventive detention for seven years for this case. In 2015, Fondioc was replaced by the Indigenous Development Fund. At the doors of the Felcc, a dozen people identified as the 'Paceña Citizen Resistance' demonstrated in the evening in favor of Arce's detention, with signs saying 'Today a tyrant falls, tomorrow the rest will fall' and 'Clown Arce to jail.' In statements to EFE, the Secretary of Communication of the 'Paceña Citizen Resistance,' Juan Carlos Rodríguez, stated that Arce 'goes to jail and pays and returns all the money they have stolen' during his government. 'We are demanding this government and this new commander (of the Police) to apply the law so that these are prosecuted and also pay for all the damage they have done to our Bolivia,' added Rodríguez. Arce ended his term on November 8, when Rodrigo Paz was sworn in as president. Photo EFE.
