Following the Dec. 28 arrest of Luis Fernando Camacho, the fascist governor of Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department, the neo-Nazi apparatus which Camacho and allies control in the region went on a violent rampage—still ongoing—attacking government buildings and agencies, injuring and torturing government employees, burning vehicles and placing anyone who does not agree that Camacho was unjustly detained on a kill list of “traitors to Santa Cruz.”
Camacho was arrested on charges of “terrorism and conspiracy” related to the November 2019 coup that ousted then-President Evo Morales, and in which he was a central player. A judge sentenced him to four months of pre-trial detention in a maximum-security prison in La Paz, where his medical needs are being met and his rights respected. His fascist backers, however, portray him as an innocent victim of political persecution by President Luis Arce’s “authoritarian dictatorship” which, they claim, is infringing on the rights of the people of Santa Cruz, who only seek “freedom” from the “undemocratic” demands by the federal government. Camacho openly advocates separating Santa Cruz from Bolivia.
To grasp what’s really going on here, consider that on Jan. 1, Brazil’s new President Lula da Silva was inaugurated, raising the hopes of many of the region’s countries of reviving the policies of regional integration and cooperation which former President Jair Bolsonaro had squashed. In his bilateral meeting with Lula, President Arce also discussed Brazil’s role in building a transcontinental railroad between the port of Ilo in Peru and the port of Santos in Brazil. That had been the flagship project of former President Evo Morales, which was paralyzed after he was ousted in the 2019 coup, but revived by President Arce. What was lacking was Brazil’s participation, which Lula reportedly may now be prepared to offer. Importantly, when President Arce met in Brasilia with Russia’s Sen. Valentina Matviyenko, Speaker of the Federation Council, who headed the Russian delegation to Lula’s inauguration, Arce and Matviyenko discussed the possibility of Bolivia joining the “BRICS-Plus” grouping, about which Matviyenko was optimistic.
