- Name: Luis Fernando Camacho Vaca
- Position: Governor of Santa Cruz
- Deprived of liberty since: December 28th, 2022
- Judgment: Awaiting judgement
- Country: Bolivia
- Place of confinement: Maximum Security Prison of Chonchocoro
- Health condition: Delicate condition
- Torture complaint: Due process violations
Luis Fernando Camacho Vaca is a lawyer, university professor, businessman and has an active and constant civic and institutional participation since his early youth. He is currently the elected Governor of Santa Cruz, the most developed department in Bolivia.
The governor and leader of the opposition led the 2019 protests after a the fraudulent election of Evo Morales that ignited a social explosion with 37 deaths and that resulted in the resignation of Morales, who was looking for a fourth consecutive term. For the same fact, former interim president Jeanine Áñez was sentenced in June of last year to ten years in prison in a prison in La Paz.
He called for a forceful departmental civic strike, on July 9, 2019, demanding respect for the 21F referendum. After the electoral fraud of the MAS on October 20, he called for an indefinite civic strike.
On December 28, 2022, Camacho was arrested in front of his home by the Bolivian National Police without an arrest warrant. He was thrown to the ground, they yelled at him, and they handcuffed him, his cousin and he were afraid thinking that they could kill them.
His arrest last December, with charges of terrorism, bribery and sedition for his participation in the 2019 protests against the government of Evo Morales, led to days of paralysis in his region, the Bolivian economic engine.
Despite his arrest, Camacho exercises from the prison his function as governor of the eastern province of Santa Cruz, the main stronghold of the opposition. The Legislative Assembly of his region ratified him in office.He is currently being held hostage in Bolivia’s maximum security prison of Chonchocoro.
Sponsors
Gabriel Mato Adrover
Position: Member of the European Parliament (MEP)
Observations
Mato is a Spanish politician, currently an MEP of the Group of the European Popular Party and a member of the national board of directors of the Spanish Popular Party.
