Bolivia's attorney general is behind bars. Roger Mariaca was arrested Wednesday night in Santa Cruz, just two days after the United States revoked his visa and blacklisted him for allegedly accepting bribes "to facilitate narcotrafficking and help violent criminals evade justice."
Interior Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo says Mariaca led a "criminal organization embedded in the justice system" that protected drug trafficking from inside the Public Ministry.
Police arrested 14 people in total — including four prosecutors — and caught four people moving $300,000 in cash out of Mariaca's house in an ambulance in the early hours of Thursday. A government video shows officers pulling wads of bills from the vehicle's panels.
The case exploded after leaked audio attributed to alleged Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset — captured in Bolivia in March and later transferred to the United States — claimed Mariaca was a "friend" who took $500,000 so Marset could keep operating in Bolivia.
Mariaca denies the accusations, calling them political pressure tied to his own investigations.
Oviedo says the arrest was carried out with "cooperation of the US government." Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Bolivia's "bold and decisive actions" against narco-trafficking.
What to watch next: whether the case triggers formal charges against Mariaca and how far up the network the investigation reaches — and whether La Paz's warming ties with Washington survive the scrutiny.