Bolivian authorities have arrested former anti-drug czar Felipe Cáceres after police discovered a cocaine laboratory on land he owns in the coca-growing region of Cochabamba.
Cáceres, 63, served as head of Bolivia’s department for controlled substances from 2006 to 2019, overseeing the country’s fight against narcotics. Once a prominent coca-growers’ union leader and close ally of former president Evo Morales, he was detained near the site at a sand and gravel plant he operates.
Interior Minister Roberto Ríos confirmed the lab was large enough to employ up to 10 people, though investigations are ongoing to determine whether Cáceres directly controlled its operations. Morales has dismissed the arrest as a “set-up,” accusing the government of using the case to distract from its own scandals.
The discovery adds to a series of high-profile scandals involving Bolivia’s anti-drug agencies. In recent years, two former heads of the country’s counternarcotics police have faced prosecution abroad—one extradited to the United States on trafficking charges, another serving a 14-year sentence for smuggling.
Bolivia remains the world’s third-largest producer of cocaine, after Colombia and Peru. While coca cultivation is legal within a 22,000-hectare national limit for traditional and medicinal use, processing the leaves into cocaine hydrochloride is strictly prohibited.
The case underscores the blurred lines between Bolivia’s licit coca economy and its illicit cocaine trade, raising fresh questions about corruption and accountability within the country’s anti-narcotics institutions.
Parliament of Bolivia Plaza Murillo, La Paz, Bolivia Picture by Seudodata
St Kitts Nevis Observer – Coca-Grower Turned Drug Chief Tied to Cocaine Lab Scandal
