Bolivia’s authorities detained Fernando Cerimedo, former political adviser to Argentinean President Javier Milei, at Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz de la Sierra as he attempted to board a flight to Buenos Aires, following an assassination attempt against his former partner.
The Special Crime Force (FELCC, in Spanish) apprehended the consultant on Tuesday morning, according to local media reports.
Fernando Cerimedo is charged with hiring two or three hitmen to kill lawyer Nadia Beller, his ex-partner, who received three gunshot wounds and remains hospitalized in guarded condition.
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The attack occurred at the door of the SwissHotel, where the couple was staying. The assailants posed as delivery motorcycle riders to carry out the attempted homicide.
Authorities identify Cerimedo as the alleged intellectual author of the attack, in a context where reports indicate a history of violence in the relationship, a version the detainee rejects as false.
Así fue detenido el asesor presidencial, Fernando Cerimedo, investigado por atentado a Nadia Beller, pretendía salir del país
Fernando Cerimedo, señalado como principal sospechoso dentro de la investigación por el intento de asesinato de la activista Nadia Beller, fue detenido… pic.twitter.com/sOBGtqhwl6
— REDDTVOFICIAL (@reddtvoficial) August 18, 2026
Text reads: “Thus was arrested the presidential adviser, Fernando Cerimedo, investigated for the attack on Nadia Beller, who intended to leave the country. Fernando Cerimedo, named as the main suspect in the investigation into the attempted murder of activist Nadia Beller, was arrested by police when he intended to board a flight of Aerolíneas Argentinas bound for Buenos Aires…”
Political Strategist Profile
Fernando Cerimedo is founder and shareholder of La Derecha Diario, a far-right digital media with presence in Mexico and a partnership with Javier Negre in Spain, meanwhile he also serves as CEO of Numen Publicidad Company. The consultant admitted to using thousands of trolls and bots in Milei’s campaigns, where he acted as a strategist associated with Santiago Caputo, other Milei’s consultant.
His trajectory includes advisory work for former Argentinean President Mauricio Macri in 2019 and for Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, where he was charged in connection with an attempted coup. He also collaborated in the campaign of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, expanding his influence across the region’s conservative spectrum.
Cerimedo also appears as a key witness in Argentina’s Disability Fund corruption case, having testified before prosecutor Franco Piccardi about alleged bribes operated by the Menem cousins, a case that placed him at the center of political controversy in recent months.
Facing the current accusations, Cerimedo denounced a campaign against him on social network X: “This is a lie spread with the sole purpose of damaging the image of two public figures for political ends,” he wrote, arguing that freedom of expression “does not protect lies, defamation or the deliberate dissemination of false information.”
En su momento, denunciamos oportunamente las dos amenazas que hizo Fernando Cerimedo, asesor personal de Rodrigo Paz, en mi contra. Una de las dos amenazas fue el 14 de mayo, cuando en su cuenta de la red “X”, citando una publicación mía, emite un mensaje agresivo donde escribe… pic.twitter.com/LVlFpiTrxO
— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) August 18, 2026
Text reads: “At the time, we duly denounced the two threats made against me by Fernando Cerimedo, Rodrigo Paz’s personal advisor. One of the two threats was on May 14, when in his X network account, quoting a post of mine, he emits an aggressive message where he writes at the end the word: “tictac”, as if my life is running out of time. Now we understand why. Today, the couple of Cerimedo, who has miraculously survived and is hospitalized, accuses him of planning the attempt on her life and details several acts of corruption: negotiated fuel with people linked to the U.S. CIA, and gold, among others…”
The arrest adds a new chapter to the legal and political saga surrounding a figure who moved from digital strategy to the center of judicial investigations. Bolivian authorities are expected to define his legal situation in the coming hours, while Argentinean judicial sources monitor the case given the transnational dimension of the alleged crime.
The case also places renewed scrutiny on the networks of digital influence that operated in recent electoral processes across Latin America, where Cerimedo built his reputation as a specialist in aggressive online campaigning.
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.
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