The Bolivia Public Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday denounced “the kidnapping of our attorney general” after the country’s top law enforcement official, Roger Mariaca, was intercepted and detained at Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz, along with a prosecutor from the city.

Observers were quick to note that the arrests took place weeks after Mariaca’s office arrested Fernando Cerimedo, a political operative with ties to right-wing campaigns across Latin America.

Cerimedo also has a business partnership with President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Brad Parscale—a connection that helped earn Cerimedo the nickname “MAGA’s Man in LatAm.”

Marco Antonio Oviedo, Bolivia’s interior minister, said the two officials were arrested on suspicion of criminal organization, money laundering, and drug trafficking.

The arrests were carried out with the “cooperation of the US government” as part of the “fight against terrorism,” said Oviedo.

They were detained days after the Trump administration revoked their visas and those of more than a dozen other people from Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador.

The US State Department had accused them of corruption and having ties to drug trafficking, similar to allegations against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was abducted by US military forces in January.

Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other officials have taken numerous actions that they say are aimed at combating drug trafficking in Latin America, including bombing dozens of alleged drug boats, partnering with countries across the region on military operations, and creating the Shield of the Americas, an alliance with right-wing governments including that of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz that is ostensibly aimed at defeating drug cartels and organized crime.

The Trump administration claimed Mariaca had taken “bribes to facilitate drug trafficking and help violent criminals evade justice.” Mariaca denied the accusations on Monday and said his visa had been revoked as part of an effort at “interference” and “political pressure” due to his investigation into Cerimedo.

Cerimedo’s arrest in August was in connection with the attempted murder of a lawyer and activist with whom he reportedly had a relationship.

“He’s also being investigated for collusion in drug trafficking and other activities during his time as a presidential adviser to Rodrigo Paz,” reported journalist Ollie Vargas.

On social media, Ryan Grim of Drop Site News called the detention of Mariaca “fallout from the arrest of Cerimedo,” while another observer replied, “That’s your Marco Rubio pulling the strings.”

After the arrests, a special police unit reportedly searched the Santa Cruz Departmental Prosecutor’s Office, Mariaca’s office, and the attorney general’s home.

“We denounce before the entire Bolivian population this intervention that is being carried out illegally,” Claudia Pardo, the head of communications at the Public Prosecutor’s Office, told the press.

Journalist Joseph Bouchard noted that while claiming to fight drug trafficking in Latin America, the Trump administration is “actively protecting allied drug traffickers and criminals,” such as former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in 2024 of helping the Sinaloa Cartel import hundreds of tons of drugs into the US. Trump pardoned Hernández last November, weeks before his administration invaded Venezuela and abducted Maduro.

The administration “bankrolled Fernando Cerimedo, who is now jailed in Bolivia for ties to drug trafficking,” said Bouchard, “and the US forced Bolivia to jail his prosecutor.”

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