Bolivia’s Lower House Takes Up Final Report on the Suitcase Case After Rejecting Delay Request

Bolivia’s Chamber of Deputies began examining the final report in the so-called suitcase case after rejecting another request to delay the discussion. The report covers 96 pages, and lawmakers were expected to spend considerable time reading it before moving to debate.

Egidio Arce Escalera, who chaired the special investigative commission, sent a letter asking for the session to be postponed again. He said he could not attend because he was on medical leave. The request failed to win support.

“Therefore, we are going straight into the final report. It is 96 pages, so we will be here for quite a while reading its contents, and then we will proceed with the debate,” Chamber of Deputies President Roberto Castro said.

The investigation seeks to clarify the irregular entry of 31 or 32 suitcases into Bolivia on a charter flight from the United States. The plane arrived at Viru Viru airport on Nov. 29, 2025. Officials still have not publicly established what the luggage contained. Initial suspicions focused on drugs, while later accounts suggested the suitcases may have held dollars.

Early investigations found that the luggage entered without undergoing all standard airport checks, using an expired diplomatic passport. The passport belonged to former lawmaker Laura Rojas, who traveled on the same aircraft. She spent time in pretrial detention before being released, but did not disclose what the suitcases contained. Former judge Hebert Zeballos is another leading suspect. Investigators allegedly moved the luggage to his warehouse, and he too was held in pretrial detention before his release.

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Therefore, we are going straight into the final report. It is 96 pages, so we will be here for quite a while reading its contents, and then we will proceed with the debate.