Man posing as INRA official arrested for allegedly defrauding Mennonites

A man who allegedly posed as an official of Bolivia’s National Institute for Agrarian Reform, or INRA, has been arrested after collecting money from Mennonite families for land-regularization procedures.

The Special Force to Fight Crime arrested Eduardo Alberto de Los Ríos Colodro after prosecutor Mirtha Mejía issued a warrant for his arrest on aggravated fraud allegations. Initial investigations identified more than 100 affected Mennonite families.

According to complaints, de Los Ríos Colodro presented himself as an influential INRA official and an expert in land-regularization procedures. He visited Mennonite colonies in Cuatro Cañadas, Manitoba, Tres Cruces, San José de Chiquitos and Roboré. Families gave him varying amounts in person and through bank transfers, supposedly to cover expenses linked to the procedures.

The families began to distrust him after he stopped maintaining contact and failed to provide clear information about the progress of the applications he had said he was handling. Two days before his arrest, he contacted the victims again and requested more money, claiming that additional funds were needed to continue the land procedures. They gave him nearly 8,000 bolivianos, after which authorities arrested him.

Manuel Rivero Arandia, the Mennonites’ lawyer, said prosecutors would present the suspect to the courts for aggravated fraud. He said hundreds of families had handed over substantial sums that ultimately became part of a fraud case involving multiple victims.