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'This Will Not Stand': Oviedo Announces Brazilian Federal Police Office in Bolivia
🇧🇴 Bolivia /Crime & Justice

'This Will Not Stand': Oviedo Announces Brazilian Federal Police Office in Bolivia

From El Deber · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Bolivia and Brazil will establish permanent offices for their federal police forces in each other's countries to enhance intelligence sharing.
  • This initiative is part of a broader "Secure Borders" plan aimed at combating cross-border crime, including drug trafficking.
  • The move follows the recent killing of a Bolivian police officer investigating a murder linked to Brazilian drug cartels, highlighting the escalating drug-related violence.

Bolivia's Minister of Defense, Marco Antonio Oviedo, announced that Brazil's Federal Police will establish a permanent office in Bolivia, a move reciprocated by Bolivia's own police force establishing a presence in Brazil. This decision aims to foster continuous intelligence and information exchange between the two nations.

There will be a permanent office of the Federal Police in Bolivia that the Federal Police of Brazil will install.

— Marco Antonio OviedoAnnouncing the establishment of a joint police presence.

Oviedo stated that this collaboration is a result of agreements made between Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz Pereira in April. The initiative is set to launch within the next two weeks as part of a plan called "Secure Borders." Joint operations will be implemented at border points like Cobija, Guayaramerín, San Matías, and Puerto Suárez, which are identified as key routes for drug trafficking and the entry of criminals.

In the next two weeks, we are launching a plan that will be called 'Secure Borders.'

— Marco Antonio OviedoDetailing the upcoming security initiative.

The announcement comes in the wake of a violent week in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, marked by nine deaths from sicario attacks. The situation was underscored by the killing of sub-lieutenant Yerson Salazar, a Bolivian police officer who was investigating a murder in San Matías. Minister Oviedo acknowledged that Salazar's death was a consequence of the state's "structural weakness" and the superior firepower possessed by drug trafficking organizations.

This young police officer has died due to a structural weakness we have as a State, a difference in firepower that drug trafficking has.

— Marco Antonio OviedoExplaining the circumstances surrounding the death of sub-lieutenant Yerson Salazar.

Oviedo confirmed that two major Brazilian criminal organizations, PCC and Comando Vermelho, are actively engaged in a territorial dispute within Bolivia to control drug trafficking routes. He vowed that this escalating violence and the penetration of drug cartels, which he noted has been ongoing for 20 years, would be combated, stating, "This will not stand."

This young police officer has died after 20 years of penetration, of the installation of drug trafficking in our country.

— Marco Antonio OviedoHighlighting the long-standing issue of drug cartel presence in Bolivia.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Deber in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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