HomeNewsAnalysisFormer Bolivian Drug Czar Arrested in Panama
ANALYSIS

Former Bolivian Drug Czar Arrested in Panama

BOLIVIA / 28 FEB 2011 BY ELYSSA PACHICO EN

After the arrest of Bolivia's former top narcotics czar Thursday in Panama, accused of running a drug-trafficking ring, attention is again focused on how deep is police and military involvement in the drug trade.

Retired police general Rene Sanabria was arrested Thursday in Panama and has since been deported to the U.S., reports La Razon. Sanabria was currently serving as an intelligence advisor to the government's interior ministry. He is among the highest ranking security officials yet arrested on drug trafficking charges in Bolivia.

At least three other mid-ranking police officials – including a major and a captain, both part of the same intelligence apparatus where Sanabria worked, known by its Spanish acronym CIGEIN, and a colonel, the former head of anti-narcotics in Cochabamba – were also arrested Sunday for alleged involvement in Sanabria's ring.

The group is accused of facilitating drug shipments from the Arica highlands near the Chilean border to Panama, then onto the U.S., according to La Razon. Sanabria arrived at Panama's Tocumen International Airport on Thursday in order to coordinate his third shipment to the U.S., the newspaper says.

High-level official involvement in the drug trade is nothing new in Bolivia. Under the dictatorships of Hugh Banzer (1971-1978) and Luis Garcia Meza (1980-1981), security officials were widely understood to be in bed with drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). Garcia Meza, who came to power in what was later known as a "cocaine coup," did much to institutionalize the drug trade among sectors of the military.

This history of military involvement in the drug trade means that the police, and not the army, is deployed to do anti-narcotics work in Bolivia. But as Sanabria's arrest demonstrates, the police is not immune from collaboration in the drug trade, and in some ways have helped make Bolivia's anti-drug strategy deeply unpopular. The principle arm of Bolivia's anti-narcotics force, known by its Spanish acronym UMOPAR, has been frequently accused of human rights violations while conducting operations, including torture and illegal detentions.

In the most recent high-profile case involving a police official accused of criminal ties, former police captain Orlando Araujo was detained in May 2010, allegedly responsible for masterminding the kidnapping of Paraguayan trafficker William Rosales. In a jolt of violence that startled Bolivia last year, Rosales and his Serbian bodyguards were ambushed in a rural area, leaving six guards dead and Rosales still missing, presumably kidnapped by Araujo at the behest of Colombians who had a $1 million bounty on Rosales' head.

President Evo Morales has acknowledged that there are drug cartels operating in Bolivia, and has even said they are "better equipped" than the national security forces. Brazilian drug trafficking organizations Red Command (Comando Vermelho) and the First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital - PCC) also are believed to be present in the country. But despite the history of drug-related corruption in the police and army, the Bolivian state is not as seriously threatened by powerful drug cartels as is the case for Mexico and Colombia.

While there may be remnants of international cartels like Colombia's Norte del Valle Cartel making their presence felt in Bolivia, most of the business, including transhipment into neighbouring countries like Brazil and the processing coca into cocaine, is believed to be handled by local "family clans." The international buyers, who maintain contact with organizations like the PCC, keep a low profile. Notably, drug-related violence, or the co-opting of government officials by DTOs, is much more rare in Bolivia than it is in other source countries like Colombia, indicating that the local DTOs do not yet feel the need to compete violently for territory.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BOLIVIA / 3 APR 2023

Wastewater analysis of major European cities shows cocaine consumption continues to rise in parallel with South America's booming production.

BOLIVIA / 9 AUG 2022

Politicians are pushing for the Chilean government to declare a state of emergency in the northern regions including Tarapacá…

BOLIVIA / 8 NOV 2022

Environmental crime is driving deforestation across the Amazon, where some parts are now emitting more carbon dioxide than they absorb.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Rights Watch Draws on InSight Crime's Haiti Coverage

18 AUG 2023

Non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch relied on InSight Crime's coverage this week, citing six articles and one of our criminal profiles in its latest report on the humanitarian…