The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, faces a judicial process for omission of family assistance and abandonment of pregnant women. The complainant is the former director of the Mining Administrative Jurisdictional Authority (AJAM) Brenda Lafuente, 32, who assures that the president denies the baby who was born in December last year as the result of a sentimental relationship. The president appeared on Thursday to declare before the Prosecutor’s Office of Cochabamba, a city where the complaint and residence of his alleged ex -partner filed. There it was determined that he can defend himself in freedom “for the number of years (less than three) that he could suffer in prison.”
The State Attorney General, Róger Mariaca, said the case is in reserve since it was denounced at the end of August, at the request of the plaintiff. But it is herself who asks now that confidentiality is lifted. Lafuente, in an extensive interview with a national radio, argued that the “information was leaked by public ministry officials” and wants to publicize its version. Profession lawyer said that she met Arce when she was a legal advisor to the Ministry of Justice in La Paz, but that they initiated their relationship only in 2023, when she had already left the direction of AJAM.
Lafuente got pregnant in April 2024 and communicated it to the president “the next day.” However, he said Arce questioned being the father and avoided any subsequent contact with her. “He left us in absolute abandonment during pregnancy. It was eight months of gestation because my son was born prematurely. So far we have not received any kind of moral or economic support.” The president, on the other hand, was brief when he was approached by the press and just said that he will defend “with all the corresponding legal regulations and with private lawyers, because it is a personal issue.”
The DNA test to confirm paternity within the framework of the investigations should be carried out this week, but was suspended. Lafuente denounced that the call of the Cochabamba Prosecutor’s Office was for the three involved, but the head of state was not present and would subsequently take the exam in La Paz. “I opposed to take a sample to my son if his father was not present. As he said, it is an ordinary crime, they do not recognize privileges and must submit to the process as a common citizen.” The suspicions of power influences in the process have led to the defense of the complainant demanding the presence of an expert to ensure that there is no manipulation in the DNA test.
The former director of Ajam said that facing the “most powerful man in the country” is carrying social and economic violence. “At the last meeting we had in July 2024 I asked him to assume his responsibility as a father (…) he used his position to tell me that while he was never going to have work in the government,” he said.
This is not the first time that the Bolivian president, married and with three children, is involved in scandals related to alleged clandestine relationships. In October last year, a woman denounced before the press that she was a victim of sexual abuse and harassment to abort. “I am not the last or the only victim; we are six victims whom he has silenced with work and abused power,” he said then. The case lost strength by acquiring a political dye: it was strongly supported by deputies related to Evo Morales, in full confrontation between the ex -president Cocalero and Arce.
Nor is it the first time that Lafuente’s name appears in the media. He had to give up his position as director of the AJAM after being involved in a controversy for the designation and arbitrary dismissal of at least ten officials of the institution. Within the current process against the President, it requires a monthly pension close to $ 1,150. The declaration of witnesses in the next few days is planned.
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