Bolivia's President Says the PCC Threatened to Kill Him After a High-Value Cartel Arrest

Bolivia's President Rodrigo Paz speaks during the swearing-in ceremony of Colonel Adrian Javier Alvarez as the new interim Commander-in-chief of the Bolivian Police, following the resignation of Mirko Sokol at the Government Palace in La Paz on August 31, 2026. (Credit: Photo by Aizar RALDES / AFP via Getty Images)

The Briefing

• Death threat defied: Bolivia's presidential security team warned Rodrigo Paz not to fly to Cobija the weekend of October 11—sources told his team that a PCC arrest days earlier had elevated the risk to his life. Paz boarded the plane anyway and later disclosed the warning publicly.
• The trigger: Marco de Oliveira Ferreira, a Brazilian national identified as a PCC operative, was arrested by Bolivia's FELCC in Santa Cruz on October 9 after a domestic incident exposed him. He had three outstanding prison sentences pending in Brazil and will be transferred to Brazilian authorities at the border.
• The wider picture: A 2025 report from Brazil's São Paulo Public Ministry placed at least 146 PCC members inside Bolivia. Since taking office in November 2025, President Paz's government has expelled 17 cartel leaders from international criminal networks operating on Bolivian soil.