SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA, Bolivia — Three days after The Latin Times last reported on this case, the scandal surrounding presidential adviser Fernando Cerimedo has widened into a fourth criminal probe, an open break between Bolivia's vice president and President Rodrigo Paz, and fresh evidence that a man holding no formal government title was steering pieces of the administration from an office down the hall from the president's own.
Prosecutors Now Describe Cerimedo as the Ambush's Remote Coordinator
Prosecutors Herlan Rodríguez Cuevas and Yolanda Aguilera Lijerón have formally imputed Cerimedo as the mediate and intellectual author of the Aug. 17 shooting of his former partner, lawyer and activist Nadia Beller, meaning investigators believe he directed the ambush without being physically present. Central to that theory is a chat thread pulled from Cerimedo's phone: a contact saved under the name "ECO" allegedly messaged him in real time as the attack unfolded, a detail that has since been entered into the official case file.
Cerimedo's legal exposure grew again this week. Beni's departmental prosecutor, Alexander Mendoza, confirmed a newly opened investigation into whether Cerimedo shielded unauthorized flights tied to drug trafficking near the town of Santa Ana. Mendoza said his office is examining light aircraft that allegedly received cover to operate outside the law, and that the inquiry could widen to other officials if evidence supports it. The case brings to four the number of active proceedings against Cerimedo: two in Santa Cruz stemming from the attack on Beller, one in La Paz over alleged illicit enrichment, and now this one in Beni.
The Vice President Breaks Publicly With the President
The most consequential rupture, though, is coming from inside Paz's own government. Vice President Edmand Lara told Argentine television that forensic analysis of Cerimedo's devices shows sustained contact with the men accused of carrying out the shooting, and openly criticized Paz for failing to act on the adviser's presence inside his government. Lara said that from an office near the presidential suite, Cerimedo "gave orders to ministers and directives on what to do." The vice president added that he intends to push for congressional oversight of the matter — an extraordinary public break from a sitting VP against his own president, and a sign the ruling coalition is fracturing over how to handle the fallout.
Much of the fresh pressure traces back to an interview Beller gave Argentina's TN network, broadcast Sunday, in which she said Cerimedo "had an office beside the president's, on floor 23" of the Casa Grande del Pueblo, Bolivia's seat of government — a claim the presidency disputes, even as spokesman José Luis Gálvez has acknowledged Cerimedo remained an unsalaried "close collaborator" after the 2025 campaign. Beller's account is no longer isolated. Multiple current and former officials described to Bolivian outlets how Cerimedo used the elevator reserved for the president, flew aboard the presidential plane, sat in on cabinet meetings and routinely instructed ministerial staff, all without ever holding a formal post — carrying, as one source put it, simply an adviser's business card.
A Cabinet Meets — and a President Stays Silent, Even in Public
Paz convened his full cabinet Monday to discuss the Cerimedo-Beller case alongside a separate controversy over a fuel-subsidy decree that has drawn its own criticism, a sign the scandal is now competing for the president's attention alongside an unrelated energy-policy fight. Hours later, at a public event launching a jobs program, Paz avoided any mention of the Cerimedo case despite reporters' expectations that he would finally address it, choosing instead to defend his fuel-subsidy cuts and warn against new highway blockades. It marks the clearest sign yet that the president intends to keep limiting his public response to an early social-media message expressing solidarity with Beller and calling for a thorough investigation. That silence has drawn direct criticism from lawmakers: Deputy Edgar Zegarra publicly demanded that Paz respond to corruption allegations reaching the president and his wife, while Senator Víctor Quispe cautioned that the president's silence should not, on its own, be read as complicity.
Legislators Push for an OAS Investigation
Zegarra has since sharpened that demand. Rather than a vague international review, he says he will introduce a resolution asking the executive branch to formally request that the Organization of American States send an independent commission to investigate the case once the legislature reconvenes, arguing that only an outside body can keep the inquiry free of political interference. The government has shown little appetite so far for a probe that would cross Bolivia's borders.
The scandal has also rattled Cerimedo's political network abroad. President Javier Milei denied any current ties to his former campaign strategist, saying in a radio interview that his government "stopped any relationship with him in 2023." Visitor logs at the Casa Rosada cited in the same report, however, show Cerimedo entered the building at least 13 times after that date, most recently in June 2024 — a discrepancy fueling skepticism of Milei's account. Separately, journalist Javier Negre confirmed that Cerimedo's outlet, La Derecha Diario, has formally severed all ties to him following the arrest.
A Presidency Already Under Strain
The timing compounds an already fragile moment for Paz. He is still recovering politically from 53 days of unrest in May and June over a land-mortgage law and fuel shortages — a toll that different wire counts have put at at least ten dead by early June and as many as 14 by the time the unrest wound down, and which briefly forced Paz to relocate the seat of government from La Paz to Sucre. A state of exception imposed to contain those protests is set to expire Sept. 17, and some sectors have already resumed demonstrations despite it remaining in force. Jaime Aparicio, a former Bolivian ambassador to the United States, told the Associated Press that Cerimedo "held an undefined role, with power inappropriate for a foreign adviser" — a description now shaping how Bolivians are weighing how much of the past year's governing ran through an office on the 23rd floor rather than the one beside it.
Beller, who remains under police protection, has been summoned to testify again Wednesday, this time as a witness in the separate illicit-enrichment investigation, where she is expected to hand over messages and recordings she says implicate Cerimedo further. She has said she intends to take her case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights if domestic proceedings stall. Cerimedo, held in Palmasola prison outside Santa Cruz, has denied ordering the attack; his attorney maintains the shooting was staged to destabilize the government prosecutors say he was secretly helping run.
