The president of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of Bolivia, Romer Saucedo, has stated that he has left the country accompanied by his wife and his three children to take refuge in the “exile,” in response to the “persecution” that he claims he is suffering and the “lack of security” for him and his own.
“I have left the country, I’m with my entire family in exile,” Saucedo said in a message circulated on social media, where he explained that the decision is due to the absence of “legal guarantees” and fear of “suffering an attack on his life.”
“I will go on to join the list of those who, in times of democracy, are still being persecuted. I will tell the world that in my country it is a sin to question political power and that magistrates are murdered with total impunity and the complicity of the spheres of power,” the magistrate added, who assures that his forced departure is a direct consequence of his critical stance.
The announcement comes at a time when various authorities are being investigated for supposed links to drug terrorism and suspicions of corruption within the judicial system are multiplying. Saucedo has insisted that at present no formal proceeding is weighing on him, although he assumes that judicial cases will be launched against him.
In this regard, he has warned that charges would be prepared and evidentiary elements fabricated to harm him and make him a target of Justice. “Reports are being constructed based on lies and I know they are going to plant evidence to discredit me,” he denounced.
The Supreme president directly holds the Government responsible for this situation and argues that his resistance to “political interference” has caused “annoyances” in different areas of power. Even so, he has stressed that he has no intention of abandoning the position for which he was chosen through popular vote.
“My exile does not mean a resignation. The Plenary Chamber of the TSJ has ‘quorum’ to function even without my presence,” he emphasized. In addition, he linked his departure to the murder of Víctor Hugo Claure, dean of the Agroenvironmental Tribunal, and criticized that neither the Executive Branch nor the Prosecutor’s Office has managed to clarify that crime.
For his part, President Rodrigo Paz described as “a grievous piece of news but encouraging for the future” the departure of Bolivia’s president of the Supreme, during an event held in Madrid in the framework of the XXX Ibero-American Summit.
The head of state has pointed out that Saucedo "is withdrawing, leaving the country, because there is a series of accusations or investigations about our model of the judicial system". "If we do not change (the) justice, I do not have a good democracy and if I do not have a good democracy with clear rules, offering a future in Bolivia is complex", he stated, before admitting that the Judiciary is facing "a very tough year of transformation".
Meanwhile, the State Attorney General, José Armando Urioste, has confirmed that the President of the Supreme Court "has open cases in Santa Cruz", specifically "two or three", as he has detailed in statements collected by the Unitel chain.
"We do not know why he has avoided the Justice (...) He is claiming that cases are going to be opened for him; however, there are already open and ongoing cases", he emphasized.
"I would invite him to present himself, to (let him) defend himself, to present the evidence that he has and that is what corresponds according to law. He is a man of law; he must submit to the investigations", Urioste added, who was appointed at the beginning of October following the detention of his predecessor, Roger Mariaca, for alleged links to drug trafficking.