The prosecutor of the department of La Paz, in Bolivia, Luis Carlos Torrez, submitted his resignation this Friday, shortly after the Police registered the facilities of the Prosecutor's Office within the internal investigations that have led to the arrest of the country's attorney general, Róger Mariaca, along with other high officials of the Public Ministry.
Sources from the Prosecutor's Office itself have indicated to the television network Unitel that Torrez has left the position, after not showing up in his office for the last two days.
His resignation, the reasons for which are not yet known, occurs while police agents maintain a cordon around his office as part of the actions regarding Mariaca, the prosecutor of the department of Santa Cruz, Alberto Zeballos, and the senior prosecutor of Sucre, Martín Irusta Flores, all of whom have been arrested for alleged corruption and links to drug trafficking.
This case erupts in a context in which the United States has increased pressure on the attorney general and other current and former high-ranking judicial officials of Bolivia, whom it has banned from entering its territory and has imposed various sanctions.
Specifically, the U.S. Department of State accuses Mariaca of "abusing public position to request and accept bribes to facilitate drug trafficking and help violent criminals evade justice."
The Bolivian Minister of Defense, Ernesto Justiniano, in the first reaction from the government of Rodrigo Paz, stated that the country's authorities would request explanations from Washington given the "seriousness" of the accusations directed against the prosecutors.