Bolivia’s top judge flees country, alleging persecution

Bolivia’s Supreme Court chief justice on Wednesday said he had fled the country, alleging persecution by the US-backed government as investigations target senior court officials.

President Donald Trump’s administration has backed several recent arrests of high-ranking Bolivian judicial officials over alleged links to drug trafficking.

Last month, former attorney general Roger Mariaca was detained two days after the United States blacklisted him for allegedly taking bribes to facilitate drug trafficking.

On Wednesday, Supreme Court chief justice Romer Saucedo said he had left Bolivia, accusing center-right President Rodrigo Paz’s government of “attempts at persecution and intimidation.”

“I am in exile with my entire family,” he wrote on X.

“I know they’re going to plant evidence to discredit me,” he added, without specifying what he is accused of or where he is now.

There are no known probes into Saucedo, who has immunity as head of Bolivia’s highest court.

His departure was “painful news, but it’s encouraging for the future,” Paz said during a business meeting in Spain.

Saucedo “is leaving the country because there are a number of accusations or investigations regarding our model of the judicial system,” Paz added, without providing further details.

Court magistrates were meeting to elect an interim chief justice of the Supreme Court, although Saucedo said he does not plan to resign.

The Paz administration is one of several Latin American governments seeking closer ties with Washington, and in March Bolivia joined Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” alliance.

The loosely defined partnership aims to crack down on drug trafficking across the region.