Bolivia Vice President Blames Govt After $8.3 bn Drug Seizure in Chile

Bolivia’s vice president, Edman Lara, said the nation’s anti‑drug policy has failed, naming Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo, police chief Mirko Sokol, the head of the special anti‑narcotics force Franz Cabrera and former vice‑minister Ernesto Justiniano as responsible. He warned that “always the same pattern: international scandal, no internal responsibility,” and added, “Even with the DEA present there are no results; on the contrary there is more drug, more trafficking, more criminal organisations and more impunity.”

Lara criticised a proposal by Oviedo to create an International Verification and Investigation Commission that would involve the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the European Union and Spanish police, calling the plan an evasion of duties and urging politicians not to send delegates to investigate abroad.

Chile’s public security ministry reported the discovery of more than 100 tonnes of cocaine concealed in wooden pallets from Bolivia at three ports – Arica, Valparaíso and San Antonio – after a joint maritime and customs investigation. Authorities seized 45 contaminated containers, valuing the narcotics at about $8.3 billion.