Department of Bolivia government succession analysis

Referring to his imprisonment in Chonchokuro maximum security prison, the President of the Legislative Assembly of Santa Cruz (parliament), Zvonko Matković, confirmed that Camacho was continuing with his duties; He explained that the “governor’s status” will be determined in a meeting between the legislative and executive branches.

According to the Provincial Self-Government Law in its Article 25, “In the event of the temporary absence of the Governor or the Governor, the government shall be replaced, with the Deputy Governor or Deputy Governor assuming the duties of the Governor.”

For its part, Article 26 states that “the governor’s term will only end in the event of death, submission of his formal resignation to the provincial legislature, absence or final impediment, final conviction in criminal cases against him and termination of the mandate.” .

Camacho is currently facing four-month pretrial detention as part of the investigations into the first coup case, in which he is accused of terrorism as the main promoter of the violent riots that led to the resignation of former President Evo Morales, on November 10, 2019, and paved access to the head of state in the government The fait accompli for former Senator Jeanine Anez.

Within this conspiracy, through his father, José Luis, Camacho “connected” with the army and police chiefs the ultimate protection and support for those who violated the constitutional order, according to his own confessions in a videotape broadcast on national television.

Despite their close friendship and coincidental promotion of federalist plans generating suspicions of separatism, Matkovich opened up the possibility of entrusting the departments’ highest executive responsibility to Lieutenant Governor Mario Joaquín Aguilera.

“Our statute, unlike other departments, is thinking about having a governor, thinking about appointing a lieutenant governor, and at the end of the day, the governor’s office will continue to operate here, and it will continue to fulfill its obligations,” he told reporters.

However, this criterion is not shared by the Provincial Government Administration Adviser, Efraín Suárez, who insists that Camacho remain governor, despite his imprisonment.

He emphasized in statements to Radio Erbol that “the governor will remain Don Luis Fernando Camacho Vaca,” in a position that showed Camacho’s followers rejected Aguilera.

Architect by training, the latter was elected vice-governor in conjunction with Camacho in the 2021 local elections, and already in March of the year that ended, he was the center of controversy when the governor traveled to Brazil.

Camacho then approved Administrative Decree 343, which excluded Aguilera from temporary organizational replacement, a power he delegated to the Secretary of Institutional Administration, Miguel Ángel Navarro, in clear violation of the legal statute.

This decree was published in the Official Gazette of the Interior, but due to the scandal that arose, the document was removed from digital networks.

When Aguilera demanded an official report on the irregularity, the county’s justice minister, Efraín Suárez, declared that the provisional publication of Decree 343 “was an involuntary error” by an official of the Independent and Organizational Development Directorate, the unit responsible for running the paper.

However, this event showed a distance between Camacho and Aguilera, although some militants from Cremos, the ruling party, insisted on downplaying the importance of the confrontation, which they described as an accident.

In this regard, the legislator of the Movement Socialist-Political Movement for the Sovereignty of Peoples (MAS-IPSP), Estefania Morales, demanded that Camacho explain on March 22 why Ministerial Decree 373 was approved by the Secretary of the Institutional Administration instead of a Lieutenant Governor, as stipulated it in the law.

For his part, given the situation caused by Camacho’s imprisonment, constitutional lawyer and university professor Franklin Gutierrez considered that Article 25 of the Autonomy Law should be applied.

If this benchmark is met, Santa Cruz will have a new governor, at least temporarily.

ode/jpm