Dávila goes to prison, but not for drug trafficking and they anticipate that he will not be extradited

 Dávila va a prisión, pero no por narcotráfico y anticipan que no será extraditado

The first Anti-Corruption Judge of La Paz, Elmer Laura, ordered yesterday the preventive detention of the former director of the Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking (Felcn), Colonel Maximiliano Dávila for the alleged crime of legitimization of illicit profits, and not for drug trafficking, as He is indicted in a court in New York, USA. The Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) ruled out a possible extradition of the former anti-drug chief of the Evo Morales government and the opposition sees that there is protection so that the police officer does not involve others.

According to the judicial decision, the former police chief must serve six months in prison in San Pedro, because there is a probability of authorship of the crime he is accused of, in addition to the risk of escape and obstruction. The defendant's defense appealed that determination.

According to the prosecutor's complaint, the former police chief made suspicious bank movements and registers several motorized vehicles in his name. In addition, he has three assets and a heritage of more than one million Bolivians. It also mentions Dávila's relationship with former major Omar Rojas Echeverría, accused of international drug trafficking.

A few weeks ago, the accusation issued by a New York court against Dávila, Rojas and others for drug and arms trafficking, based on the investigation of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), between 2019 and 2020, became known. Jorge Roca Suárez, alias Techo de Paja, was also identified as the leader of the organization, who was arrested in Peru on March 9, 2021, as was Rojas in Colombia. The US justice requested the extradition of both, a process that is in the conclusive phase.

Asked why Dávila is not being investigated for drug trafficking, Police Commander Jhonny Aguilera said that it is the task of the Prosecutor's Office to define what facts are going to be investigated and the classification of crimes.

"I do not know the activities carried out within the Felcn, I do not know if there is or is not an investigation, because, of course, the characteristics of these operations or these activities are linked to secrecy and secrecy, it would be unprofessional for they will expand on what activities they are relating,” said Aguilera.

In this regard, Ariel Góngora, lawyer for drug trafficker Pedro Montenegro, ratified what his client left written in a letter, before being extradited to Brazil for drug trafficking, where he alleges that the Bolivian justice will not hold Dávila accountable for his crimes, but the DEA you will know what to do with it. "Since there is a report from the DEA, in the state of New York, where if he has an indictment for drug trafficking and arms trafficking, then I believe that in Bolivia he should also be investigated for that crime," said the lawyer.

And faced with a possible request for the extradition of Dávila to the US, MAS senator Félix Ajpi said that the former police chief must be tried in the country and his extradition is not appropriate.

“To say that he handed him over, that is totally irresponsible, those of the opposition are anti-patriotic, I tell you that very clearly, I am not defending, nor do I know Dávila, but if he has these irregularities, crimes he has committed, he must be punished here, as it corresponds, but less to hand it over to another power”, he indicated.

Instead, the deputy of the Citizen Community (CC) Alberto Astorga pointed out that the MAS wants to try Dávila in the country to protect former president Evo Morales, who had "a close link" with the officer.

"If it had not been the intervention of the DEA, these drug police would have continued to operate in the country (...) We are sending a communication to the Attorney General of the State, Juan Lanchipa, so that the investigation into former President Evo Morales, his ministers , because clearly Dávila was a trusted man of Evo Morales”, he pointed out. He noted that it should be investigated who supplied coca to drug traffickers.