After weeks of silence, the story has resurfaced with new police reports, allegations of a cover-up, and conflicting accounts. The lack of official explanations has prompted disruption for the Interior Minister and increased political pressure in the Legislative Assembly.
Jorge Petinaud Martínez
Like gunpowder igniting a dry meadow, after a month of media silence in the case of the so-called “narco suitcases”, this file has resurfaced, presented by the Bolivian vice president Édman Lara, and goads the Government Minister, Marco Antonio Oviedo.
Popular Alliance deputy, Rolando Pacheco, is pushing for an inquiry against Oviedo in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (ALP) regarding the illegal act that has shocked the country since last January. Pacheco denounced that the head of the Ministry has still not responded to the request for information on the case called “narco suitcases”, even though a month has passed since the request.
From the Vice Presidency headquarters, Lara presented a police report, in which it was stated that on the flight where the 32 “narco suitcases” were found, former congresswoman, Laura Rojas was with an Italian citizen and his young daughters, whose father was, until 15 April, the general manager of Boliviana de Aviación (BoA), Juan José Galbarro.
Surprisingly, an institutional statement from the state airline confirmed that 24 hours after Lara’s intervention, Galbarro was replaced by Eduardo Alejandro Valdivia Medling.
According to Lara, who also heads the ALP, “four people are arriving from the United States: Gabriel Giuliano Leoni, an Italian national; Laura Rojas Ayala, a Bolivian national; and two minors who, according to this report, are Laura Rojas’ daughters (…)”, a fact not reported by the police.
The authority presented a report made by Lieutenant Marvin Manzaneda to the Bolivian Police about the events that occurred on 29 November 2025, the day the charter flight, financed at a cost of almost 100 thousand dollars, arrived from the United States with the suitcases that caused a national scandal. Manzaneda and Police Captain, Cristhian Rodríguez Silva, were formally denounced by Oviedo for having hidden information relating to entry into the country of the 32 suitcases that allegedly contained 100 million dollars linked to drug trafficking.
According to the accusation, the uniformed officers did not inform their superiors about the incident. However, Lara asserted that, in the report, Manzaneda has evidence of having provided the details to Rodríguez, who at that time was Oviedo’s assistant.
The vice president criticised the authorities for not releasing complete information.
For its part, the private channel DTV reported that an internal report from the Special Force for the Fight Against Drug Trafficking (Felcn), dated 13 February 2026, reported that on 21 January, a police officer received a call attributed to Captain Cristhian Rodríguez, offering payments of $10,000 per aircraft to cover the departure of 41 flights in the department of Beni.
The host of that programme, Junior Arias, stated that the document was prepared by Lieutenant Manzaneda, Head of the Property Division of the Administrative Department of the General Directorate of the Felcn, in compliance with Circular Memorandum No. 0206/2026, issued by the General Secretariat of the General Command of the Police.
According to the report, Lieutenant Mazeda received a call attributed to Captain Rodríguez, identified as an assistant to the Government Minister, in which the possibility of providing cover for the departure of aircraft from Beni was raised.
“This intelligence report is greatly complicating matters for Minister ‘Tuco’ Oviedo. I told him: be careful with the people you surround yourself with, Mr. Minister,” Arias stated on his programme. PL
(Translated by Susan Seccombe) – Photos: Pixabay
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