Bolivia Jails Opposition Lawmaker for Six Months Over Calls to Execute Political Enemies

A Bolivian court on Monday committed suspended alternate senator Nilton Condori Alanoca to six months of preventive detention at San Pedro prison in La Paz, convicting him on charges of terrorism and public instigation to commit crimes. The ruling came after a full evidentiary hearing at the Third Criminal Instructional Court, where prosecutors and defense attorneys clashed over the strength of the evidence presented.

Seized at the Edge of a Political Rally

Police arrested Condori on Sunday, October 18, near the Mercado Campesino in El Alto — the high-altitude city adjoining La Paz — as he prepared to address a political assembly aimed at uniting left-wing popular movement leaders under a single front. He was taken into custody without incident and, once in police cells, chose to exercise his right to silence, offering no formal statement to investigators.

The formal complaint driving Monday's ruling traces to remarks Condori delivered at an assembly in Lauca Ñ, Trópico de Cochabamba, on September 26. That gathering, called "Evo Pueblo," was organized within the political orbit of former president Evo Morales. Addressing the crowd, Condori called for what he described as the violent elimination of individuals he labeled thieves and members of an idle elite, declaring: "Si no fusilamos a estos ladrones, Bolivia no va a tener futuro" — roughly, if Bolivia does not eliminate these thieves, the country has no future. PDC deputy Manolo Rojas, a lawmaker from the ruling Partido Demócrata Cristiano, filed the formal complaint approximately two weeks before the arrest.

Investigation Also Reaches Evo Morales and Other Leaders

The complaint extends well beyond Condori alone. Morales — who presided over the September rally — along with two other leaders, Román Gutiérrez and Rosario Vargas, are also named as subjects of the broader investigation. Prosecutors linked the case to the 53-day road blockades that paralyzed Bolivia's transportation network earlier in 2026.

During the cautelar hearing, the Fiscalía argued that Condori posed both a flight risk and a danger of exerting undue influence over others named in the case, requesting his transfer to the Chonchocoro maximum-security facility for 180 days. Judge Lorena Camacho accepted the six-month term but assigned Condori to San Pedro instead — a meaningful distinction, since Chonchocoro houses Bolivia's highest-risk inmates and the defense had pushed back against that placement.

Defense Files Immediate Appeal

Condori's attorney, Yaco Conde, told reporters after the hearing that the defense had successfully countered four of the five procedural-risk grounds the prosecution presented and argued the ruling lacked adequate evidentiary grounding. An appeal was filed the same day, with the team seeking review from a higher judicial chamber.

A Lawmaker Who Built His Profile Through Protest

Condori became one of Bolivia's most recognizable opposition voices in 2026 by backing and helping to organize civil pressure campaigns demanding the resignation of President Rodrigo Paz. He co-signed political pacts with indigenous federations and labor union leadership — moves that placed him increasingly at odds with his own Alianza Unidad bloc, the opposition coalition led by businessman Samuel Doria Medina. The Senate Ethics Commission had already acted against him, suspending him for eight months without pay in August, well before the present criminal case took shape.

Political Backlash Follows the Ruling

The detention order set off immediate reverberations across Bolivia's political landscape. Supporters of Evo Morales gathered in El Alto for the Encuentro para Salvar Bolivia and warned they would launch public mobilizations if Condori was not released. Political figure José María Lara publicly cautioned against turning the courts into instruments for silencing dissenters — a view Condori's own legal team amplified by describing the prosecution as politically motivated.

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