The detention of judicial authorities is uncovering a series of scandals that threatens to splatter various levels of power in Bolivia. One of the recent accusations points against the former president of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), Romer Saucedo, who is accused of having manipulated the municipal elections of San Ignacio de Velasco, a town in the east of the country, to favor a relative.
The accusation was made by Aldo Quezada, former president of the Departmental Court of Justice of Santa Cruz, during his statements before the Prosecutor's Office. Quezada, who is being held as part of an investigation into trafficking of controlled substances, stated that Saucedo had made efforts to ensure that his relative, Feldman Gómez, a candidate of the Creemos alliance, would be elected mayor of that municipality.
According to his testimony, Saucedo exerted pressure to remove two candidates who were ahead of his relative in the electoral race. "Romer moved heaven and earth so that his uncle would be mayor of San Ignacio de Velasco. Being third, he had to take down two competitors," Quezada declared, as read in the prosecutorial document.
The former official also stated that Saucedo maintained coordination with the president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Gustavo Ávila, and that as part of these efforts a Constitutional Chamber annulled the participation of the political group ASIP, which was led by the pref...
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Electoral body workers prepare election materials for a vote in Bolivia. Reference file image. REUTERS/Claudia Morales REUTERS/Claudia MoralesThe detention of judicial authorities is uncovering a series of scandals that threatens to splatter different levels of power in Bolivia. One of the recent accusations targets the former president of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), Romer Saucedo, who is accused of having manipulated the municipal elections in San Ignacio de Velasco, a town in the east of the country, to favor a relative. The accusation was made by Aldo Quezada, former president of the Departmental Court of Justice of Santa Cruz, during his statements before the Prosecutor's Office. Quezada, who is being held as part of an investigation into drug trafficking, said Saucedo had made moves to ensure that his relative, Feldman Gómez, a candidate of the Creemos alliance, would be elected mayor of that municipality. According to his testimony, Saucedo exerted pressure to push aside two candidates who were ahead of his relative in the electoral race. "Romer moved heaven, earth and sea to get his uncle elected mayor of San Ignacio de Velasco. Being third, he had to knock down two competitors," Quezada said, as read in the prosecutorial document. The former official also said Saucedo maintained coordination with the president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Gustavo Ávila, and that as part of those moves a Constitutional Chamber annulled the participation of the political group ASIP, which led the electoral preference. The winner of the municipal election was ultimately Feldman Gómez. Feldman Gomez, candidate of the Creemos alliance, was elected mayor of San Ignacio de Velasco in the March 22, 2026 elections. Saucedo, until recently one of the most powerful men in the country, declared himself in exile last week, amid a criminal investigation into alleged links to drug trafficking. In response to the accusations about the vote in San Ignacio de Velasco, the president of the TSE denied any coordination with Saucedo to interfere in the electoral process. "At no time did we coordinate any kind of qualification or disqualification with the former president of the Supreme Court of Justice," Ávila said. The electoral official maintained that the institution received pressure during the electoral process through constitutional motions filed by politicians and candidates. According to his figures, electoral authorities were summoned to more than 90 constitutional amparo hearings during the subnational elections. Regarding the San Ignacio de Velasco case, Ávila noted that the exclusion of the two political organizations responded to an amparo action filed by a private individual and a subsequent decision by the courts. Following Quezada's complaint, the governor of Santa Cruz, Juan Pablo Velasco, revealed that his political group also suffered pressures and threats to prevent him from competing in that municipality during the subnational elections. The former president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Romer Saucedo (l), next to Gustavo Ávila, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (r), at an official event. File image.
Velasco recounted that he received warnings about the possibility that the electoral registration of Libre would be revoked if he registered Christian Méndez as a mayoral candidate, who was ultimately disqualified over an objection related to a language certificate that, according to the governor, had been submitted within the established deadline. Velasco said he later attempted to register a second candidate, but that this person was removed from the electoral lists at the last moment. The governor called for an investigation of judges, judicial operators and officials who, according to his account, would have participated in the pressures, which he described as "truly acts of political and judicial extortion." The subnational elections held in March of this year, in which Bolivia elected departmental and municipal authorities, were marked by controversy due to the disqualification of candidacies. The decisions sparked protests and questioning by local organizations about the transparency of the process. The accusations have once again placed at the center of debate the judicial decisions that conditioned the participation of candidates and the role of the institutions in charge of guaranteeing electoral transparency in Bolivia.