Bolivian police found the bodies of four women buried in a jungle area of a coca-growing region in the center of the country and detained the alleged perpetrator of the murders and two accomplices, in a case that has caused astonishment throughout the country.
The bodies of the four women between the ages of 18 and 29, reported missing since 2017, were buried a few meters away from each other in the rural Tres Arroyos community on the outskirts of the small town of Villa Tunari, the chief said Tuesday. of the Anticrime Police, Colonel Alberto Aguilar.
The Ombudsman expressed his “alarm” over the murder of the four women, which, he said, could be related to organized crime and in a statement asked the Public Ministry, the Judiciary and the police “to accelerate the investigations to identify all the guilty “.
“These detained persons affirm that they committed this series of femicides for economic reasons … we do not rule out that in that area we may find more bodies,” said the commander of the National Police, Johnny Aguilera, at a press conference.
The search began 20 days ago after the disappearance of Mónica Olmos Herrada, 25, and led to the discovery of a “clandestine cemetery” where the bodies were buried shallow, according to police.
Olmos Herrada’s killer – who is also the victim’s cousin – was arrested and pleaded guilty to the crime, for which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in an abbreviated trial. The author blamed one of his accomplices, also arrested, for having commissioned him the Olmos crime in exchange for a payment of $ 10,000, according to the investigations.
The discovery took place in the coca-growing region of the Chapare where drug gangs operate and account adjustments are frequent. Police suspect that the crimes may be linked to drug trafficking.
The police reduced the number of troops in that area after the political crisis of late 2019 when coca growers fired the agents amid the resignation of their leader, then-President Evo Morales (2006-2019).
Bolivia is among the countries with the most femicides on the continent and last year registered 113 murders of women.