Bolivia’s Congress elected José Armando Urioste Viera interim attorney general shortly after 6:15 a.m. on Saturday, 3 October. Lawmakers chose him by a show of hands, but only after five earlier rounds failed to give any other candidate the two-thirds majority required.
He replaces Roger Mariaca, whose suspension passed by 113 votes to 11, according to reports on Saturday. Within hours of his selection, Urioste told an interviewer that hand-picked appointments had turned the prosecution service into a “corruption clique.”
A Long Night in the Assembly
The joint session opened at 10:25 a.m. on Friday and continued until about 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, El Deber reported. Party leaders initially put forward three lawyers: Gonzalo Flores Céspedes, William Herrera Áñez and Julio Coronado. Flores led each roll-call round, but never reached the required threshold. El Deber counted 69 votes for him in the first round and 81 in the fifth, while Herrera received between 40 and 45. The second round required 85 votes.
After a recess, party blocs agreed to make Urioste the sole candidate. “There are more than two-thirds, so Dr Urioste has been selected,” Assembly chair Ávila announced, according to Opinión. Urgente said lawmakers voted by raising their hands, and the outlets reviewed didn’t give an exact tally. Opinión reported four rounds before the final vote. El Deber and Urgente counted five.
Ávila said Assembly leaders would swear Urioste in on Monday, 5 October, in La Paz, without calling another session. He’ll then move to Sucre, the judicial capital and home of the Attorney General’s Office. His mandate lasts 90 days. During that period, the Assembly must complete the selection of a permanent attorney general for a six-year term.
The New Chief’s Promises
Urioste has had a long judicial career in Beni, including a stint as dean of its departmental court. Speaking to the El Deber group in Trinidad, he said the prosecution service had strayed from merit-based hiring. “Lamentablemente estamos acostumbrados a que entra el fiscal y pone a sus amigos y eso es lo que ha pasado, se ha vuelto una camarilla de corrupción. Eso debe cambiar.” The report translated that as: “Sadly, we are used to a prosecutor coming in and installing his friends. That is what has happened: it has become a corruption clique. That must change.”
He said he’d review the central office first, then the departmental offices, and fill positions based on merit. On his election, he said: “I have not spent a single cent.” He pledged to investigate without a “witch hunt” and to respect the presumption of innocence. Any prosecutor found to have committed or covered up a crime must leave, he said.
Courts Test the Process
The transition isn’t tidy. Luis Montaño, a senior prosecutor who declared himself interim chief on Thursday, was arrested in Sucre on Saturday, El Deber and Opinión reported.
Meanwhile, Judge Juan Carlos Montalbán of La Paz’s Fifth Criminal Investigation Court rejected Mariaca’s request for a juicio de responsabilidades, the special trial for senior officials under Law 044. The judge ruled that drug trafficking and criminal organisation are common crimes, not offences connected to Mariaca’s office. The case will therefore continue as an ordinary criminal matter, El Deber, Opinión and Brújula Digital reported. He also said he lacked territorial jurisdiction and ordered the file sent to Santa Cruz, while continuing to hear the detention request. Prosecutors sought six months in La Paz’s San Pedro prison.
Mariaca has been held since 30 September. His defence lawyer, Jerjes Justiniano, appealed, Brújula Digital reported. The charges remain allegations that must be proved at trial. By Saturday afternoon, no decision on pre-trial detention had been reported, and officials hadn’t set a date for the appeal on the type of trial. Urioste hasn’t yet been sworn in.
Why This Matters: A prosecution service sits at the heart of any country’s rule of law, and investors, businesses and ordinary citizens all depend on it being predictable and free of favoritism. Bolivia’s two-thirds threshold forced a night of bargaining across party lines, which some will see as a useful check on a single faction. The 90-day clock is short for a leader who has promised a top-to-bottom review. From a limited-government perspective, the test is whether merit hiring replaces patronage, and whether the presumption of innocence holds for Mariaca and for any prosecutors Urioste scrutinizes. Pending appeals and unresolved detention questions mean the courts, not the Assembly, will decide how stable this handover proves.