Karina Martin reports in the PanAmPost where Bolivian President Evo Morales admitted this week that he knows Rómer Gutiérrez, a member of his party Movement for Socialism who was detained in Brazil after officials found him with almost 100 kilos of cocaine.
“Who would be consulting on that, finding out who is who and who’s doing what when there are so many young people involved?” Morales said during a press conference. He said he saw Gutiérrez in Santa Cruz or perhaps in Beni during campaign season.
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Morales clarified his relationship with Gutierrez after social media started spreading a photo of him standing beside seven other politicians, one of whom was Gutierrez.
Morales was photographed on several occasions with the so-called “exasperation” of their political party. Though Morales said that pictures don’t necessarily indicate friendship, Guitiérrez’s sister, Amparo Gutiérrez, claimed the two of them were on good enough terms for Morales to poke fun at Guitiérrez’s weight.
Gutiérrez was arrested in Sao Paulo, Brazil on July 7, where he was found with 99 kilos of cocaine. Though he was designated as an adviser to the Movement to Socialism party, Deputy Minister Hugo Siles denied that the appointment is true.
The Bolivian opposition has been calling for an investigation nonetheless.
“Because the government does not investigate the links that that man has with power here in Bolivia, a transparent investigation is necessary. He is in the same photos as all the people who are in power,” said Deputy of the opposition Unidad Demócrata, Luis Felipe Dorado.
Sources: El Deber; Erbol; La Razón; Página Siete.