They Murder the Right-hand Man of the Deputy Minister for Alleged Ties to Drug Trafficking.

The violent execution of the police captain and right-hand man of Deputy Minister Aguilera has shocked the Bolivian population and complicates the MAS government due to links with organized crime.

On Wednesday morning, police captain Jose Carlos Aldunate was gunned down by two hooded men as he was leaving his house to take his daughter to school. The criminals blocked Aldunate's vehicle exit and started shooting from both sides, managing to fatally hit the police officer seven times.

In this context, Chilean investigator Hugo Bustos stated that he had reported Officer Aldunate three years ago for exchanging vehicles linked to drug trafficking. He also added that the vehicle in which the police officer was gunned down had Chilean plates registered on its windows.

In 2022, Bustos led an international investigation that revealed the existence of a criminal network linked to drug trafficking and vehicle theft operating from the Cochabamba tropics, involving high-ranking police and military officials.

After the murder became known, coca grower senator Leonardo Loza declared that the incident was a direct message to Luis Arce's government. "This is a settling of scores, a clear message from the narcos to the government," Loza assured.

The police in the public eye

Meanwhile, socialist Deputy Minister Jhonny Aguilera, after learning about the murder of one of his closest collaborators, indicated that it is a revenge by organized crime against the police institution. According to Aguilera, "This death was not just against this captain, but an aggression against all of us who want security and order."

Aguilera also dismissed the idea that this murder was a settling of scores and denied that his collaborator had links to drug trafficking. Subsequently, the deputy minister pointed to Erick and Osvaldo Hurtado as responsible for the murder and added that they would be part of an organization operating in the country.

Meanwhile, Erick Hurtado, one of the accused by the authority, denied that he and his brother were responsible for the murder through a video recorded from hiding. He also denied his involvement in other criminal acts in which Aguilera implicated him.

Hurtado also added that the crimes attributed to him by the MAS authority are actually the work of Misael Nallar's criminal organization, a narco imprisoned since 2022 for the murder of two police officers and a Gacip officer.

Nallar was transferred from Chonchoro in La Paz to Palmasola prison in Santa Cruz in 2024, and according to Hurtado, since then this criminal has had the support of Deputy Minister Aguilera for his narco-organization to continue operating.

In this regard, Captain Lara stated through his social media that Aldunate was a close collaborator of the deputy minister and that for this reason, he did not perform the same duties as a common officer, nor did he appear at any police station. He also added that within the police ranks, it is suspected that Captain Aldunate was Aguilera's "collector."

On Friday morning, the police located in the Cordecruz neighborhood of the capital of Santa Cruz, the vehicle in which Aldunate's murderers were allegedly transported. A group of journalists attended the scene to gather information, one of them flew over the area with a drone but immediately the MAS regime police seized the device's memory from the communicator, raising even more questions among the population.

The latest investigations conducted by the regime-affiliated police indicate that Aldunate's murderers fled the country in a small plane that took off from El Trompillo airport located in the center of Santa Cruz city. The aircraft had apparently been seized in the past for drug trafficking.

While investigations into this murder continue and the Ministry of Government still doesn't provide clear information about the motives that caused Aldunate's death, suspicions about links between high-ranking officials of this institution and organized crime are also increasing. This is not the first time such incidents have been recorded during the socialist government.