Reuters/La Paz/Lima
Bolivia captured and later extradited a former adviser to Peru’s president after he was spotted eating in a public market, four days after escaping house arrest.
Police arrested Martin Belaunde, Humala’s campaign adviser in his failed 2006 presidential bid, in northern Bolivia near the border with Brazil, said Bolivian deputy justice minister Rene Martinez.
“He was walking...there was no resistance,” Martinez said on local Peruvian broadcaster RPP.
Bolivia had been preparing to extradite Belaunde to Peru to face corruption charges when he vanished from a residence in La Paz where he was guarded by a team of police.
Belaunde fled to Bolivia late last year after Peruvian prosecutors charged him with graft and unlawful association. Belaunde has denied the accusations and says he is a victim of political persecution for being a socialist.
The scandal has eroded Humala’s popularity ahead of presidential elections next year and heightened perceptions of government corruption.
Peru had offered a $200,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Belaunde’s disappearance had deepened suspicions that authorities in both countries were protecting him, prompting Bolivian President Evo Morales to replace his interior minister and police chief earlier this week.
“All state agencies have worked intensely” to find him, Bolivian Interior Minister Carlos Romero said at a news conference.
Peru Prime Minister Pedro Cateriano railed against opposition lawmakers who had suggested that Humala’s government helped him escape.
“What more proof does the opposition need that Humala and Morales were not conspiring to protect him?” Cateriano said.
