Former President Carlos Mesa also called Camacho’s arrest a “kidnapping”.

Bolivian police have arrested a prominent right-wing opposition leader, Luis Fernando Camacho, on charges of terrorism.

Camacho, the governor of Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s wealthiest region, helped oust President Evo Morales from power in 2019 and has led an anti-government strike in Santa Cruz for over a month, bringing the region to a standstill.

The 43-year-old’s strikes are over delays in conducting the country’s census, which is scheduled for 2024, but protesters want it held in 2023.

According to the state attorney’s office, Camacho’s arrest was connected to the toppling of Morales, but supporters of the governor, who took to the streets in protest, condemned his arrest as a kidnapping.

Former President Carlos Mesa also called Camacho’s arrest a “kidnapping”.

An October arrest warrant accused Camacho of “terrorism” but did not give further details. The governor has been at odds with President Luis Arce since the leftist politician defeated him in the 2020 election.

Graciela Ortiz, an assistant for Camacho who was with him during his arrest, said a white patrol van intercepted their vehicle.

“People dressed in black with black guns got out and they started hitting the windows. They didn’t even tell us to get out, they just hit them with the back part of the weapons,” she told the Reuters news agency, adding: “They threw him to the ground, tied him down, picked him up, and took him.”

Upon his arrest, Camacho was taken to a local airport to be flown to La Paz, according to local media reports. As news of the arrest spread, his supporters took to the streets, setting up barricades and setting fire to the regional prosecutor’s office.

Protesters also descended on Santa Cruz’s Viru Viru airport, in an attempt to prevent Camacho from being taken to another location.

Welcoming the arrest of the man that helped oust him in 2019, Morales said: “Finally, after three years, Luis Fernando Camacho will answer for the coup d’etat that led to robberies, persecutions, arrests, and massacres of the de facto government.”

The US State Department urged Bolivia’s government to refrain from using excessive force against the protesters while a UN spokesperson said that while they did not know the specifics of the case “people everywhere should be allowed to express their views and protest peacefully.”