Almost a year after Marset’s escape, there are no clues about the ‘narco’ and the case was paralyzed

On July 29, 2023, perhaps the most important anti-drug operation in the country in the last decade was leaked. The Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset was going to be caught in a luxurious neighborhood of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. It could not. The drug trafficker escaped minutes before the Bolivian Police entered his home.

Marset had received the alert from a police officer – he himself confirmed it – that they were going for his captitude Almost a year after his escape, there are no traces of the drug trafficker and justice removed the Ministry of Government from the investigation. In addition, members of this clan were benefited by the judicial system.

The Minister of Government, Eduardo Del Castillo, in an interview with the El Deber Groupexpressed his annoyance with the Bolivian justice system because it removed the Ministry of Government of the Marset case and others linked to drug traffickers. The authority no longer gave more details about the search for the Uruguayan boss, who is now wanted in Paraguay, Uruguay and Colombia.

“In recent times, within the same case (Marset), the justice system has unilaterally determined to remove us from the case to the Ministry of Government, which does not want us to be part of the Marset case as well. In the Nallar case they took us out, we had an amparo action and we returned almost through the force the process to prevent this police killer from being released. They have withdrawn all the cases from us because they do not want us to challenge, they do not want us to object, they do not want us to review some of the actions of the Bolivian justice system,” said Del Castillo.

Marset managed to escape with his wife and three children. That July 29, 2023, the Bolivian Police activated operations in various parts of the country. The Uruguayan drug trafficker transformed into the person most wanted in Bolivia. While Marset He took his escape steps by sending messages through social networks. She filmed herself and threatened to tell the truth. He said that Bolivian politics was going to fall if he spoke what he knows.

He even dared to threaten Minister Del Castillo, who said that in narco language he has the nickname “Sonia”, something that the authority ruled out.

Marset, who was 32 years old last year, set foot on Bolivian soil for the first time in 2018 and, since then, has operated from the city of Santa Cruz, sending large quantities of drugs. to Europe in coordination with the mafia on the First Capital Command (PCC) of Brazil, its partners in Paraguay and also the Italian criminal organization Ndrangheta, according to the investigation.

Five years later, he became one of the most wanted men by the DEA, Interpol and Europol, in addition to the justice system of five countries.
He took refuge in Bolivia and its illegal operations related to drug trafficking they intensified. He is currently a fugitive and the Bolivian Police stopped carrying out raids and search operations for his capture, because they claim that he fled the country with the help of the PCC and its allies.

The ‘crime entrepreneur’

Marset was classified as a “crime entrepreneur” after 10 years in the drug trafficking business and because he leads the First Uruguayan Command (PCU). Furthermore, he is linked with the most dangerous organizations in Brazil, the Mexican cartels and the Italian mafia, has alliances with influential people and thus covers all of Europe and other continents. He is considered one of the “big operators” in drug trafficking.

In the investigation, several of Marset’s associates were arrested. The majority benefited from alternative measures, such as house arrest. One of them is Erland Ivar García López, known as “El Colla”, and considered the right hand in Bolivia of the Uruguayan drug trafficker. In February of this year he was subjected to a new charge for the crime of drug trafficking, but before that the court ordered him to be granted alternative measures to preventive detention.

“We are upset with Justice. Initially, when we were chasing this drug dealer (Marset), the search warrants (took) 48 hours, 72 hours to come out. When we had accurate information, they did not respond to us. They said: ‘it’s the weekend’, ‘it’s Monday’, ‘it’s going to come out on Tuesday’. From there, that document from the judges has to reach the Prosecutor’s Office. And when it reaches the Prosecutor’s Office, we go to carry out the operations and we no longer find anything or anyone,” claimed Minister Del Castillo.

Another case is that of lawyer Roberto Arana, who was accused of being part of the Marset criminal organization. He was apprehended in August 2023 and designated by the Government as one of the trusted men of Uruguayan drug traffickers. The accused admitted to having had a relationship work with the fugitive, but denied being involved in his criminal organization.

Today, Arana is defending himself and is free after a court decision. The three measures imposed by the judge they were arraigned, the payment of bail of Bs 300,000 and 24-hour house arrest with police escort.

Recently, justice benefited Néstor AVA, alias ‘Cody’, with house arrest, and thus he will leave prison from Palmasola, where he was imprisoned for his links with Marset Cabrera.

At the hearing for cessation of preventive detention, the investigating judge The injunction accepted Cody’s request and granted him alternative measures, including house arrest from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. and the payment of bail.

Cody was accused of being the third man in command of the criminal organization that ran Uruguayan drug trafficking. He is charged for the crime of legitimation of profits illicit crimes and had been detained in Palmasola since October 2023.

According to intelligence reports, Cody was one of the Uruguayan fugitive’s trusted friends and the facilitator of the criminal organization, since it stamped its signature as the owner of the real estate that Marset bought in Santa Cruz, to launder his money from drug trafficking.

Exclusive interview
In November of the last administration, Marset gave an interview to a Uruguayan media and in that space he reiterated his assertions that he made on social networks while escaping. He said that he was not kidnapped while fleeing. to no police, that the Police took possession of 400,000 dollars and that the leadership of the anti-drug force is involved in drug trafficking.

“Look at my criminal record, my record is long, but I have nothing about a rapist and feminicide, he is a corrupt person who used another name so they wouldn’t say Del Castillo, but in general terms “What I wanted to tell you is all detailed.” “From that message I sent, he finished all his conferences and the other one began to come out, I think it’s (Jhonny) Aguilera, they took him out to take care of him,” Marset said on the Uruguayan program.

Marset’s criminal career began 14 years ago. The first cause that linked him to crime in Uruguay it was on February 1, 2012, when he was accused of the crime of receiving. Subsequently, in September 2013, the authorities of the neighboring country began an investigation against him for possession of narcotics. Just a few months after that, in October of the same year, he was charged with three additional crimes: illicit drug trafficking under the modality of organization and as a co-author, after the seizure of 173 kilos of marijuana.

Marset evaded the search of the region’s police. It is not known where he is. The Bolivian Police stopped following him and made no further progress in the investigations. The Ministry of Government assured that the criminal organization of Marset was dismantled. Today, no one close to Marset has been investigated and the case is frozen. Del Castillo denounced that the justice system decided to release those involved in this case.

Also read

​