Bolivia’s opposition leader undergoes medical tests as his pre-trial detention drags on for months

By PAOLA FLORES and DANIEL POLITI
Associated Press

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — The governor of Bolivia’s most populous and richest region has been allowed to briefly leave his high-security prison cell for medical tests, highlighting how the politician widely considered the country’s opposition leader has been governing from behind bars for more than eight months. Santa Cruz Gov. Luis Fernando Camacho has been in pretrial detention since Dec. 30 accused of sedition and terrorism. He left Chonchocoro prison in Bolivia’s highlands for a few hours before returning. Last month, a 26-member medical board said Camacho should be allowed to undergo medical tests in a hospital instead of by prison doctors amid concerns about his health.