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Bolivia Arrests 'MAGA's Man in LatAm' for Attempted Assassination
Bolivian Vice President Edmand Lara said the attack "threatens life, democracy, and freedom of expression."
Aug 19, 2026
Fernando Cerimedo, an Argentine political operative who has worked on right-wing campaigns across Latin America, was arrested in Bolivia this week in connection with the attempted murder of a woman with whom he reportedly had a romantic relationship.
Cerimedo was arrested Tuesday morning at Viru Viru Airport after an attack on Bolivian lawyer and activist Nadia Beller.
Video footage circulating online shows two people dressed as delivery workers approaching Beller outside of a hotel in Santa Cruz de la Sierra and shooting her at close range. The 33-year-old was taken to a hospital and survived.
Cerimedo has connections to Argentina's President Javier Milei, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz.
As Drop Site News pointed out, he is business partners with President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale, and The Economist has called him "MAGA's man in LatAm" for "forging close ties" to the US leader's right-wing movement.
The 42-year-old operative is "credited with helping secure the US president's endorsement of the right-wing Nasry 'Tito' Asfura, who won Honduras' presidential election in December," The Guardian noted Wednesday.
The newspaper also reported that "Cerimedo's lawyer, Ernesto Giraldes, said his client had not been... trying to flee to Argentina and had traveled to Santa Cruz de la Sierra specifically to visit Beller in hospital, and denied he was behind the attack."
According to Al Jazeera, "Beller, who was four weeks pregnant, believes she was targeted for her opposition to a pack of unconstitutional laws under Decree 5503, which were being prepared by Cerimedo and the government, and for witnessing high-level corruption."
As the outlet detailed:
Decree 5503 introduces radical economic reforms, such as eliminating state fuel subsidies, that target policies put in place under Bolivia's former socialist government.
Beller is also understood to have had a romantic relationship with Cerimedo. She admitted to her relationship with him in a video appearance from her hospital bed, and highlighted Cerimedo's significant political influence.
She said she decided to speak out as she believes that "until I speak directly to the Bolivian people, they are going to finish what they attempted to do. They are going to end up taking my life."
The arrest is not the first time Cerimedo has attracted negative attention in Bolivia. Reuters reported that "in May, the vice presidency accused him of interfering in the country's internal affairs over a social media post, an allegation he denied," and last month, "Cerimedo said on X that he was being wrongfully accused on the internet of domestic violence."
Bolivian Vice President Edmand Lara said that the attack on Beller "threatens life, democracy, and freedom of expression," while the president, Paz, wrote in Spanish on X that "acts of violence are reaching unprecedented extremes, with repercussions at both national and international levels. As president and on behalf of the government, we are deeply dismayed by these events and are calling for cooperation at all levels—both national and international—to address this situation."
"I wish to express my solidarity with Ms. Nadia Beller regarding these events," he said. "I have instructed the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough, transparent, and exhaustive investigation until the facts are fully clarified. Ms. Beller must be provided with all necessary security and guarantees, as must the investigation itself, which must be conducted with absolute transparency and independence. The truth must come above all else so that justice prevails and is served—without exceptions and regardless of the circumstances."
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Iran Says Real ‘Foreign Influence’ Campaign in US Is Being Directed by Israelis Working With Trump Ally
"Americans are being warned of foreign influence. How about the extensive Israeli campaign to bamboozle the US administration into an unwinnable war of choice?"
Jul 17, 2026
President Donald Trump on Thursday accused the Chinese government of trying to meddle in US elections in a lengthy speech rattling off baseless conspiracy theories about his 2020 loss to former President Joe Biden.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Friday said that the president was overlooking a foreign influence campaign being carried out by one of his longtime allies.
In a social media post, the Iranian diplomat pointed to a report in Time about Brad Parscale, Trump's former campaign manager, who is now a registered foreign agent of Israel conducting influence operations on behalf of its government.
"Americans are being warned of foreign influence," wrote Araghchi. "How about the extensive Israeli campaign to bamboozle the US administration into an unwinnable war of choice? Even worse: Israel is using US taxpayer dollars to silence any US critics. It will all soon unravel."
According to Time, Parscale's Clock Tower X firm last year signed an agreement to produce content across multiple platforms aimed at shoring up support for Israel among young US conservatives.
An anonymous Israeli Foreign Ministry official told Time that Parscale "presented himself as uniquely positioned to improve Israel’s reputation among young conservatives," while stressing "his experience at the helm of Trump’s political operation, with a grasp of both the architecture of the modern internet and the political movement Trump had built" during his three runs for the presidency.
"Three people familiar with the campaign describe a messaging operation run through a network of interconnected firms overseen by Parscale or other firms he owns or created," reported Time. "Through private group chats, they say, conservative influencers receive suggested language for posts on social media sites such as X, Instagram and TikTok. They were then compensated based on the impressions and engagement their content generated."
One Trump official told Time they suspected that Parscale was also behind an operation aimed at undermining the president's efforts to broker a deal to end his illegal war with Iran.
Parscale, however, denied pushing messages that attacked the deal shortly after its announcement.
"I have never funded, organized, or participated in any effort to undermine President Trump—ever—including his [memorandum of understanding] or ceasefire proposal," the former Trump 2020 campaign manager told the magazine. "The claim that I am coordinating an effort to prolong the war is completely false."
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