The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Bolivia has formally requested judicial information from Spain and Peru regarding a high-profile corruption and influence-peddling investigation involving former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Attorney General Roger Mariaca announced on Thursday.
During a press conference, Mariaca explained that the state has issued two international legal cooperation requests in criminal matters through the Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The requests seek extensive documentation from Spain and specific case files from Peru regarding Zapatero’s alleged intervention in a long-standing corporate dispute on behalf of the Peruvian conglomerate Grupo Gloria.
According to Mariaca, this international outreach operates independently from the domestic criminal investigation opened days ago by the Departmental Prosecutor’s Office of the southern Chuquisaca region, which is specifically tasked with determining whether abuse of power, illicit enrichment, or other financial crimes occurred on Bolivian soil.
The geopolitical scandal intensified in late June following the leak of a comprehensive report compiled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Unit (UDEF) of the Spanish National Police. The report alleges that Zapatero engaged in a strategic dynamic of intermediation and lobbying with high-ranking Bolivian officials to advance Grupo Gloria’s corporate interests in exchange for a documented economic fee of €200,000.
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Spanish investigators backed the claims with intercepted WhatsApp conversations between Zapatero and his personal secretary, Gertrudis Alcázar, alongside entries from the former prime minister’s official schedules. These findings also form part of the broader “Plus Ultra case” in Madrid, where Spanish courts are investigating whether Zapatero received illicit commissions for leveraging his political influence during the state bailout of the airline.
The UDEF report names several highly prominent figures within the Bolivian government from the 2020–2025 administration. Among those listed are former Bolivian President Luis Arce and three of his former cabinet ministers. Arce, who has been held in pre-trial detention since December 2025 on separate corruption charges, has firmly denied any involvement in influence-peddling schemes tied to the current investigation.
At the heart of the Bolivian probe is a bitter, decades-long legal battle over the Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (Soboce). Since 2010, Soboce has been locked in litigation with the state-owned Fábrica Nacional de Cementos (Fancesa) over the ownership of regional factory shares—a conflict that sparked initial counter-lawsuits over alleged unfair competition.
In 2014, the Peruvian multinational Grupo Gloria became the majority shareholder of Soboce. The conglomerate subsequently launched a multi-front legal campaign against the Bolivian state demanding substantial compensation for the historical reversal of those shares.
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Following the emergence of the Spanish UDEF report, Bolivia’s Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) upheld a previous 2025 ruling ordering Soboce to pay Fancesa more than $74.4 million (€65 million) in damages. Last week, Grupo Gloria openly admitted to paying the €200,000 fee to Zapatero so he would intercede with the Bolivian government regarding their pending compensation claim.
However, the corporation defended the legality of the consulting contract, maintaining that the hire did not constitute an illicit attempt to interfere with the Bolivian judiciary.
