Cerimedo Ordered Into 180-Day Preventive Detention; Government Distances Itself

Santa Cruz judge Wilson Espada ordered 180 days of preventive detention at Palmasola prison for Fernando Cerimedo after a six-hour hearing, siding with prosecutors' request over an alternative bid for the maximum-security Chonchocoro facility. Prosecutors presented phone messages allegedly from Cerimedo referencing a need to "eliminate" Beller. The case has embarrassed the Paz government, which for months had presented Cerimedo as a close campaign collaborator; officials now say his digital-communications consulting never amounted to a formal state position.