A presidential adviser has been arrested over an alleged plot to kill his pregnant former partner after she was shot three times outside a hotel.
Fernando Cerimedo, an adviser to Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz and former adviser to Argentine President Javier Milei, was arrested at Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
The Argentine was intercepted in the early hours of Tuesday (18 August) as he prepared to board a flight to Buenos Aires after arriving from La Paz.
READ MORE: Scores of MIGRANTS stage wrestling match on beach after mass border rush
His arrest came just hours after lawyer and activist Nadia Beller, identified as Cerimedo’s former partner, was the victim of a terrifying armed attack.
CCTV footage shows two people wearing motorcycle helmets and dressed as food delivery riders approaching her outside a hotel in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on Monday (17 August) night.
One pulled out a gun and shot her three times, while the other stole her handbag and phone.
The pair then allegedly fled in a stolen vehicle after their motorbike failed to start.
None of the bullets struck Beller’s vital organs, as reported by Need To Know.
She was taken to a clinic in a serious but stable condition and underwent surgery to remove the bullets.
Speaking from her hospital bed, she said: “If I hadn’t pretended to be dead, they would have finished me off.”
Beller believes she was lured to the hotel under false pretences to gather evidence about an alleged complaint against former Bolivian President Evo Morales over the rape of a minor.
Beller, who is four weeks pregnant with Cerimedo’s child, has also accused him of trying to strangle her twice since they began a relationship in late 2025.
She further claims to have knowledge of alleged corruption involving President Paz’s wife and her family.
Beller alleged: “The Government is the main party interested in silencing me.”
Beller stood as a parliamentary candidate for Bolivia’s Movement for Socialism (MAS) in the 2019 election, which was later annulled amid allegations of electoral fraud involving then ruling-party candidate Morales.
Colonel David Gómez, of the Bolivian police, said Beller and Cerimedo had “had a relationship-related problem in recent days”.
Cerimedo is a political consultant and strategist who has become a prominent figure in digital communications for right-wing and far-right governments across Latin America.
A co-founder of online outlet La Derecha Diario, he was one of the architects of the social media campaign that helped propel Milei to the Argentine presidency.
He has also been identified as one of the promoters of claims of electoral fraud pushed by Jair Bolsonaro after his defeat to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil’s 2022 election.
Cerimedo advised Paz during his election campaign and has repeatedly spoken about his involvement in the government’s political decisions.
However, the Bolivian Government says he is not paid by the state.
Investigators are now working to establish who carried out the attack on Beller and whether Cerimedo had any involvement in planning it or hiring the attackers.
At the time of the latest update, Cerimedo was waiting to give an official statement in the presence of a prosecutor and his lawyer.
READ MORE: Egypt football coach reportedly FAINTS as his two wives brawl at hotel
