Arturo Murillo

Arturo Carlos Murillo Prijic (born 27 December 1963) is a Bolivian businessman and politician who served as Minister of Government of Bolivia from 13 November 2019 to 6 November 2020 during the interim government of Jeanine Áñez. During his political career, Murillo served as a Deputy and later Senator for the Cochabamba Department.[1]

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Murillo and the second or maternal family name is Prijic.

Arturo Murillo
Minister of Government
In office
13 November 2019 – 6 November 2020
PresidentJeanine Áñez
Preceded byCarlos Romero
Succeeded byCarlos del Castillo
Senator for Cochabamba
In office
22 January 2015 – 13 November 2019
Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Cochabamba
In office
22 January 2006 – 22 January 2010
ConstituencyPlurinominal
Personal details
Born
Arturo Carlos Murillo

(1963-12-27) 27 December 1963
Cercado, Bolivia
NationalityBolivian

Biography

Arturo Murillo was born on 27 December 1963 in Cercado, Cochabamba.[1] Prior to entering politics, he worked in the hotel and tourism sector. He chaired the Tropic Hotel Association of Cochabamba and was a member of the Federation of Private Business Entities of Cochabamba.

Political career

Arturo Murillo began his political activity in 2005, after joining the National Unity Front (UN), established two years prior by Samuel Doria Medina.[2] He maintained a stance of determined opposition to President Evo Morales and his policies.[3]

Deputy for Cochabamba (2006–2010)

In the 2005 general elections, Murillo acceded to the legislature on behalf of the UN, obtaining the party's only seat in the Cochabamba Department.[4] He served as deputy campaign manager during the presidential campaign of Sameul Doria Medina in the 2009 general elections.[5]

In the 2010 subnational elections, Murillo ran for Mayor of the Ceracado Municipality.[6] The electoral results placed him in second place with 37.9% of the votes, narrowly losing to Edwin Castellanos of the Movement for Socialism who obtained 40.2% of the electorate.[7]

Following Murillo's defeat in the subnational elections, Samuel Doria Medina appointed him to be the spokesperson for UN.[8]

Senator for Cochabamba (2015–2019)

In 2011, the Ministry of Transparency denounced Arturo Murillo for the alleged falsification of his military service book to be allowed to run for public office.[9] The investigation revealed that Murillo had used forged documents to be allowed to serve as Deputy and later run as a candidate for Municipal Mayor. He was sentences to two years in prison for the crime of using a forged instrument.[10]

In 2014, Murillo returned to politics, this time running for the position of Senator for the Department of Cochabamba. He won the seat in during the October general elections and took office on 22 January 2015.

On 30 November 2018, Murillo publicly broke with the UN, this due to strong disagreements between himself and Doria Medina, who had recently broken the party's alliance with the Democrat Social Movement of Rubén Costas.[11]

Minister of Government (2019–2020)

Following the political crisis which took hold of the country between October and November 2019, the interim government of Jeanine Áñez appointed Murillo to the position of Minister of Government on 13 November.[3]

On 11 November, residents of the municipality of Villa Tunari looted and set fire to the Hotel Victoria Resort, owned by Murillo.[12] Soon after being inaugurated as Government Minister, Murillo denounced the destruction of his building and ordered Bolivian police to search for and rescue his relatives (his sister and two children) who had escaped the hotel and whose whereabouts were unknown.

In March 2020, the Plurinational Legislative Assembly summoned Ministers Arturo Murillo and Luis Fernando López for questioning following the Senkata and Sacata attacks and the actions of violence in Yapacaní and Montero.[13] Murillo refused to attend the summons and in September a Mixed Commission promoted his criminal prosecution for "breach of duties."[14] In October 2020, the assembly again summoned Minister Murillo to respond to questions which he again did not attend. As a result, in compliance with article 158 of the Constitution, the assembly Censured him and requested his removal from office.[15]

In August, Murillo faced public backlash for threatening to "shoot" protesters protesting repeated postponements of the 2020 general elections.[16] Ahead of the October general election, he threatened to imprison or expel international observers claiming that "most of them are agitators."[17]

On 19 October, President Jeanine Áñez dismissed Murillo,  but two days later restored him in office.[18][19] Murillo presented his resignation along with a dozen other ministers on 6 November, two days before the inauguration of Luis Arce.[20]

Exile in the United States

Following his resignation, questions arose surrounding Murillo's whereabouts. On 5 January 2021, it was confirmed that the former Minister of Government had fled to the United States and had been there since 12 November 2020.[21] The announcement corroborated suspicions surrounding Murillo's whereabouts and showed that he had left the country on 5 November, the day prior to his official resignation, passing through Brazil and Panama before travelling to the U.S. Murillo, along with former Minister of Defense Luis Fernando López, who also fled the country, remained under investigation on accusations of embezzlement in the purchase of riot control equipment during the previous government.

On 8 January, an indictment against Murillo and López was formalized to activate a Red Notice requesting Interpol locate and provisionally arrest both former ministers pending extradition.[22]

    References
    1. "Arturo Carlos Murillo Prijic | Cámara de Senadores". web.archive.org. 16 November 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    2. "Samuel Doria Medina (Bolivia)". CELAG (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    3. Aguilera, José. "Murillo, de hotelero y parlamentario a dirigir el Ministerio de Gobierno". eju.tv (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    4. "Bolivia: Elecciones Legislativas / Legislative Elections". pdba.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    5. https://www.te.gob.mx/salasreg/Uploader/Noticias_Electorales/pantallaNotas.asp?id_notas=6062. Missing or empty |title= (help)
    6. Bolivia, Opinión. "Arturo Murillo oficializa candidatura a la Alcaldía". Opinión Bolivia (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    7. "Edición impresa 05 abril 2010". Issuu. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    8. "UN pide suspensión de ministro de Gobierno Sacha Llorenti y general Óscar Nina". 28 February 2011.
    9. "Arturo Murillo pidió la extinción de su proceso por falsificar libreta militar". 12 April 2014.
    10. "Dictan dos años de cárcel para senador Arturo Murillo por uso de libreta militar falsa". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). 3 May 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    11. "Arturo Murillo deja UN tras la ruptura con Demócratas". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). 30 November 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    12. "Murillo denuncia que quemaron su hotel e intentaron atentar contra la vida de su hermana". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). 11 November 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    13. "Por muertes en Senkata y Sacaba, el Legislativo interpelará el viernes a Murillo y López – La Razón". 204.11.233.100. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    14. Bolivia, Opinión. "Murillo y comandante del Ejército, procesados por "incumplimiento de deberes" en caso de Senkata y Sacaba". Opinión Bolivia (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    15. de 2020, Por Infobae Newsroom14 de Octubre. "Bolivia.- La Asamblea de Bolivia censura al ministro de Gobierno Murillo y pide a Áñez su destitución". infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    16. Página12 (11 August 2020). "Protestas en Bolivia: El gobierno de facto amenaza con "meter bala" | Crece la tensión al cumplirse nueve días de reclamos por la postergación de las elecciones presidenciales". PAGINA12. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    17. "Murillo vuelve a amenazar a observadores internacionales: «la mayoría son agitadores»". www.paginasiete.bo (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    18. "Añez cesa a Murillo y Cárdenas como ministros tras la censura legislativa". Erbol (in Spanish). 19 October 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    19. de 2020, 21 de Octubre. "Bolivia: Jeanine Áñez desafió a la Asamblea y restituye a Murillo y al ministro de Educación tras su moción de censura". infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    20. "El ministro Murillo da un paso al costado antes de la transmisión de mando". Correo del Sur (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 December 2020.
    21. Press, Europa (6 January 2021). "Bolivia.- Confirman la presencia en EEUU del exministro de Gobierno Arturo Murillo desde el 12 de noviembre". www.notimerica.com. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
    22. Bolivia, Opinión. "Formalizan imputación contra Murillo y López para activar el sello rojo de Interpol". Opinión Bolivia (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 January 2021.
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