Arturo Murillo

Arturo Murillo
Minister of Government
In office 20 October 2020 – 5 November 2020
President	Jeanine Áñez
Preceded by	Wilson Santamaría (acting)
Succeeded by	Eduardo del Castillo
In office 13 November 2019 – 19 October 2020
President	Jeanine Áñez
Preceded by	Carlos Romero
Succeeded by	Wilson Santamaría (acting)
Senator for Cochabamba
In office 18 January 2015 – 13 November 2020
Substitute	Carmen Rosa Guzmán
Preceded by	Lenny Zaconeta
Succeeded by	Carmen Rosa Guzmán
Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Cochabamba
In office 22 January 2006 – 19 January 2010
Substitute	Héctor Cartagena Chacón
Constituency	Plurinominal
Personal details
Born	Arturo Carlos Murillo Prijic (1963-12-27) 27 December 1963 (age 60) Cochabamba, Bolivia
Political party	Independent (2018–present)
Other political affiliations	National Unity Front (2005–2018)
Signature
Criminal details
Criminal status	Ongoing process: detained at the Federal Detention Center, Miami pending trial and/or extradition to Bolivia.
Conviction(s)	Filing of a forged instrument
Criminal charge	Conspiracy to commit money laundering (United States) Improper use of influence and contracts harmful to the State, among others (Bolivia)
Penalty	2 years in San Pedro prison
Time at large	6 months and 21 days
Arturo Murillo's voice Murillo warns of police action against locals and foreigners who commit terrorism and sedition, 19 November 2019.

Arturo Carlos Murillo Prijic (born 27 December 1963) is a Bolivian businessman, hotelier, and politician who served as the minister of government from 2019 to 2020. As a member of the National Unity Front, he previously served as a senator for Cochabamba from 2015 to 2019 and as a plurinominal member of the Chamber of Deputies from Cochabamba from 2006 to 2010.

Murillo was appointed at the tail end of the 2019 political crisis, and he quickly became characterized as one of the "strong men" of the Jeanine Áñez administration. Minutes after his inauguration, he announced the "hunt" for ex-officials of Evo Morales's government under various criminal charges and warned of severe consequences for acts of sedition. In May 2020, Murillo was alleged to be the ringleader in the tear gas case, in which the Ministries of Government and Defense were accused of irregularly purchasing non-lethal weapons at inflated prices. His refusal to cooperate with various criminal and legislative investigations was denounced by Attorney General José María Cabrera, whom the president dismissed at Murillo's behest. Cabrera's removal brought the scope of Murillo's influence over the president into question and led to the resignation of multiple ministers amid accusations that he was the "power behind the throne" of the Áñez administration.^[1] Murillo was called to hearings by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly but failed to present himself, ultimately resulting in his censure by the legislature. Per the terms of the Constitution, he was dismissed as minister but was reappointed the next day, exploiting a loophole in the document's text that Áñez had previously utilized in another minister's censure months prior.

After the 2020 general election, Murillo, along with Minister of Defense Luis Fernando López, fled the country three days before the inauguration of President-elect Luis Arce. He traveled to Panama from Brazil before arriving in the United States. In May 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested him and four associates in Florida on criminal charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He remains incarcerated in the Federal Detention Center in Miami following a 70-month sentence.