Political consultant Fernando Cerimedo has been placed in 180 days of preventive detention at the Palmasola prison in Bolivia while prosecutors investigate him for allegedly orchestrating an attempted femicide against his pregnant former partner, Nadia Beller.
The arrest of the 45-year-old digital strategist at Santa Cruz airport triggered a political fallout across South America, prompting Argentine President Javier Milei and right-wing media allies to rapidly distance themselves from him.
Preventive detention and attempted femicide charges
Bolivian judicial authorities ordered Cerimedo to serve six months of preventive detention at the Palmasola correctional facility, located in the eastern city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as the formal investigation proceeds.
The Bolivian Public Prosecutor's Office formally charged Cerimedo as the intellectual and indirect author of the armed attack on Beller. Prosecutors Herlan Rodríguez Cuevas and Yolanda Aguilera Lijerón allege that the consultant coordinated the ambush from a distance while outside the immediate location of the shooting.
Assassination attempt and victim claims
Beller survived after being shot three times by two hitmen who also seized her personal belongings during the assault. She is currently recovering from her injuries at a medical clinic in Bolivia.
Speaking from her hospital bed, Beller stated that she is pregnant with Cerimedo's child and alleged that he plotted her murder to silence her. She claimed to hold evidence detailing an alleged criminal network operating with links to government officials in both Bolivia and Argentina.
Beller also revealed that she had maintained an office on the 23rd floor of the Bolivian Government House in La Paz, situated directly adjacent to the presidential office.
Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz has not publicly named Cerimedo since the shooting occurred. In a message published on social media platform X, President Paz guaranteed Beller's physical safety and called for a thorough judicial investigation, but he has since avoided addressing the matter directly with reporters.
Prosecution evidence and illicit enrichment probe
Case files submitted by the prosecution include text message logs recovered by investigators. One message from a contact listed in Cerimedo's phone as ECO informed him in real time of the shooting, stating that his target had just been shot.
Cerimedo's defense attorney, Margarita Arce, argued before the court that Beller had staged a self-attack in a political effort to destabilize the administration of President Paz. Prosecutor Aguilera firmly rejected the defense claim, stating that formal charges are only filed when prosecutors possess sufficient evidence to establish probable authorship.
In addition to the attempted femicide investigation, Bolivian authorities opened a parallel inquiry into alleged illicit enrichment. During a police raid conducted in La Paz, law enforcement officers seized several vehicles, official documents, and firearms linked to the consultant.
Cerimedo was taken into custody by security forces at the Santa Cruz airport as he attempted to board a flight bound for Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Distancing by Javier Milei and Casa Rosada records
Following news of the arrest, Argentine President Javier Milei publicly denied maintaining any ongoing professional or personal connection with Cerimedo. Speaking during an interview on Radio Mitre, Milei asserted that Cerimedo was not part of his political movement and stated that all relations between them had ended in 2023.
Milei also suggested during the interview that the criminal charges in Bolivia might be part of a broader regional conspiracy aimed at targeting his administration.
However, official visitor registries at the Casa Rosada, the executive mansion of the Argentine presidency in Buenos Aires, contradict the president's timeline. Official logs reveal that Cerimedo entered the presidential palace at least 13 times following Milei's inauguration in December 2023, with his most recent visit recorded in June 2024.
Severed ties at La Derecha Diario
Spanish journalist Javier Negre, Cerimedo's business partner at the news portal La Derecha Diario, announced that formal steps had been finalized to completely cut ties with the consultant. Speaking on Radio Mitre, Negre stated that Cerimedo had agreed to a private agreement to sever all links with the media outlet and with Negre personally.
Negre maintained that the decision to end their partnership was already underway before Cerimedo was intercepted at the Santa Cruz airport.
An official institutional statement released by La Derecha Diario emphasized that Cerimedo's involvement in the company had been strictly financial. The outlet stated that it had no connection to Cerimedo's personal or business activities in Bolivia or other countries and was entirely separate from the criminal case under investigation.
Addressing reports of automated bot farms discovered during law enforcement raids, Negre denied any involvement, stating that audience traffic to La Derecha Diario was entirely organic.
Political marketing history and international scrutiny
Cerimedo, 45, is a prominent figure in Latin American digital political strategy who founded La Derecha Diario and managed the political marketing firm Numen. Prior to his work in Bolivia, he compiled a controversial legal and political record across several countries in the region.
In Argentina, Cerimedo carries a prior criminal conviction for real estate fraud. In Brazil, federal authorities investigated him for spreading unsubstantiated claims challenging the legitimacy of the 2022 presidential election won by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
His political consulting services were also deployed during electoral campaigns in Honduras, as well as shaping the digital social media strategy for Milei's presidential campaign in Argentina. In 2023, Cerimedo publicly acknowledged that he had operated thousands of fake automated social media accounts to inflate and amplify online political content.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum previously identified Cerimedo as a key operative within international right-wing digital networks active across multiple countries. Natalia Aruguete, a researcher at Argentina's National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), noted that Cerimedo systematically carried this digital campaign methodology from one election and country to another.
Cerimedo remains held at the Palmasola maximum-security facility as judicial proceedings continue in Bolivia.
