28 Facts About Arturo Murillo

Arturo Carlos Murillo Prijic was born on 27 December 1963 and is a Bolivian businessman, hotelier, and politician who served as the minister of government from 2019 to 2020.

In May 2020, Arturo 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.

Arturo Murillo was called to hearings by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly but failed to present himself, ultimately resulting in his censure by the legislature.

Arturo Murillo traveled to Panama from Brazil before arriving in the United States.

Arturo Murillo remains incarcerated in the Federal Detention Center in Miami following a 70-month sentence.

Arturo Murillo was born on 27 December 1963 in Cochabamba.

Arturo Murillo began working at the Victoria Hotel in Villa Tunari at the age of 14 and eventually became its owner.

Arturo Murillo did not pursue university studies, and graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Center for Accelerated Secondary Education before entering the business sector of the hotel industry.

At the invitation of businessman Samuel Doria Medina, Arturo Murillo entered the political field in 2005 as a member of the National Unity Front.

In 2009, Arturo Murillo was absent from his party's parliamentary lists.

Arturo Murillo returned to the political scene in 2014 when UN, hedging its bets on ex-legislators to confront MAS, presented him as their candidate for first senator for Cochabamba as a member of the Democratic Unity coalition.

In 2011, Arturo Murillo was met with allegations by the Ministry of Defense that he had forged his military service records in order to qualify before the National Electoral Court as a candidate in 2009.

Arturo Murillo appealed the decision in October 2018, seeking the conviction's annulment under the justification that the falsehood of the documents had not been adequately demonstrated at the trial; the appeal took two years and five months to resolve.

Arturo Murillo announced that he had decided to leave the National Unity Front and retire from politics on 30 November 2018 as a result of the collapse of the DU coalition between National Unity and the Social Democratic Movement, which numerous members of both parties criticized.

Amid the wave of violence and social turmoil of the 2019 political crisis, on 11 November, Arturo Murillo denounced the burning of Hotel Victoria the night before.

Arturo Murillo alleged that his "work of more than twenty years" had been reduced to ashes by a mob of cocaleros and militants of the MAS "just because it belonged to [him]"; hours prior, Morales had been forced to resign due to nationwide protests.

Arturo Murillo ended his comments by warning that Quintana and other dissidents should "begin to run because [he is] going to catch them".

Additionally, Commission President Placida Espinoza reported that Arturo Murillo had delivered a note of excuse for his absence at legislative hearings.

Later, Ortiz further outlined to Unitel that "there is a very serious problem, and that is that President Anez has handed over the future of the government and the country to Minister Arturo Murillo, who is a person who does not have the capacity".

Arturo Murillo, in turn, blamed the disagreements on "regionalism" between himself and the Cruceno ministers.

Arturo Murillo failed to attend, delivering a note of excuse on the grounds that he was preoccupied receiving a representative of the Organization of American States.

The assembly refused to accept it, arguing that the task of receiving foreign delegations was a job for the Foreign Ministry, with Senator Copa accusing Arturo Murillo of "usurping functions".

Copa responded by calling the minister's refusal to step down a "clear violation of the Constitution" and decried that "Arturo Murillo has a psychological problem because he is very exalted, he is very arrogant, he exacerbates people for no reason".

On 5 November 2020, Arturo Murillo presented his letter of definitive resignation from office in which he lauded his management's accomplishments and declared his task concluded.

Arturo Murillo would have remained there for at least seven days in order to carry out a mandated quarantine period.

On 5 January 2021, Prosecutor General Juan Lanchipa reported that Arturo Murillo had been in the United States since 12 November.

Arturo Murillo opted to plead not guilty, causing his case to be moved to trial.

On January 5,2023, Arturo Murillo was sentenced to five years and ten months in prison.