Former Bolivian 'Cocaine Minister' Arce Gómez Dies

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Former Bolivian Minister of the Interior Luis Arce Gómez (82) died on Tuesday after decades spent in prison.

Gómez was also known as the "cocaine minister" for his role in turning the nation into a narco-state during the military dictatorship of the 1980s.

He was a minister during the military dictatorship and was accused of ordering the deaths and disappearances of more than 100 political prisoners, as well as the detention of 4,000 others for alleged human rights violations, according to world media.

Gómez spent 20 years in a US prison before being extradited to Bolivia in 2009, where he was sentenced to 30 years for genocide and political assassinations, Reuters reports.

Bolivian Minister of Police Javier Isa told local media that Arce Gómez, who suffered from diabetes, hypertension, and kidney problems, died of sepsis.