Luis Fernando López

Following the events of Senkata and Sacaba, several legislators from the Movement for Socialism announced their intent to file a request for interpellation in the Legislative Assembly for López and Minister of Government Arturo Murillo, in order to receive an oral report on the incidents which led to several deaths. In late December, President of the Senate Eva Copa announced that the interpellation would be held after the recess of the assembly with President of the Chamber of Deputies Sergio Choque announcing on 3 January 2020 that the meetings had been scheduled for the 11th and 12th of that month.[9][10] In response, on 10 January, both López and Murillo presented justifications for why they could not attend the session, which were accepted by the legislature who rescheduled it for the 17th.[11][12] However, neither of the two presented themselves on that date, issuing further justifications for their absence. In view of this, the Chamber of Deputies approved on 19 February a formal request demanding that President Áñez "instruct the Ministers of State to comply with their constitutional duties".[13]

In the session scheduled for 6 March, López was absent for the third consecutive time, alleging work reasons.[14] This time, the Plurinational Assembly refused to accept his presented excuse and, with a two-thirds vote, moved to censure him, the first time any government minister had been censured since the passage of the 2009 Constitution. As per Copa, according to Article 158 of the Constitution, such a vote entailed the removal of the targeted official.[15] In response, Áñez defended López, stating that he "has done a great job in the face of natural disasters and for the pacification of the homeland".[16] Nonetheless, on 9 March, Áñez issued Presidential Decree N° 4175 which annulled López's appointment and designated Vice Minister Gastón Ramiro Peñaloza as the acting minister of defense.[14][17][18] The next day, however, she reversed her decision and reappointed López to his position.[19][20] According to Senator Óscar Ortiz Antelo, "the Constitution does not prohibit the [censured] minister from returning".[21] In this context, the move to oust López only to immediately reappoint him was a way of respecting the Constitution while at the same time circumventing its provisions. In August, the assembly passed a law that closed this loophole by requiring the dismissal of censured ministers within 24 hours and barred them from serving in government positions for 3 years.[22]

López was implicated in another scandal when on 31 May 2020, the journalist Junior Arias brought to light accusations of irregular purchases of tear gas at highly inflated prices during the social conflicts of late 2019. According to the documents he presented, the Ministry of Government had requested the purchase of chemical agents from the Brazilian company Condor Tecnologias Não-Letais with the Miami-based company Bravo Tactical Solutions LLC as an intermediary.[23] Though the case mostly shone the spotlight on Murillo, a complaint was also lodged against López who had signed the contract on 19 December, for an amount of $5.6 million.[24] At that price, each tear gas cartridge would've cost between Bs250 and Bs270 ($36.25 to $39.15), more than double what other countries such as Venezuela had previously paid.[23] López denied the allegations, claiming that the reason for the price difference was that the government had bought cartridges with 430gm of gunpowder, whereas the government in Caracas had purchased 225gm cartridges. However, no mention of weight ever appeared in the signed agreement.[25]

On 17 June 2021, journalists from The Intercept broke the story that in the few weeks after Luis Arce's victory in the 2020 general election López had attempted to facilitate a coup d'état to prevent his assumption to office. Leaked phone recordings and emails revealed that López had been in contact with Joe Pereira, a former civilian administrator with the U.S. Army. In the audio logs, López indicated that "military high command is already in preliminary talks" and promised that "the commander of the armed forces [Sergio Orellana] is working on all of this" and that "we have a united armed forces". López continued by stating that he was "focused on avoiding the annihilation of my country".[38] Among the concerns within the armed forces were fears that the Movement for Socialism intended to replace them with civilian militias along Venezuelan lines. During his ministerial administration, López had echoed such concerns, stating in January 2020 that "[Evo Morales] indicates that there is a serious intention to eliminate the Armed Forces and the Police so that there is a foreign militia in our country".[39] Bolivian political scientist Eduardo Gamarra also suggested that the armed forces "were rightly concerned there was going to be a major purge. The MAS was going to be furious".[38]

In different call logs, Pereira assured that he could "get up to 10,000 men with no problem", outlining a plan to pick up personnel in Homestead Air Reserve Base in Miami using Bolivian-owned C-130s, of which the Ministry of Defense had one. The mercenaries would be placed under shell contracts to disguise the purpose of their presence. Pereira's claims were later characterized as exaggerated with his assurance of 10,000 men being called "absurd". The coup plot ultimately never came to fruition, largely due to disagreements between López and Murillo, whose capacity as minister of government gave him singular control of police.[38]