A 79-year-old former Bolivian dictator has been sent to a drug rehabilitation clinic after being arrested on suspicion of committing an obscene act while under the influence of drugs, police said today.
Juan Pereda, a former air force general who ruled the poor Andean country for four months in 1978, was detained in the eastern city of Santa Cruz yesterday. Media reports said cocaine had been found in his car.
"The report was for an obscene act in the street ... he seemed to be under the influence of some kind of hallucinogenic drug," said a source at a district attorney's office, who asked not to be named.
Local media said Pereda allegedly indecently exposed himself in front of three schoolgirls, but daily newspaper La Razon quoted a special victims attorney as saying he would not be charged for molestation because of insufficient evidence.
"Pereda was under the influence of cocaine ... we found in the glove compartment two packets of cigarettes in which there were drugs," special victims attorney Francisca Rivero was quoted as saying.
The head of the Santa Cruz anti-drug squad, Colonel Ruben Suarez, told reporters Pereda had been taken to a rehabilitation center for drug users.
"We're following the correct procedures," Mr Suarez said.
Pereda took power after deposing dictator Hugo Banzer in a coup in 1978.
Reuters