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Power Analysis

"I want to help you so it's quick"

Public Works Minister Mauricio Zamora says he personally calls private airlines to help with their paperwork. His ministry oversees the DGAC, which certifies them, NAABOL, which controls air traffic, and BoA, the state airline they compete with.

By — Tecnóloga

What he said

On Monday 19 October, Public Works Minister Mauricio Zamora spoke with Jimena Antelo and José Pomacusi on the programme Fama, Poder y Ganas. The broadcast ran an on-screen title: "What did Mauricio Zamora talk about with Cerimedo? An audio is circulating, today the minister responds."

In the interview, the minister also talked about aircraft. He announced that Ecojet will make an exploratory flight to Potosí on 10 November. He said the airline of Potosí businessman Edgar Copa has two aircraft in Cochabamba "for the final technical inspection". He said he called Copa that same day.

Then he explained how he works with companies that want to enter the market:

"I call Edgar Copa personally: how's your paperwork going, how can I help you. Now I'm going to call these people from Andina."Mauricio Zamora, Fama, Poder y Ganas, 19 October 2026«Yo lo llamo a Edgar Copa personalmente: cómo está tu trámite, en qué te ayudo. Ahora voy a llamar a estos de Andina.»

He mentioned Inti Airlines. He said he met the Roca family, "Humberto's sons", owners of Cruzair, and that they invited him to the opening of their offices in Santa Cruz. "They want to show me the project, routes, what kind of aircraft," he said. Then he summed up his role:

"I tell them, gee, I want to help you so it's quick."Mauricio Zamora, Fama, Poder y Ganas, 19 October 2026«Yo les digo, pucha, yo los quiero ayudar para que sea rápido.»

The minister expects between five and six airlines to be operating in Bolivia by June 2027. "Bye-bye, BoA monopoly," he said.

Who certifies airlines

In Bolivia, no airline flies without the approval of the Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC). The DGAC grants operating permits, supervises certification processes and oversees air operators. It also investigates accidents.

DGAC
An autonomous public-law body. It sits "under the oversight (tuición) of the Minister of Services and Public Works through the Vice Minister of Transport". Its duties include to "grant, cancel, revoke or modify Operating Permits for operators" and to "carry out the investigation of accidents and incidents". Supreme Decree 28478.
Civil Aeronautics Law 2902
Defines the aeronautical authority as the highest technical and operational authority in the sector, responsible for overseeing air activities and investigating incidents and accidents.
NAABOL
Air Navigation and Airports of Bolivia. Its duties include to "organise the airspace and the control of its traffic". It sits "under the oversight of the Ministry of Public Works, Services and Housing". Supreme Decree 4630.

Both bodies sit under the oversight of the ministry Zamora runs. Bolivian law calls this oversight tuición. That is his role in civil aviation: to oversee the overseers. The DGAC watches the airlines. The minister watches the DGAC.

In August, Zamora said the government is accompanying the administrative process for the DGAC to grant licences to Go Airline, Edgar Copa's airline.

On 31 August, Zamora swore in Erick Vargas Campero as interim executive director of the DGAC. Vargas has 48 years of aviation experience and specialised in operational safety. At his swearing-in he said: "We have to be part of the system and collaborate with all airlines or interested parties that want to fly in the country."

The audio

The audio began circulating on Friday 16 October. In the recording, a voice attributed to Fernando Cerimedo, a former adviser to President Rodrigo Paz, describes an operation to capture Evo Morales in the Trópico de Cochabamba, with planes, helicopters and drones. The voice attributed to Zamora replies: "Send me the budget and I'll take care of it." Cerimedo has been in pretrial detention since 21 August.

On Monday 19 October, Zamora said the recording "looks like science fiction, all that was missing was Rambo and the Power Rangers in this operation". He said such audios have "no legal or factual basis whatsoever". In the statements reported by the press, he did not say the voice was not his.

Bolivia Verifica, a Bolivian fact-checker, ran the audio through two tools. Undetectable.ai rated the first 30 seconds as "probably human", with an indicator of 99%. ElevenLabs found a 2% match with AI-generated voice. The fact-checker warns that these results do not certify the recording's authenticity and do not rule out cuts or edits.

The cost

These cases passed through the same institutions: the DGAC and the air navigation service, now NAABOL.

  1. 28 November 2016 · LaMia 2933 The plane carrying the Chapecoense football club crashed near Medellín. Seventy-one people died. Six survived. The final report by Colombia's Civil Aeronautics authority, issued in April 2018, concluded the plane ran out of fuel. It found that LaMia had fuel policies on paper and did not apply them. The director of the DGAC's National Aeronautical Registry, Gustavo Vargas Villegas, was the son of LaMia's director. Both were detained. An AASANA technician, Celia Castedo, raised observations on the flight plan before take-off. She said her superiors pressured her to change her report. AASANA approved flight plans and controlled air traffic. Supreme Decree 4630 liquidated it in 2021 when it created NAABOL. The Public Works Minister at the time, Milton Claros, announced the replacement of the DGAC and AASANA executives so there would be no interference in the "exhaustive investigations".
  2. 27 February 2026 · Bolivian Air Force C-130 Hercules The aircraft, loaded with Central Bank banknotes, ran off the runway at El Alto and hit vehicles on the road. More than 20 people died, most of them in the street. On 30 April, the Air Force investigation board concluded: "There was omission and error in informing the crew of conditions at the airport at the time of landing." The controller on duty was a trainee under an instructor's supervision. The board also cited excess speed and weather factors. "This accident could have been avoided," said its head, Ricardo Alarcón. Air traffic control is NAABOL's function.
  3. 13 April 2026 · Cessna Citation CP-3243 The aircraft went down in a remote area of the Trópico de Cochabamba. The pilot and co-pilot died. A technical report points to possible cabin hypoxia caused by depressurisation. Zamora said at the time: "It is better to wait for the investigations and know exactly what happened." The DGAC does not publish accident investigation reports on its website. sala.red found no final report on CP-3243.
  4. 7 October 2026 · Cessna 172K CP-2646 A flight school light aircraft crashed about 500 metres from the runway in Tarija. Its three occupants were injured. The DGAC is investigating a suspected engine failure.

BoA

Workers at Boliviana de Aviación, the state airline, identify Zamora as chair of its board. On 18 October they declared a state of emergency. They warned: "This negligence puts operational safety at risk." They said the minister does not answer their requests for a meeting.

On 21 October, Zamora said no BoA aircraft operates without meeting technical requirements and that safety is guaranteed. He acknowledged difficulties obtaining spare parts and engines. BoA flies with ten aircraft.

Judge and party

Bolivia's Constitution requires public administration to be governed by the principle of impartiality (article 232). Administrative Procedure Law 2341 defines it: authorities "shall act in defence of the general interest, avoiding all kinds of discrimination or difference between those they administer" (article 4).

On 18 November 2025, at a single ceremony at Jorge Wilstermann airport, Zamora swore in the interim executive director of the DGAC, the executive director general of NAABOL and the general manager of BoA. All three bodies sit under his ministry's oversight.

Today, the same minister:

  • oversees the DGAC, which certifies and supervises every airline;
  • oversees NAABOL, which controls air traffic;
  • oversees BoA, whose workers identify him as chair of its board;
  • calls BoA's private competitors to ask about their paperwork and offers to help "so it's quick".

Whoever oversees cannot be both judge and party. In Bolivian civil aviation, Zamora holds both places.

Open questions

  • Which airlines did the minister call to ask about their paperwork before the DGAC?
  • What does "help so it's quick" mean in an aviation certification process?
  • Has any certification deadline or requirement changed since this government took office?
  • When will the DGAC publish the final report on CP-3243?

2016 and 2026

In 2016, an AASANA technician raised observations on LaMia's flight plan. She said her superiors pressured her to change her report. The plane took off.

On 19 October 2026, the minister who oversees the DGAC and NAABOL said on television: "I want to help you so it's quick."

Sources

The interview quotes come from a screen recording of Jimena Antelo's Facebook broadcast, covering minutes 2 to 8 of a total of 28. sala.red transcribed the audio with two speech recognition models, Whisper small and Whisper large-v3-turbo. The published quotes match in both transcriptions. Translations from Spanish are by sala.red, with the original wording shown for the two key quotes. Bolivia Verifica's results indicate the voices in the audio are probably human. They do not establish whether the recording is complete or whether it was edited. Zamora's statements on the audio come from what Brújula Digital, Visión 360 and La Patria published on 19 October.

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"I want to help you so it's quick"