In his pomp he was known as the “minister for cocaine”, a corrupt and ruthless military despot who collaborated with drug cartels and terrorised Bolivia.
Luis Arce-Gómez, interior minister in the Andean nation’s 1980-81 dictatorship, made an infamous warning to foes to “walk around with their wills under their arms”.
But when the former burly colonel returned home yesterday he was a shrivelled, white-haired figure too feeble to even walk into the prison where he is expected to end his days.
The United States has deported the 71-year-old to face justice in Bolivia after he spent almost 20 years in a Florida prison for drug trafficking.
Arce-Gómez, who once recruited the Nazi Klaus Barbie as an adviser, faces 30 years in La Paz’s Chonchocoro prison for at least eight crimes including genocide and political assassinations.
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