“The Deputy Minister of the Fight Against Smuggling (Luis Amílcar Velásquez) has clearly stated that we already have the regulations that will allow smugglers to be punished with eight or more years in prison,” Flores stated at the end of a meeting with leaders of the Bolivian Meat Workers Confederation (CONTRACABOL) in Cochabamba.

According to Flores, “the list of products that are prohibited for smuggling” is now available. He noted that they have been waiting for the law for quite some time, and the draft will be sent to CONTRACABOL for its members to share. “(…) Obviously, based on this, not only will the smuggler be financially sanctioned if he is caught, in this case, committing this illegal act, but now he will face a criminal sanction,” the Minister concluded.

Law 100 of April 4th, 2011, will punish “with imprisonment of eight to 12 years and confiscation of the goods plus the crime of “aggravated export smuggling”, defining it as the extraction “from national customs territory or free trade zones, prohibited or suspended goods, hydrocarbons and/or food products subject to specific protection, directly subsidized by the State.”

The regulations prohibit the attempt to “extract goods prohibited or suspended from export, and hydrocarbons and food products directly subsidized by the State and subject to specific protection, through appropriate or unequivocal acts from national customs territory or free trade zones, and failing to commit the crime for reasons beyond one’s will.”

It is also considered a crime to store “goods prohibited or suspended from export, hydrocarbons and/or food products directly subsidized by the State and subject to specific protection, without complying with legal requirements within a space of 50 kilometers from the border,” as well as to transport the aforementioned goods without complying with legal requirements within a space of 50 kilometers from the border.”

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