Fernando Cerimedo denies directing the attack and says the case is a political setup. Prosecutors in Bolivia have charged him with attempted femicide after Nadia Beller survived three gunshot wounds.
Fernando Cerimedo built a career helping right-wing politicians win elections across Latin America, cultivated ties with figures in Trump’s political orbit and accepted an award at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. Now the Argentine political consultant is sitting in a Bolivian prison facing an allegation that sounds less like campaign consulting and more like the darkest subplot in a political thriller: prosecutors say he helped arrange an attempted killing of the woman with whom he was having an affair after she became pregnant.
The woman, Bolivian lawyer and political analyst Nadia Beller, survived. She was shot three times outside a hotel in August by two men dressed as delivery workers, according to court records and reporting reviewed by The Washington Post. From her hospital bed, Beller publicly accused Cerimedo of orchestrating the attack. Cerimedo denies ordering it, and his lawyers say the case is an elaborate political setup designed by his enemies on the Bolivian left.
That denial is important because Cerimedo has been charged, not convicted. Prosecutors accuse him of attempted femicide and other offenses, but the allegations still have to be tested through Bolivia’s legal system. What makes the case unusually explosive is the amount of material investigators say they have gathered, including messages between Cerimedo and Beller, records from electronic devices and evidence seized from properties linked to him.
The Washington Post reviewed hundreds of pages of court records and reported that Beller and Cerimedo were having an affair while Cerimedo was married. Beller told investigators that Cerimedo had said his marriage was effectively over and that he wanted a future with her. Their relationship deteriorated badly as she became suspicious of his continued contact with his wife, and Beller alleges a June argument turned violent. Cerimedo’s attorneys acknowledge the affair but reject the allegation that he was responsible for the shooting.
Then Beller became pregnant. According to messages cited by The Post, she eventually informed Cerimedo’s wife herself and threatened to publicly accuse him of domestic abuse. In the days that followed, Beller said she received a message from an anonymous source offering politically damaging information and directing her to a drop-off point. Cerimedo, she says, encouraged her to go. On August 17, while she was waiting outside a luxury hotel, two people approached and one opened fire.
Beller survived wounds to her breast, arm, neck and shoulder. Cerimedo was arrested soon afterward, and a Bolivian judge ordered him detained while the investigation continues. Investigators also found a note on Cerimedo’s phone that prosecutors consider significant. According to The Post, the note included language about Beller having “sold us out” and asked whether someone knew a person who could “help with this job.” The reporting says it is unclear whether the message was ever sent.
Prosecutors have also brought additional allegations involving illicit enrichment and domestic violence. Cerimedo has denied involvement in the attack and his lawyers say the entire case was constructed to destroy him politically. That is a lot to untangle even by Latin American political-scandal standards, which are not exactly known for arriving in sensible little boxes with color-coded tabs.
The political connections are part of why the story has traveled far beyond Bolivia. Cerimedo worked on right-wing campaigns across Latin America, including digital operations associated with Argentine President Javier Milei and other conservative candidates. The Economist previously described him as “MAGA’s man in LatAm,” and The Post reports that his political technology work brought him into contact with former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and other figures in Trump-aligned political circles.
That does not make the attack a Trump story, and there is no reporting that Trump or American political operatives had anything to do with the alleged crime. Cerimedo’s MAGA connections are relevant because they explain his political profile and why an otherwise Bolivian criminal case is reverberating through international political networks. The criminal allegations themselves are about Cerimedo and the people accused of carrying out the shooting.
There is also a lot here that is still contested. Beller says Cerimedo wanted her silenced. Cerimedo’s lawyers say she and political opponents constructed a trap. Prosecutors say the digital evidence supports their case. A court has ordered Cerimedo held while the case proceeds, but no final judgment has been reached.
The result is an extraordinary collision of campaign politics, personal relationships and criminal allegations. A consultant who spent years mastering political messaging is now facing the much harder task of answering evidence in a courtroom, while the woman accusing him survived an attack that could easily have killed her.
The salacious details are impossible to miss, but the serious question underneath them is straightforward: when a politically connected figure is accused of using violence to silence someone close to him, how aggressively should political allies distance themselves before the courts reach a verdict?
