Luis Fernando López Julio, born 15 October 1964, served in the Áñez de facto government as Minister of Defense (2019-2020).
During the 2019 coup, López coordinated closely with Luis Fernando Camacho so that the military would not push back on anti-MAS rioting and unrest. He was later appointed Minister of Defense by the Áñez de facto government at Camacho’s urging.
Following the massacres at Senkata and Sacaba, both Minister of Government Arturo Murillo and Minister of Defense López were subpoenaed by the Senate for investigative hearings on the massacres, but neither attended. López’s non-compliance provoked the Senate to issue the first censure of a government minister since the Constitution of 2009 was approved. However, Áñez simply used a presidential proclamation to quickly demote López as defense minister for one day and reappoint him the next, effectively avoiding the Senate’s censure.
Along with Minister of Government Arturo Murillo, López was also implicated in the bribery case related to the purchase of tear gas and non-lethal anti-riot equipment at highly inflated prices. López in fact signed off on the deal as minister.
Once President Luis Arce and the MAS were re-elected in 2020, López used his military connections to escape to Brazil on foot with Arturo Murillo. However, evidence later revealed that both López and Murillo were deeply involved in plotting a second military coup in the case of an Arce victory — potentially deploying US mercenaries flown from the US Military’s Southern Command in Miami.
