Luis Fernando López

Luis Fernando López Julio (born 15 October 1964) is a Bolivian businessman, retired military officer, and politician who served as minister of defense from 2019 to 2020. Appointed in the tail end of the 2019 political crisis, López, along with Minister of Government Arturo Murillo, quickly became characterized as the "strong men" of the Jeanine Áñez administration and were implicated in the deadly events at Senkata and Sacaba. López was called to hearings by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly but failed to present himself three consecutive times, ultimately resulting in his censure by the legislature. As per the terms of the Constitution, he was dismissed as minister but, exploiting a loophole in the document's text, he was reappointed just a day later. Soon after, reports revealed his participation in the tear gas case, which accused the ministries of government and defense of irregularly purchasing non-lethal weapons at inflated prices.

After the 2020 general election, López entered contact with American ex-army soldiers, seeking to facilitate the transport of mercenaries and paramilitaries to Bolivia in order to launch a preemptive coup d'état that would prevent President-elect Luis Arce from coming to office. After that endeavor proved unfruitful, he, along with Murillo, fled the country just three days prior to Arce's inauguration. He remains in hiding in Brazil as the Bolivian government seeks his extradition for crimes of breach of duties, among others.