Bolivian police have detained prominent opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho in what has been dubbed a “kidnapping” by his supporters. The detention on Wednesday of 43-year-old Camacho, the governor of Santa Cruz who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020, was confirmed by the interior minister and Camacho allies. Authorities have not said why Camacho was arrested but he recently helped lead weeks of protests that blocked streets and halted trade in Santa Cruz, an affluent farming area. The protests relate to the national government’s delay in carrying out Bolivia’s population census, a census that would probably result in Santa Cruz – which has long butted heads with highland political capital La Paz – securing more tax revenues and seats in Congress. Camacho was taken to a local airport to be flown to La Paz, local media reported. Video of the arrest shared by local news outlets showed Camacho handcuffed on the side of the road with broken windows in the car he was traveling in. It was not immediately clear who recorded the video. Camacho’s detention comes the same month that former Peruvian president Pedro Castillo was ousted, arrested and placed in pretrial detention for 18 months for attempting to illegally dissolve Congress. Several of Camacho’s allies, including lawmakers Paola Aguirre and Erwin Bazán, said firearms were used in the arrest. Others, including former president Carlos Mesa, called the arrest a “kidnapping”. “The operation to kidnap the governor was carried out in the streets near his home, as he was returning from his duties,” the Santa Cruz government said in a statement. “In these moments, the governor’s whereabouts are unknown.” The Bolivian interior minister, Carlos Eduardo Del Castillo, said on Twitter that police had detained Camacho, without giving further details. The Bolivian police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. As word spread of Camacho’s arrest, protesters gathered at Santa Cruz’s Viru Viru airport, in an apparent attempt to prevent Camacho from being transported to another location. In petrol stations long queues began building up as people stocked up on supplies, fearing the return of road blockades. Camacho’s whereabouts were unclear. Opposition senator Erik Morón said in a video that he had been taken by helicopter to an unknown location.