Morales assassins: Bolivia gang "fought in Balkans"

[Jan Klimkowski]

There is a major thread on these events on the important website politics.ie, which naturally enough has a particular focus on the Michael Dwyer and Irish perspective on this mattter.

A poster using the pseudonym "El Libre" has been investigating the case with insight and intelligence since its occurrence. Recently, a couple of new posters appeared on politics.ie claiming that Rozsa Flores' group had been hired by elements in the ruling MAS government, and then murdered by the Bolivian intelligence contacts who had hired them as part of a conspiracy to discredit the rich landowners and secessionist movement in the Santa Cruz region of Bolivia.

This government conspiracy angle being argued was very similar to the one pushed here on DPF by Ruben Mundaca, and even used some of the same Bolivian "journalistic" sources, such as the right-wing Carlos Valverde.

These new posters on politics.ie, with their supposedly new information, included two going by the aliases "Ouragan" and "Malabata".

"Ouragan" claimed that the Spanish newspaper El Pais had access to a US Embassy cable provided by Wikileaks which established MAS and Bolivian intelligence complicity in the hiring of the Rozsa Flores band, and then their subsequent murder.

"El Libre" could find no such cable on the Wikileaks or El Pais sites and challenged "Ouragan" for his sources. After much huffing, puffing, and general nonsense, "Ouragan" disappeared, but "Malabata" then cut and paste the text of the alleged US Embassy cable on politics.ie on February 7, 2011.

Subsequently, the Bolivian Vice-Presidential website published the text of this alleged US Embassy cable, with a note stating that the cable COULD NOT BE FOUND IN ANY ONLINE SEARCH OF WIKILEAKS. Indeed, the Bolivian V-P's site stated that the source of the cable was the website politics.ie, and not Wikileaks or El Pais!!!!!!

The alleged US cable does indeed claim this was a Bolivian intelligence and MAS conspiracy to discredit the Santa Cruz secessionist movement. It is based on a single source, and concludes as follows:

Post has no way to verify the content of this
source's statements.

So, with the major caveats that:

i) rather than being a genuine US Embassy cable, this may be a planted piece of disinformation;

ii) if it is a genuine US Embassy cable, given the active hostility of US intelligence to Morales and MAS, it is not surprizing that it uses a single source to paint a very negative picture of the Bolivian government;

iii) the identity of the alleged US Embassy single source has been redacted (by El Pais? by wikileaks? because there is no such source?);

Here is that alleged US Embassy cable:

ID: 208745 [1]
Date: 2009-05-26 19:45:00
Origin: 09LAPAZ750
Source: Embassy La Paz
Classification: SECRET
Dunno: 08LAPAZ2374 09LAPAZ156 09LAPAZ176 09LAPAZ635 09LAPAZ659
Relacionado con: 204756, 203720, 188390, 205777, 210855, 180355, 176941, 181710, 225955, 225668, 170384, 194046, 191355, 188540,
Destination: VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLP #0750/01 1461945
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 261945Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY LA PAZ
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0824
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 9030
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 6412
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0386
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 7596
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 4642
RUEHCP/AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN 0506
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 4977
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 6298
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 7260
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 2024
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 1788
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC

S E C R E T LA PAZ 000750

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2019
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, PHUM, PINR, ENVR, ASEC, PTER, BL
SUBJECT: XXXXXXX: GOB INVOLVED IN TERROR, PANDO, YPFB CASES

REF: A. LA PAZ 659
B. LA PAZ 635
C. LA PAZ 176
D. LA PAZ 156
E. 08 LA PAZ 2374

Classified By: A/EcoPol Chief Joe Relk for reasons 1.4 (b, d)

1. (S) Summary: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX who worked
closely on the Santa Cruz terrorism case, the investigation
into the September 2008 Pando conflict, and the YPFB (state
oil company) murder and corruption case provided new
information on GOB involvement in all three incidents. In
the alleged terrorism case (reftels A, B), XXXXXXXXXXX said
high-ranking members of the ruling Movement Toward Socialism
(MAS) party hired and eventually had three members of the
group killed, planted flash memory drives with false lists of
"involved" Santa Cruz businesses, planted the business card
of one "suspect," and coordinated the production of a
supposedly damning cell phone video. XXXXXXXXX detailed
human rights abuses against the two surviving suspects in the
terrorism case and serious human rights abuses in the illegal
arrests that followed the Pando conflict (reftel E). In the
YPFB case (reftels C, D), XXXXXXXXXXX experienced
pressure and bribery attempts by MAS leadership to dismiss
the case. End summary.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Santa Cruz: GOB Set-Up, Killings
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2. (S) A high level XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX trusted by
the ruling Morales administration (who wishes to remain
nameless) approached Embassy FSN May 19 to discuss XXXX
XXXXXXXXX three of the major cases in Bolivia over the
past year, beginning with the existence of an alleged
terrorist cell in Santa Cruz. On April 16, an elite unit of
the Bolivian police force killed three alleged cell members
in a Santa Cruz hotel and arrested two more. In the days
that followed, government investigations yielded confused
confessions from the two captured men, lists of Cruceno
business leaders supposedly connected with the group, and an
almost unintelligible cell phone video of cell members
allegedly discussing assassinating President Morales.

3. (S) According to XXXXXXXX, members of the Morales
administration were involved in the group's hiring and in
setting up subsequent events to cover their tracks and
implicate the opposition. XXXXXXXXXXXXX related that
Morales administration members hired the group, dealing with
Eduardo Rozsa, Michael Dwyer, and Arpad Magyarosi, all of
whom were killed on April 16. He said the other two group
members did not know who had hired them, and it was for this
reason their lives were spared in the hotel shootings. He
said the MAS wanted to cover their tracks by killing those
who knew the government masterminded the sham terror cell.

4. (S) XXXXXXXX noted that in publicly-released photos
of the three dead men, the police placed guns on or near the
corpses to make it appear there had been a gun battle.
However, he said these guns came from the police munitions
depot and had never been used, as evident by still-attached
safety gear (i.e. plastic inserts used for transport and
before a gun's first use). Further, in the autopsy process,
he noted some of the bullet holes had been covered up with a
type of putty to make it seem as though it was not an
execution. According to XXXXXXXXXX (and news reports),
there was no shootout, and the firing came exclusively from
the police as all three were asleep.

5. (S) XXXXXXXXX said the group originally numbered
seven people, but that two of the group mysteriously
disappeared after the bombing of Cardinal Terrazas' home on
April 14. He said while most of the group celebrated the
successful bombing, the two other members objected to
attacking religious figures such as Terrazas. By the next
day, the two had vanished. Rozsa reportedly said they had
flown out of the country, but XXXXXXXX suspects they
were killed. XXXXXXXX does not know their identities.

6. (S) XXXXXXXX identified Bolivian National Police
Colonel Santiesteban and a Captain Andrade as two of the
GOB's primary contacts with Rozsa's group, and said they
hired the group. On April 25, government prosecutor Marcelo
Sosa publicly revealed a difficult-to-understand cell phone
video recording in which Rozsa, Dwyer, and Magyarosi are
shown allegedly discussing how they could have bombed (and
killed) President Morales during a previous trip by Morales
to Lake Titicaca. While Sosa said the main voice in the
recording was that of Rozsa and that Rozsa's chauffeur made
the video, XXXXXXXXXXXX said he personally knows
Santiesteban and identified him as the video's author. He
said Colonel Santiesteban's voice can be heard throughout the
recording and that he personally led the April 16 police raid
in which the three men were killed.

7. (S) The two men who were captured on April 16, Mario Tadic
and Elod Toaso, were not privy to as much of the information
as Rozsa, Dwyer, and Magyarosi, according to XXXXXXXXX.
Nevertheless, he said Tadic and Toaso were tortured and
showed pictures of the two bloodied, missing teeth, and with
broken ribs, bruises, and specific lacerations from being cut
with knives. XXXXXX said XXXXXX took the pictures with
his own cell phone and could provide them. The two were
taken from the hotel room in only their underwear and
transported by plane from Santa Cruz to La Paz. Their
whereabouts were unknown for approximately 24 hours, during
which time the torture occurred. For a meeting in La Paz
with the human rights ombudsman, as required, XXXXXXXXX
said they were given used clothing to put on.

8. (S) XXXXXXXXXXXX met with both men
XXXXXXXX and discussed their activities.
One confirmed he had a gun in his backpack and that it was
his. However, when shown a computer flash memory drive that
was also in his backpack, he said it was not his and that he
had never seen it before. According to XXXXXXXXX, given
the detainee's willingness to admit the gun was his, and
after the amount of torturing they had undergone, he believed
the statement that the suspect had never seen the flash
drive. XXXXXXXXXX said there was also a business card in
the backpack for Hugo ACHA Melgar, a representative of Human
Rights Foundation - Bolivia, and the detainee said he had
never seen that before either. (Note: Acha is now one of the
government's primary suspects in the case and is reported to
be in the United States. End note.)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Human Rights Violations in Pando
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

9. (S) After the September 2008 violent conflict in Pando,
the GOB engaged in several rounds of illegal detentions,
which were questioned in the media as violating human rights.
The criticisms centered on violence employed during the
arrests, the lack of any government lawyer present as
required by law, the hour of the arrests (pre-dawn, a
violation), the lack of arrest warrants in many cases, and
the lack of access to detainees by human rights groups and
the government's own human rights ombudsman. XXXXXX
confirmed such violations did occur.

10. (S) However, XXXXXXXXXX said that in the specific
case of Jorge MELGAR Quette, a television commentator who was
detained, seemingly for publishing a videotape of Presidency
Minister Juan Ramon Quintana saying before the events that
ex-Prefect and detainee Leopoldo Fernandez would "sleep with
the worms," the human rights violations were much worse.
XXXXXXXX said human rights advocates had been puzzled by
the fact that Melgar, who was arrested on October 8 and is
still under detention, did not show any signs of punishment
or torture. XXXXXXXXX revealed that Melgar was left for
over 24 hours in a separated room in the jail with convicts
who were paid by government sources to rape him serially,
effectively torturing (and silencing) him without easily
visible proofs. XXXXXXXXXXX said similar treatment was
given to three members of the Santa Cruz Youth Union and many
others.

11. (S) One of the most contested elements of the Pando
conflict is whether the marching campesinos were ambushed or
if they were well-armed and participated in a conflict that
spiraled out of control. XXXXXXXXXXXX said one of the
groups of marching campesinos was armed by Miguel "Chiquitin"
Becerra, a MAS affiliate. According to XXXXXXXXXX, one
of the main events that sparked the conflict was the
early-morning assassination of Pedro Oshiro, a Prefecture
roads maintenance employee. XXXXXXXXX said Oshiro was
well-known to both the Pandinos and the marching campesinos,
and that he attempted to disperse the march to avoid
violence. Perhaps miscalculating the intent of the
campesinos, Oshiro was apparently dragged to a nearby car.
XXXXXXXX said forensic analysis showed he was shot from
close range with his hands up in front of his face, pleading
for his life and trying to protect himself.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
YPFB Corruption and Murder Case
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

12. (S) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
arrest of Santos Ramirez as part of an investigation into a
January 27 case involving murder and the theft of a $450,000
kickback delivery. XXXXXXXXXXX recalled a meeting with
XXXXXX government investigators in which they discussed
whether or not to arrest Ramirez. XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
had received official orders to make the arrest, that the
case was splashed across the front pages of the popular
press, and that there was abundant evidence tying Ramirez to
the crime. Still, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX recommended
not going after Ramirez, who was well known for his clout as
well as his corruption. Fearful that he would be tagged as
corrupt himself or open to blackmail if he did not go after
Ramirez, the prosecutor went ahead by himself and coordinated
Ramirez's arrest.

13. (S) XXXXXXXX said there was pressure by other Morales
administration members to let Ramirez off the hook, including
Corruption Minister Nardi Suxo. When it became clear this
would not occur, however, the Morales administration acted
cannily, announcing to great fanfare that Ramirez's arrest
was proof that the government was committed to act against
all corruption.

- - - -
Comment
- - - -

14. (S) Post has no way to verify the content of this
source's statements. However, XXXXXXXX had no reason to
lie. XXXXXXXXX apparently has several good contacts within
the MAS party and the Morales administration who provided
additional information on these cases. End comment.
URS

http://wikileaks.vicepresidencia.gob.bo/...09LAPAZ750

http://www.politics.ie/foreign-affairs/6...t-447.html