Morales assassins: Bolivia gang "fought in Balkans"

[Jan Klimkowski]

Here is an article in a Russian paper criticizing the decision by Wikileaks to use El Pais:

WikiLeaks and Latin America
This story by Nil Nikandrov, publicist, Latin America expert, Strategic Culture Foundation expert, was published in International Affairs magazine.

The collection of US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks includes some 20,000 documents pertaining to Latin America. Roughly 13,000 of them came to the US Department of State from the US embassies in Mexico, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Lima, Santiago de Chile, and Bogota, while the remaining 7,000 originated from Caracas, Quito, La Paz, and Managua. Dates on the majority of the documents fit into the last decade.

It is hard to say at the moment what led WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to dump the archive to Spain's notoriously rightist El País, chances being that the decision was not entirely up to him. El País is a part of Grupo Prisa, a media holding with close business links to the right and conservative US and Latin American media. It is an open secret that El País is heavily influenced by the Miami-based anti-Castro mafia and its satellites from the ranks of the radical immigrants from Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Bolivia. El País permanently floats media campaigns aimed at destabilizing the political regimes in the above countries, and the materials contributed by WikiLeaks will likely be put to use accordingly.

Currently the WikiLeaks information is disseminated in a redacted form via the channels operated by El País and other Western media companies. They carefully avoid calling into question the reliability of the reporting by the US embassies and the Department of State regardless of the methods employed by the US agencies. Some of the cables do mention the financial support provided by various US foundations to NGOs, human rights groups, and political opposition which also happen to be the sources from which the US typically draws information on the corresponding countries. Effectively, this is the same as buying information.
US ambassador to Nicaragua Paul A. Trivelli resorted to the assistance of anti-Sandinista political forces to collect information for his reports alleging that president Daniel Ortega regularly sent his government's ministers to solicit petro-dollars from Chavez. According to Trivelli's accounts, roughly half a billion dollars were delivered in suitcases from Caracas to Managua to be spent on bribing the Nicaraguan constituency. The mythical suitcases then served as evidence of Chavez's plan to turn Nicaragua into a country run by a “Cuban-style dictatorship”.

Trivelli's successor Robert Callahan supplies the US Department of State with similarly generated data. He seems to enjoy alarming Washington by churning out reports that – in breach of the Nicaraguan constitution – Ortega is going to seek reelection in 2011 and therefore takes a keen interest in Chavez's experience of the kind. Callahan's reports are also saturated with claims that Iran is gaining ever stronger positions in Managua and using Nicaragua as the starting point for its subversive expansion across Central America and for reaching the US territory via Mexico. Clearly under the impression left by one of Callahan's papers, H. Clinton expressed concern in May, 2009 that Iran was building the single largest embassy in Nicaragua, as if the embassy could pose a threat like some missile launchpad. Truly speaking, the single largest embassy in Nicaragua is the US one, which is a heavily fortified compound built to survive anything short of a nuclear strike and overloaded with advanced surveillance devices. Such fortress-style embassies were built by the US over the past decade in the majority of Latin American countries, leaving the impression that Washington is bracing for a global catastrophe. Shall we assume the perceived threat is the end of the world which the Mayan priests anticipate in 2012?

US diplomats in Latin America seem convinced that constant invocations of the Iranian theme are the best way to demonstrate their awareness of what is going on in the intelligence field. The vigilant watchers spotted Iranians on the Caribbean islands and in the region's every part from Mexico to the south of Chile. The materials which saw the light of day thanks to WikiLeaks reflect the US paranoid worries that Iran struck a secret deal with Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales and is already mining uranium in Venezuela and Bolivia. The lie has been broadcast by the US propaganda machine over the recent years. For example, the US diplomats attempted to portray an Iranian bicycle factory built in Venezuela as a secret uranium facility. In response, Chavez appeared in a TV program riding a bike and promised to present “a nuclear bike” to G. Bush, adding that the device was at least equipped with brakes.

One of the US Department of State documents exposed by WikiLeaks happens to be H. Clinton's request sent to the US embassy in Buenos Aires containing questions about president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's way of fighting stress and the medications she was taking. Implicitly, the cable cast doubts over the Argentinian leader's mental health. US department of State cables also describe Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her husband Nestor Kirchner as individuals obsessed with lust for power, an unpleasant couple, and talentless politicians. The explanation behind the view is that both never bowed to the US pressure and befriended Chavez. Eventually, H. Clinton was forced to apologize, but her sincerity is hard to trust.

Overall, US diplomats never seem to stop monitoring the health condition of Latin American leaders. Predictably, the focus is on Chavez. US diplomats arrived at the conclusion that he acted inadequately and spread a markedly provocative psychological portrait of the Venezuelan leader put together by CIA psychiatrists which depicted him as an insane, primitive, and uncontrollable individual. The US Department of State was excited to learn from the US embassy in Brazil that Evo Morales was diagnosed with a tumor and seriously disappointed later when it became known that he underwent a successful surgery. When the electoral campaign in Paraguay was in process, the US Department of State asked for information on the health condition of all of the country's presidential candidates. The incumbent Fernando Lugo's cancer for which he had to endure exhausting chemotherapy could be a logical consequence of the request.

Simple browsing the WikiLeaks publications is enough to realize that in many cases they are identical to propaganda pieces featured by various newspapers and journals. Allegations are made that Mexican president Felipe Calderon's popularity is evaporating and that he is losing the war against drug cartels, that Cuban intelligence operatives have direct access to Chavez and enjoy full freedom of activity in the Venezuelan army, and that in Nicaragua the rating of president Ortega sank so low that even elderly nuns pray for his being killed the sooner the better.

Notably, WikiLeaks released nothing about the Mission of the US Interests Section in Havana, the torture experiments staged in Guantanamo, or the creation of US bases in Costa Rica and Columbia. The Wikileaks materials shed light in minimal quantities on the preparations for the coup in Honduras and the police mutiny in Ecuador. Nor does WikiLeaks find much to tell about the US intelligence activity in Latin America. Such omissions add up to a fairly long list.

Currently efforts are made to replicate the WikiLeaks success. The OpenLeaks outlet is being put on track to widen the audience of shocking revelations. Will it go so far as to bring to the surface the operational materials of the CIA, the US Defense Intelligence Agency, etc.?

(Views expressed in this article reflect the author's opinion and do not necessarily reflect those of RIA Novosti news agency. RIA Novosti does not vouch for facts and quotes mentioned in the story)

http://en.rian.ru/international_affairs/...55588.html

[Keith Millea]

Some US ambassadorial cables have also been wiki-leaked, to the MSM Spanish newspaper El Pais, and they claim that Eduardo Rózsa Flores and his mercenary cell were recruited and financed by Bolivian intelligence in a false flag operation.

Hey Jan,right out of the playbook of our friend Ruben Mundaca eh.......:monkeypiss:

[Jan Klimkowski]

Indeed Keith, and let's remind ourselves of the type of US ambassadorial staff posted to Bolivia.

From earlier in this thread:

We're in the deep black stuff.....

If Their plan is to "balkanize" Bolivia through pseudo-secessionist movements, why not hire a fascist dog of war like Eduardo Rozsa Flores to help Their ethnic cleansing Ambassador.

Ffs.

The U.S. Ambassador who left Yugoslavia in a thousand pieces is now in Bolivia

Thu, 05/15/2008 - 16:14 — tupaj

By: Wilson Garcia Merida
http://www.llactacracia.org

Translation: Roberto Verdecchia
January 19, 2007
He presented his credentials to President Evo Morales on October 13, but three months before his arrival in Bolivia, while still in Pristina serving as head of the U.S. mission in Kosovo, it was already being said that Philip Goldberg, the new American ambassador appointed by George Bush to this Andean country, would come to take part in the separatist process that had begun to form against the Bolivian Government.

On July 13, 2006, Leopoldo Vegas, a journalist with El Deber of Santa Cruz, published an article stating that "according to three political scientists consulted after the White House appointment, the experience acquired by Goldberg in Eastern Europe, where ethnic struggles occurred after the separation of the former Yugoslavia, can be used in Bolivia, given the changes the current government intends to introduce."

One of those interviewed by Vegas was Róger Tuero, an academic and former director of Political Science at the 'Gabriel Rene Moreno Autonomous University' (UAGRM) in Santa Cruz, who stated that the experience of every ambassador is crucial to American diplomacy.

"It is not by chance that this man was transferred from Kosovo to Bolivia," said Tuero.

Ambassador Goldberg is now a major political and logistical pillar of the Prefect of Cochabamba Manfred Reyes Villa, who set up the worst ethnic, social, regional and institutional crisis ever to take place in the history of Bolivia.
Who is Philip Goldberg?

According to the resume officially circulated by the U.S. Embassy in La Paz, Philip Goldberg participated from the beginning of the Yugoslavian civil war that erupted in the nineties, to the fall and prosecution of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

From 1994 to 1996, he served as a "desk officer" of the State Department in Bosnia, where the conflict between Albanian separatists and Serbian and Yugoslavian security forces arose.

In that same period, he served as Special Assistant to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the architect of the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the fall of Milosevic.

"In that position," the Embassy stated, "Goldberg was a member of the U.S. negotiating team in the preparation of the Dayton Peace Conference, and head of the U.S. Delegation in Dayton."

Ambassador Goldberg was also a political and economic officer in Pretoria, South Africa, and a consular and political officer in the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, where he first became interested in Latin American politics.

After serving as Deputy Chief of the U.S. Embassy in Santiago de Chile from 2001 to 2004, Goldberg returned to the Balkans to head the U.S. mission in Pristina, capital of Kosovo, from where he supported the prosecution of former dictator Milosevic at the Hague Tribunal.
From Kosovo to Bolivia

Before his transfer to Bolivia, Goldberg worked in Kosovo for the separation of Serbia and Montenegro, which occurred last June as the final act of the disappearance of Yugoslavia.

The disintegration of Yugoslavia took place during a decade of bloody civil war led by processes of "decentralization" and "autonomy". These were finally imposed with American military intervention and the presence of troops from NATO and the UN who occupied the Balkans to pacify the region.

The Yugoslavian civil war was characterized by "ethnic cleansing", consisting of the expulsion and annihilation of traditional ethnic groups who formed the territories of Yugoslavia. The most cruel racial extermination took place between Serbs and Croats.

Just three months after the arrival of Ambassador Goldberg, Bolivia, like the Balkans, began to undergo an exacerbated process of racism and separatism, directed from the eastern city of Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is governed by an elite composed of, among others, businessmen of Croatian origin who created a federalist movement called "Camba Nation."

One of the main Cruceño leaders of the separatist movement is Branco Marinkovic, an agri-businessman and partner of Chilean capitalists, who in February 2007 will become the head of the Civic Committee of Santa Cruz, the organization driving the process against the government of Evo Morales.
Separatist Autonomy

Beside Santa Cruz, Marinkovic's "Camba Nation" encompasses the departments of Beni, Pando and Tarija (home to the biggest natural gas deposits in Bolivia), whose populations voted for departmental autonomy in a referendum held in July 2006. Together, they form the so-called "Crescent" region of the eastern half of the country.

The western departments of La Paz, Chuquisaca, Potosi, Oruro and Cochabamba voted No to this autonomy, maintaining their direct link with the central government of Evo Morales and distancing themselves from the four departments of the autonomy-seeking "Crescent".

This movement of separatist "autonomy" intensified through an impromptu decision by the government of former president Carlos Mesa in 2004, when "Camba Nation" pressured for the direct election of Prefects (departmental governors) through town meetings and strikes. Previously, prefects were appointed directly by the President to maintain the unity of the Executive Branch. Now, new President Evo Morales is not able to exercise this power and is instead forced to govern almost separately from the four autonomic Prefects.

In Cochabamba – a Department located directly between the eastern and western regions of the country – prefect Manfred Reyes Villa, abusing his elected status, tried to ignore the results of the July 2 referendum and force a new one that would unite Cochabamba with the 'Crescent', breaking the fragile balance between those for "autonomy" and those against. An alternative to separatism was in fact beginning to take shape in Cochabamba – an 'integrative megaregional' approach that contrasted with the model of Departmental autonomies.

The Attack in Cochabamba

Despite having already been decided by the ballot-box, Reyes Villa tried to force through this new autonomy referendum, mobilizing the most conservative urban sectors of Cochabamba society.

The popular movement and particularly the agricultural and indigenous organizations of the 16 provinces of this Department who had been demanding peasant co-management in the prefectural administration instead of the exclusive and corrupt way that Reyes Villa had ruled from the city of Cochabamba (the Department capital), arrived in the city to demand changes to the Prefect's policy.

Ignoring the just demand of the provinces, Reyes Villa promoted the organization of fascist youth groups, aided by the Cruceñista Youth Union which operates in Santa Cruz, in order to "expel the native indians from the city." This is how the fateful day of January 11 erupted, when a violent raid took place that ended with two people dead and 120 seriously wounded, most of them peasants. On this day, when thousands of "Sons of the Fatherland" armed with truncheons, baseball bats, golf clubs, iron pipes and even firearms made their attack, Reyes Villa left the city and went to La Paz to meet with the four autonomic Prefects and representatives of the American Embassy.

After those tragic events, the September 14 Plaza (the seat of the Prefecture and Departmental symbol of power) was occupied by more than 50,000 indigenous people from the 16 provinces demanding the resignation of Reyes Villa.

Although the government opened all possible opportunities for dialogue, Reyes Villa systematically refused to meet with provincial representatives, and instead "exiled himself" in Santa Cruz, from where he now seeks to turn the problem into an explosive national conflict, threatening the stability and democracy of this country governed by an Indian President.
The CIA and Reyes Villa

The influence of the CIA and of Ambassador Goldberg in the political conduct of Reyes Villa (a former Army captain linked to the dictatorship of Banzer and Garcia Meza) is unequivocal.

The separatist Prefect has systematically prevented the peaceful settlement of the conflict and his people have developed a malicious disinformation campaign that seeks to create the conditions for a confrontation at the national level.

The American Embassy is deploying a plan of collective indoctrination against the indigenous uprising, promoting a racial and separatist hatred that was clearly demonstrated on January 11. They are also working in conjunction with business organizations like the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Cainco) of Santa Cruz, who openly supports Reyes Villa and his "advisers".

But American interference in this conflict occurs not only within the far Right, but also through infiltration into the MAS government itself.

Last weekend, La Razon newspaper in La Paz published a photograph that revealed that food belonging to the state Civil Defense agency, normally used for victims of natural disasters, was being diverted to the peasant masses concentrated in the September 14 Plaza.

It was proven later that Juan Carlos Chavez, a former agent of NASDEA (the logistical and financial body of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency) and an adviser to the Ministry of Justice, had interfered in the Civil Defense agency without having any jurisdiction in that area, in order to carry out this diversion of State resources. Curiously enough, the photograph taken of this illegal act was published by a paper in La Paz, more than 650 kilometers away from Cochabamba.

Chavez was removed immediately, but how a former DEA agent exercised such a high influence within the Ministry of Justice must still be clarified.

The media smear campaign against the indigenous mobilization of Cochabamba is part of a psychological war typical of the CIA, and is a mainstay in the separatist strategy directed from Santa Cruz by Manfred Reyes Villa, who is still the Cochabamba Prefect.

The balkanization of Bolivia appears to be starting.

http://grupoapoyo.org/basn/node/215

http://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/show...8#post6318

[Jan Klimkowski]

The disgraceful MSM spin is on, thanks to US Embassy cables released by wikileaks to a Spanish newspaper with right-wing connections.

This thread demonstrates that the Irish Times piece below is a crock of spook-spun shite from first word to last.

The involvement of wikileaks in this MSM coverup is another black mark against that organisation.

Dwyer 'lured to death in Bolivia'

TOM HENNIGAN

United States diplomats suspected that Irishman Michael Dwyer may have been lured to his death in Bolivia as part of a plot by the South American country’s own intelligence services.

A diplomatic cable from the US embassy in La Paz quoted a local source as saying the group Dwyer was with had been hired by Bolivian intelligence to mount a phony terrorist campaign. This would then be used to justify the persecution of political opponents of the country’s left-wing president Evo Morales.

The source told diplomats that Dwyer and two other members of the group were shot dead by police in their hotel on April 16th, 2009, in order to “erase tracks”.

Dwyer was killed by police along with Bolivian-born Eduardo Rózsa Flores and Hungarian Árpad Magyarosi during a raid on their hotel. Two other men were arrested.

The cable, sent a month after Dwyer’s death, was provided by the WikiLeaks website to Spanish daily El Pais, which published extracts on Thursday. The cable said the embassy could not verify the claims but described the source as well placed and reliable.

The source interviewed by US officials claimed Rózsa Flores, the supposed leader of Dwyer’s group, was contracted by Col Jorge Santiesteban, head of police intelligence, and his deputy, Capt Wálter Andrade.

Three months after the cable was sent La Razon newspaper in Bolivia received photographs dated January 2007 which appeared to show Capt Andrade socialising with Rózsa Flores. The public prosecutor ruled the photos inadmissible as they had been sent anonymously.

Sacha Llorenti, Bolivia’s interior minister, dismissed the leaked cable as “gossip”. Bolivia’s government says Dwyer was part of a group of mercenaries brought to Bolivia by separatists in the eastern department of Santa Cruz to kill President Morales and foment separatist violence.

Rózsa Flores left a video in Europe in which he said he had been called back to Bolivia to defend Santa Cruz against the central government. The public prosecutor last month charged 39 people with involvement in the supposed conspiracy, including opposition leaders, several of whom have fled the country.

The Dwyer family hopes to meet with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin this month as part of their campaign for an independent international inquiry into their son’s death.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/brea...ing21.html

[Magda Hassan]

And where does the American ambassador get his local intelligence from? The local anti-MAS right wing land owners and those that depend on them who are always only too eager to spout all sorts of crap about the Morales government. And the ambassador is all too eager to hear. Naturally, the reactionary Irish would never accept that one of their boys could possibly be a hired mercenary in some one else's country. The truth is far more simple.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Below is the full text of the US Embassy cable about the incident. Note that it includes information from "a contact close to" Croatian-Bolivan Santa Cruz landowner Branko Marinkovic - alleged Bolivian facilitator of the operation.

I particularly enjoyed the US Embassy accusations about a potential Bolivian government military crackdown suggested - to the US Embassy intel experts - by an "almost conspiratorial use of Facebook pictures". :poketongue:

More seriously, there is clearly a deep concern at US Embassy level that President Morales may actually blame the US, as well as Bolivian landowning neo-nazis and separatists, for running the false flag dirty tricks squad led by career mercenary Eduardo Rozsa Flores.

Heaven forbid a South American leader tells it how it is... :phone:

ID: 204756
Date: 2009-04-29 21:20:00
Origin: 09LAPAZ635
Source: Embassy La Paz
Classification: CONFIDENTIAL
Dunno: 09LAPAZ593 09LAPAZ600
Destination: VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLP #0635/01 1192120
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 292120Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY LA PAZ
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0642
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 8966
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 6348
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0322
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 7531
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 4578
RUEHCP/AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN 0475
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 4913
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 6259
RUEHSP/AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN 0555
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 7196
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 1960
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 1767
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 000635

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2019
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, PHUM, PINR, ENVR, ASEC, PTER, BL
SUBJECT: BOLIVIA: "TERRORISM" EXCUSE FOR MASS ARRESTS?

REF: A. LA PAZ 600
B. LA PAZ 593

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

1. © Summary: The Morales administration may use an April
16 police team raid in opposition-dominated Santa Cruz, in
which police shot and killed three alleged terrorists,
arrested two more, and reportedly found a separate weapons
cache (Reftels A, B), to initiate arrests of the political
opposition. On April 28, the government arrested two
additional suspects and identified more, one of whom is an
Embassy contact and leader of a human rights NGO. Some
opposition members speculated that Vice President Alvaro
Garcia Linera and Presidency Minister Juan Ramon Quintana
orchestrated the April 16 raid to provide a rationale for
such arrests. Post's Cruceno contacts did not return
repeated calls. Government targets reportedly include
ex-Civic Committee President Branko Marinkovic, Prefect Ruben
Costas, and leaders of CAINCO (Santa Cruz Chamber of Trade
and Industry). Quintana and Defense Minister Walker San
Miguel provided conflicting reasons for ordering some 1,500
troops to Santa Cruz department (state), further raising
Cruceno suspicions of government actions. While Costas has
called for calm, some Crucenos are reportedly forming
fighting groups. Government-aligned media have reported on
potential USAID and CIA involvement with the alleged
terrorists. End summary.

- - - - - - - - - -
More Terrorists?
- - - - - - - - - -

2. (U) On April 28, police arrested two more men, one of them
an ex-security advisor to the Cruceno Youth Union (UJC) Juan
Carlos Gueder Bruno and the other Alcides Mendoza Masavi,
alias "Commander Mojeno." Police said the two arrested men
had supplied arms to the alleged terrorists. Police also
said they believed there were three other terrorist cell
members involved, largely based on an interview Rozsa gave
before leaving Hungary, in which he said "only five people
know of my arrival (in Santa Cruz)." According to Gueder
Bruno's wife, the police did not show an arrest warrant, as
required by law.

3. © A report in leading local daily La Razon also cited
the release of an arrest warrant for human rights lawyer Hugo
Acha Melgar, husband of opposition alternate Congress member
Roxana Gentile (UN party). PolOffs met twice with Acha in
Santa Cruz, who was investigating the September 2008 Pando
conflict in his capacity as head of Human Rights Foundation -
Bolivia, an affiliate of the larger Human Rights Foundation
group. He was preparing a report detailing a high degree of
Morales administration involvement to provoke violence in
Pando. Acha confided to PolOffs that he was under constant
threat by groups affiliated with the ruling Movement Toward
Socialism party (MAS), and that he was unable to travel to La
Paz for fear of arbitrary detention. Acha gave MILGP a copy
of a late 2008 warrant issued for his arrest, which he said
was related solely to his continued Pando investigations.
According to Gentile, Acha is currently in the U.S.

4. (U) Police also identified Alejandro Melgar Pereira as a
member of the terrorist cell and the purchaser of a vehicle
for Rozsa, which was supposedly sighted at Cardinal Terrazas'
home the night of the April 14 bomb explosion. The car had
been the property of Carlos Guillen, president of popular
Santa Cruz company Blooming. Melgar, reportedly in hiding,
was president of the Center for Arbitration and
Reconciliation for CAINCO, Santa Cruz's Chamber of Trade and
Industry, from 1997 to 2001 and president of Cotas from 2000
to 2001. Police said he had aliases of "El Viejo, Superman,
and Lucas." According to CAINCO, Melgar is currently on
their list of recommended lawyers, but holds no official
position.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
"Proofs" of Terror Cell
- - - - - - - - - - - -

5. (U) While the government has asserted it recovered large
amounts of information in the April 16 raid, it said it has
released only "10 percent" of its information. Thus far, the
government's statements have been limited to assertions and
two contested "proofs," detailed below.

6. (U) Government Minister Alfredo Rada first presented on
April 22 a series of pictures which he stated showed Cruceno
right-wing activist Mauricio Iturri practicing shooting in a
terrorist training camp with a large group of well-organized
paramilitaries. Rada said Iturri was connected with Rozsa's
terrorist cell. However, news quickly leaked that not only
was Iturri not actually in the picture, but the pictures were
downloaded by Rada from the popular website Facebook and
showed only a team of paintball players. The government
subsequently removed Rada from the case.

7. (U) On April 26, government investigator Sosa held a press
conference in which he showed images taken from a cell phone
video purportedly showing Rozsa, Magyarosi, and Dwyer talking
about the possibilities of killing President Morales. Sosa
said the three were discussing how to throw explosives and
about a missed opportunity to blow up a ship in Lake Titicaca
where government officials had met. Sosa concluded that
"with this evidence it is confirmed that the dismantled gang
came to the country with terrorist purposes" and termed their
goal "magnicide" (i.e. assassination of a king or ruler).
However, according to press reports, while it does appear the
three are captured in the video, the video's soundtrack is
almost completely unintelligible. Sosa said he would soon
unveil the source of the video, whom press reports guessed
was Rozsa's chauffeur, but that he was "gravely ill" with
diabetes and therefore could not appear publicly.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Troops Sent to Santa Cruz
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

8. (U) Presidency Minister Quintana and Defense Minister
Walker San Miguel confirmed April 27 that 1500 troops had
been sent to Santa Cruz department, but they gave conflicting
reasons for their presence. Quintana said the troops had
been sent in response to the "terrorism outbreak," while San
Miguel said the only reason was to reinforce the borders
against increased narco-trafficking. Other news reports said
40 percent of the Bolivian armed forces were now concentrated
in the department. According to official reports, troops
were being sent to Santa Cruz frontier zones, including San
Jose de Chiquitos, San Matias, and Robore.

9. © According to April 27 reporting from Santa Cruz,
troops were moving in the department, but it was impossible
to verify the number and their destinations. Some
interviewed said there were as few as 250, while others
confirmed the number of troops was 1500 and that of these 300
had riot control gear. Sources reported that Crucenos are
developing fighting/defense groups and are equipped with
weapons such as long rifles and hand guns.

10. (U) Santa Cruz Prefect Ruben Costas issued a call to
"maintain the peace" and said the only purpose for the
increase in troops in the department "was to frighten the
public." Santa Cruz is currently calm.

- - - - - - - - -
Rumors Run Rampant
- - - - - - - - -

11. © Post has reached out to several contacts in Santa
Cruz, including CAINCO and Civic Committee members, but none
will return our calls, at least directly. At CAINCO, only
secretaries are "available," while at the Santa Cruz Civic
Committee, phones are simply off the hook. Many Crucenos
believe the central government has tapped their phones.


12. © In meetings in La Paz, a contact who said he was
close to Branko Marinkovic and other Cruceno leaders told
Poloff that Vice President Garcia Linera and Presidency
Minister Quintana had planned the entire sequence of events
over the last six months, including the recruitment of
Rozsa's group to "get Branko," Costas, and others. However,
he was not able to further source the rumor. According to an
article in Spanish newspaper El Pais (reprinted in local
Bolivian press), a source called "Comandante Gonzalo" also
said the Bolivian government had hired Rozsa in August 2008.

13. © There is also rampant speculation about President
Morales' traditional May 1st speech, in which he is expected
by many to announce nationalization of companies based in
Santa Cruz, potentially including Cotas or food industries.
If the latter, many expect Branko Marinkovic's cooking oil
and other companies to be taken in the name of "food
security."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Rumors Fueled by Public Statements
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

14. (U) The rumor mill has been fueled by public statements
by the government and affiliated social groups. On April 26,
President Morales said he had asked his legal advisors to
draw up a supreme decree allowing the government to
confiscate goods from businesses and their owners linked to
terrorism. Constitutional experts were in general agreement
that the new constitution does not permit such seizures, but
Vice President Garcia Linera said "one of the basic
principles of the constitution is the unity of Bolivians...
who are directed to sanction those who seek to create
material and violent conditions to separate the country."
Further, state news cited the 2002 Organization of American
States (OAS) Convention Against Terrorism, which the newscast
said approved confiscation of property from terrorists.

15. (U) The same day, social group leader Isaac Avalos
accused ex-Civic Committee President Branko Marinkovic of
hiring the group of alleged terrorists. Avalos said he did
not have any proof, but that "several campesinos" had told
him they recognized Rozsa from past public acts in which
Marinkovic participated as Committee president.

16. (U) On April 28, the prosecutor's office reported they
would announce a list of people who had provided economic
assistance to the alleged terrorists within 48 hours. Vice
President Garcia Linera said the state would be "merciless"
with those behind the plot.

- - - - - - - - -
USG Also Targeted?
- - - - - - - - -

17. (U) A day earlier, on April 27, government-aligned news
service Bolpress published a report on a supposed complex
international web of support for the alleged terrorist cell.
The article cited Vice President Garcia Linera as requesting
Argentinean collaboration to find former members of the
"carapintadas" (members of the Argentine army who rioted
against the government as part of the country's "Dirty War")
affiliated with Rozsa, including one Jorge Mones Ruiz. Mones
Ruiz, according to the article, came to Bolivia in December
2008 as part of the Colombian foundation "UnoAmerica," an
"ultra-right group" associated with the Heritage Foundation
and dependent on the CIA for funding. The article states
that "UnoAmerica" is supported by USAID and the National
Endowment Foundation (NED), which it calls the "social face"
of the CIA and a major funder of opposition movements in


South America.

18. (U) Also on April 27, President Morales (somewhat
cryptically) identified the U.S. as "the source of my
troubles," and said "the people will rise above" attempts by
any outside force "to humiliate the Bolivian government." On
the other hand, in its April 26 editorial, state newspaper
Cambio trumpeted offers to help in the search for the
terrorists, specifically including a statement by Charge and
members of the OAS.

- - - - - - - - - - -
Background: April 16
- - - - - - - - - - -

19. (U) At approximately 4 a.m. on April 16, members of an
elite police force raided a room on the fourth floor of the
Hotel Las Americas in downtown Santa Cruz. After instructing
the hotel staff to turn off all security cameras, the police
stormed hotel rooms of five men, killing three and arresting
two others. The three killed were Eduardo Rozsa Flores, a
Bolivian with multiple passports including Hungarian and
Croatian; Michael Dwyer, Irishman; and Arpad Magyarosi, a
Romanian of Hungarian descent. The police captured Mario
Tadic Astorga, a Bolivian of Croatian descent, and Elod
Toaso, a Hungarian. Initial reports, including a statement
from Vice President Garcia Linera, indicated there was a
30-minute gun battle between the police and the alleged
terrorists, but Hungarian Ambassador to Argentina Matyas
Jozsa said he believed the three were simply executed,
without any fight. Later press reports stated that an
examination of the hotel rooms showed no bullet holes in the
facing wall, and that one of the three was found in the
morgue with his hands bound.

20. (U) The same morning, police investigations turned up a
supposed weapons cache in the Santa Cruz EXPOCRUZ
fairgrounds, in the stand of telephone cooperative Cotas. one
of Santa Cruz's leading companies. The weapons cache at
first reportedly included pistols, dynamite, C4 explosives,
and ammunition corresponding to 5.56mm weapons. Vice
President Garcia Linera commented that some of the weapons
were not available in Bolivia and were evidence of an
international conspiracy. Through this discovery, police
linked the captured men to an April 14 explosion at Cardinal
Julio Terrazas official residence in Santa Cruz and a March
29 attack on Deputy Autonomy Minister Saul Avalos' Santa Cruz
home, in which the police reported the same kind of
explosives were used. However, in later news reports Defense
Minister Walker San Miguel was quoted as saying that many of
the weapons were stolen from a Bolivian military station on
the Paraguay border in December 2008, while other media
reported that many of the weapons were antique and unusable,
with some from the War of the Chaco in the mid-1930s.

- - - - - - -
Toaso Beaten?
- - - - - - -

21. (U) According to an April 28 statement by the Defensor
del Pueblo (human rights ombudsman), Elod Toaso was severely
beaten and abused during his arrest. A website,
http://www.toasoelod.com, showed pictures of his injuries to his
face, arms, and legs. Ambassador Jozsa said he had seen
Toaso personally, and that he had been beaten. Jozsa added
that Hungarian investigations showed Toaso was "far from
being a terrorist." State prosecutor Marcelo Sosa admitted
he was not present during the arrests, even though the
prosecutor's presence is required by Bolivian law. (Note:
Investigators Sosa and Eduard Mollinedo are based out of La
Paz, not Santa Cruz, as would normally be required,
ostensibly because of the case's connections to terrorist
activity. End note.)

- - - -
Comment
- - - -

22. © While rumors of government recruitment of the alleged
terrorists cannot be verified, the troop movements,
accusations by MAS-aligned social groups, Garcia Linera's
severe public statements, and the government's almost
conspiratorial use of Facebook pictures and low-quality
cellphone videos do seem to point toward a crackdown in Santa
Cruz similar to the 2008 state of siege in Pando. Without a
functioning judiciary, including the defunct Constitutional
Tribunal, the Morales administration has a relatively free
hand to move forward with large-scale arrests. Such actions
could result in a severe backlash from Crucenos, who are
nervous to the point of paranoia about Morales' motivations.
We may know more within the next 48 hours, when troops will
go to either frontier areas or closer toward Santa Cruz's
capital, Morales will make his May 1st speech, and the
prosecutor's office should release a fuller list of (Cruceno)
suspects. We are also confused by somewhat contradictory
comments regarding the USG by Morales and state-allied news
sources, but note that the government has yet to make any
explicit accusations regarding USG involvement with the
alleged terrorists. End comment.
URS

http://www.wikileaksbolivia.org/index.php/wikileaks

[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

[Magda Hassan]

I think I covered that a bit earllier and to me it just seems that the US embassy there is passing along gossip from it sources and it sources are like those mentioned before "Ouragan" and "Malabata". Naturally, the sort of sources they talk with are anti-MAS or anti-Morales types. Disinfo. The Bolivian government have thier own wikileaks mirror.

[Jan Klimkowski]

I think I covered that a bit earllier and to me it just seems that the US embassy there is passing along gossip from it sources and it sources are like those mentioned before "Ouragan" and "Malabata". Naturally, the sort of sources they talk with are anti-MAS or anti-Morales types. Disinfo. The Bolivian government have thier own wikileaks mirror.

Magda - some of this is new.

This is the "missing" cable that was allegedly the source of the El Pais "Morales did it sez Wikileaks" story that we addressed a few weeks ago.

Here are the dates from the Bolivian VP website:

Código 09LAPAZ750

Fecha de creación 2009-05-26 19:45:00

Fecha de divulgación 2011-02-07 20:33:00

Nivel de clasificación Secreto

Lugar de origen Embajada de La Paz

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

So, the cable was allegedly written on May 26, 2009, and leaked on February 7, 2011.

In fact, it was posted on politics.ie by "Malabata" on 7th February 2011, 08:33 PM in the thread here:

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

[Magda Hassan]

Thanks Jan, I'll mosey over to p.ie