Bolivia ex-leaders face charges

[Judi Lynn]

Last Updated: Friday, 17 March 2006, 14:07 GMT

Bolivia ex-leaders face charges

Mr Sanchez de Lozada also faces genocide charges
Bolivia's attorney general is seeking to put three former presidents on trial for alleged irregularities in contracts with foreign oil companies.
(snip)

Mr Rodriguez is accused of submission to a foreign power in a case relating to the decommissioning of Bolivian missiles in the United States.
(snip)

After looking at deals reached with foreign oil firms between 1993 and 2003, Attorney-General Pedro Gareca said he had found illegalities in:

• 39 contracts signed by Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who governed from 1993 to 1997 and 2002 to 2003.
  
  
• Four contracts agreed by Jorge Quiroga, who served in 2002
  
  
• One deal signed by Carlos Mesa who governed between 2003 and 2005.
  Mr Sanchez de Lozada - who now lives in the US - has also been formally charged with genocide over the deaths of 60 people killed during a wave of social unrest.
  (snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4816646.stm

[David Zephyr]

1. These sort of instant reprisals are not the best foot forward by Evo.

I agree with his charging of Sanchez de Lozada as the man attempted an illegal coup that resulted in the death of a miner.

I wholeheartedly disagree with his charging Carlos Mesa, whose parents were socialists and whose family stood for generations against American imperialism and Bolivian fascism.

Mesa is still very popular and loved by a large percentage of the Bolivian people in all demographics.

Evo's charging Mesa sends me the wrong signal as up until this I have been one of his biggest supporters.

He's acting like a brute charging Mesa and this will backfire on Evo. Perhaps he is jealous of the affection that many Bolivians have for Mesa.

Very disappointing.