Update: US recalls Envoy because of Bolivia's bombing accusations

[IndianaGreen]

I guess we don't have an ambassador in Bolivia, just the Charge d'Affairs. Unfortunately, the story is in Spanish and I don't have time to translate the whole thing because I have to go to work. In short, Evo Morales made some comments about the US government and the American with the vampire name that was arrested for the recent bombings. Now the Bolivian press says that the US government has recalled his envoy for consultations. As the Bolivian newspaper noted, this is the first time in 20 years that the US has recalled an envoy for consultations.

There is also some backtracking on the claim that the bomber was motivated by religion.

INCERTIDUMBRE | No existe certeza sobre los verdaderos móviles de los dos atentados. La Policía atribuye a causas religiosas, mientras el Gobierno a políticas


EEUU llama a su ministro a informar sobre alusión de Evo

Los Tiempos y La Prensa.- El Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos convocó al Ministro Consejero de la Embajada de ese país en Bolivia para que dé un informe sobre las insinuaciones del presidente Evo Morales contra el Gobierno norteamericano por los dos atentados dinamiteros ocurridos la noche del martes y la madrugada del miércoles, pasados en La Paz, según confirmaron ayer fuentes del Gobierno de Estados Unidos.

Sería la primera vez, en los últimos 20 años, que un Ministro Consejero de Bolivia es convocado por su gobierno para ofrecer una explicación.

El presidente Evo Morales, contrariamente a los informes preliminares ofrecidos por la Policía y la Fiscalía en los que señalan como posibles causas, temas religiosos para los dos atentados, percibe móviles políticos en los atentados e insinúa que el Gobierno de Estados Unidos envía terroristas para desestabilizar la democracia boliviana.

"Un norteamericano metiendo bombas en los hoteles. El Gobierno de Estados Unidos lucha contra el terrorismo y no es posible que gente de Estados Unidos venga a meter bombas a los hoteles. Hay lucha contra el terrorismo del Gobierno de Estados Unidos o nos mandan norteamericanos a hacer terrorismo en Bolivia. ¿Qué está pasando?", dijo Morales en su discurso de inauguración de la campaña de carnetización en todo el país.

En su percepción, los atentados intentan reflejar una falta de autoridad de su gestión "para decir que Evo no controla". En ese marco convocó a los "sectores sociales en los barrios y los ayllus a organizarse "para defender la Asamblea Constituyente".

http://www.lostiempos.com/noticias/23-03-06/nacional.php

Another story on the bombing:

Police identified the suspects as Claudio Lestad, 24, of New Orleans, and Alda Ribeiro, 40, of Uruguay

<snip>

The fatalities were caused by the first explosion Tuesday night in the Alojamiento Linares hotel in La Paz's historic city center.

The hotel, an old colonial building with iron balconies, is frequented by foreign tourists, but police said the victims, a woman and a man, were presumed to be Bolivian.

An American, identified as Jessica Wilson, was treated at a hospital and released, authorities said. Police said the other injured were Bolivian.

Police said they managed to evacuate the second hotel before the blast hit at about 2 a.m. The hotels are about a mile apart along the narrow streets of downtown La Paz.

Ramiro Calle, an employee at the first hotel, said the two suspects checked in Tuesday night and the hotel was not very full at the time of the blast, which blew away parts of the roof and wall, shattered windows, destroyed an adjacent home and damaged parked cars.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/23/ap/world/mainD8GH0S280.shtml

Yesterday's thread is here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2181961

[IndianaGreen]

1. Update#2: New pictures of suspects (Bolivian press)

The newspapers also says that the authorities don't know who the bomber really is. In the first paragraph they say that he us using false names. Sorry, the story is in Spanish:

El misterio rodea a los atentados y a los sospechosos

La Policía y la Fiscalía aún desconocen quiénes son los dos extranjeros, qué hacen en el país, por qué atacaron y qué buscaban al dinamitar dos hostales paceños.

El estadounidense Lestat Claudius (nombre de un personaje de ficción) De Orleans y Montevideo (25) y la uruguaya Alda Ribiero Acosta (41) están detenidos en celdas de la Policía acusados por los dos atentados dinamiteros ocurridos en La Paz, el martes por la noche y el miércoles en la madrugada. Este caso tiene aún interrogantes que las autoridades aún no pudieron responder.
Ayer, la sede de gobierno se despertó con la noticia de las dos explosiones, que prácticamente destruyeron los edificios de los alojamientos Linares (21.50) y Riosinho II (2.00). Por la mañana, las autoridades hablaban de la captura de dos extranjeros, presumiblemente autores de ambos hechos que dejaron dos personas muertas y ocho heridos, aunque según la Policía, el objetivo era generar 150 víctimas fatales.

Este medio consultó a altas fuentes policiales y de la Fiscalía para determinar cuáles fueron los móviles de los atentados y por qué los agresores optaron por atacar dos hostales. Sin embargo, nadie pudo ofrecer una respuesta concreta sobre ambos temas.

Y aunque la Policía y la Fiscalía dieron casi por solucionado el caso, con la aprehensión de los "autores", tampoco pudieron tipificar qué tipo de delincuente sería el estadounidense: un terrorista o un sicópata. Aunque el viceministro de Gobierno, Rafael Puente, se animó a calificarlo como lo segundo, ayer por la mañana.

Empero, la Policía, basada en un documento de EEUU, no descartó que el móvil fuera religioso, ya que Lestat se decía "sacerdote y predicador de ritos paganos".

http://www.la-razon.com/versiones/20060323_005489/nota_256_262490.htm

[IndianaGreen]

2. Quick and dirty translation of first two paragraphs

I checked the BBC, and while this story is big news in Bolivia, it seems to have dropped out of the anglo press. Here is a quick and dirty transalation of first two paragraphs of OP:

Los Tiempos y La Prensa.- El Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos convocó al Ministro Consejero de la Embajada de ese país en Bolivia para que dé un informe sobre las insinuaciones del presidente Evo Morales contra el Gobierno norteamericano por los dos atentados dinamiteros ocurridos la noche del martes y la madrugada del miércoles, pasados en La Paz, según confirmaron ayer fuentes del Gobierno de Estados Unidos.

Sería la primera vez, en los últimos 20 años, que un Ministro Consejero de Bolivia es convocado por su gobierno para ofrecer una explicación.

My humble translation:

The Times and The Press.- The US State Department has recalled their Charge d'Affairs in Bolivia for consultations about the allegations of President Evo Morales against the American government about the attempted bombings that took place in La Paz (Bolivia's capital) Tuesday night and on the early morning of Wednesday, according to confirmed sources in the US government.

This is the first time in the last 20 years that a diplomatic envoy in Bolivia is recalled by his government for consultations.

[Peace Patriot]

3. The American has admitted doing the bombings***...

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-bolivia23mar23,1,4781019.story?coll=la-news-a_section

3/23/06

"LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bomb blasts tore through two budget hotels and killed two people in La Paz, and Bolivian police said a 27-year-old American admitted Wednesday that he had carried out the attacks.

"Police identified the suspects as Lestat Claudius de Orleans y Montevideo of California and Alda Ribeiro Acosta, 45, of Uruguay. Local media reported that the American man had mental health problems, and police said he had been using a number of different names.

*** "'The U.S. citizen admitted that he was the author of both crimes,' police Cmdr. Isaac Pimentel said.

"At a news conference, the American suspect stood motionless under heavy guard alongside the Uruguayan woman, his girlfriend. Both refused to comment, but as the woman was taken from the police station to the news conference, she shouted, "Kill my man, he's crazy!"

"The blasts devastated the two hotels in downtown La Paz, blowing out windows in neighboring buildings and showering debris on surrounding streets.

"The first explosion occurred at 9:50 p.m. Tuesday, killing two people and injuring four others, firefighters said. The second blast came four hours later." --MORE

-----------------

('Manchurian candidate'??????)

----------------

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-03-22T172716Z_01_N22375241_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BOLIVIA-EXPLOSIONS.xml&archived=False

Reuters 3/22/06

"(Evo Morales--the new indigenous Indian president of Bolivia)..., who has described his socialist movement as a nightmare for the United States, called on the international community to condemn the bombings and vowed tough punishment for the culprits.

"'Some groups in Bolivia, oligarchs, are interested in using foreign agents to make threats,' he said. 'We will deal harshly with the conspirators.'

"It is not the first time Morales's government has made unspecified suggestions about the existence of plots to destabilise his government.

"Morales has formed close ties with U.S. regional antagonists Fidel Castro of Cuba and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has also accused Washington of plotting against Bolivia's first indigenous president."

----------------

(Notice how they fail to point out that the entire South American continent has gone left over the last several years--with anti-imperialist governments, mostly socialist, in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela and Bolivia--and soon Peru and Mexico. They START OFF with "Fidel Castro of Cuba," then mention another particular target of the war profiteering corporate news monopolies, Hugo Chavez--and OMIT the news socialist woman president of Chile (tortured by US-backed dictator Pinochet), the anti-US/IMF/World bank government of Argentina (Chavez bought a third of Argentina's debt to help them get out from under onerous US-instigated loans), the steelworker president of Brazil who led the third world revolt at the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun, etc., etc.

(Fidel, Fidel, Fidel! That's all you are supposed to notice, really. Maybe the mad bomber from the U.S. can be placed in a proper pro-US, pro-Bush, pro-corporate context if Fidel, Fidel, Fidel is ringing in your ears at the end of the article. And maybe it's even OKAY--or somewhat UNDERSTANDABLE--to slaughter innocent people in a hotel, if...FIDEL, FIDEL, FIDEL!

(God, these lapdog journalists make me sick!)

[Peace Patriot]

5. The Bush junta reprisals against Bolivia started immediately upon the

election of Bolivia's first indigenous president--one of the leaders of the grass roots revolt against Bechtel, which had privatized the water in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba and jacked up the prices to the poor, even charging peasants for collecting RAINWATER. Bolivia threw Bechtel out the country and elected Evo Morales.

Get this--from Prensa Latina, 3/8/06: (the translation is a little shaky, but the gist of it is clear...NOTE THE CITY!)

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B349C9A4D-3768-4262-B743-06618741E0B4%7D)&language=EN

"La Paz, Mar 8 (Prensa Latina) Bolivia’s Armed Forces stated that an anti-terrorist unit from which the United States withdrew support will continue operating with its own resources.

"Colonel Ernest Aguirre, spokesman of the Armed Forces military high command, said Tuesday the Joint Counter-terrorist Force will continue working for the aims of its creation.

"Aguirre also announced that the US embassy here will withdraw this week the Cochabamba unit´s armament and equipment, due to the recent substitution of its Washington-backed chief.

"Soldiers, he said, are ready to fulfill any order by President Evo Morales and the military top command, which on Tuesday had informed of the decision to not deliver any armament or other resources to the United States.

"The president (Morales) termed the US reprisal as blackmail and unacceptable intimidation for a disadvantaged but honorable country, and said his government will defend national sovereignty and dignity."

-------------------

(...less than two weeks ago!)

[Judi Lynn]

7. Good article. I'm glad he's not backing down. He's being tested

from the very first, or, more completely, bullied. Hope he will stand his ground. The majority of Bolivians are counting on him now to make great steps AWAY from living under the heel of U.S. domination.

If he can't be bullied, and he can't be bought, Bolivians will have a brighter future.

[400Years]

4. thanks for keeping an eye on this

[Judi Lynn]

6. This is very interesting. Makes you wonder what could NOT have been

discussed by phone, e-mail, _Bush's pride and joy, VIDEO CONFERENCING, etc., doesn't it?

Thanks for including the link to the first thread from yesterday.

[Peace Patriot]

8. Here's an interesting blog by a BBC reporter on the ground in Bolivia...

http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/paulmason/2006/03/snapshots_bolivia_on_the_eve_o.html

Some thoughts (of mine):

The police have custody of this couple's journals and have hinted at a religious motivation. And I can't help but think of Pat Roberson and his call for the Bush junta to assassinate Chavez in neighboring Venezuela...

...also, Chavez's conflicts with rightwing 'christian' missionaries, whom he accuses of being spies for US/corporate interests (these 'christians' have been building big airports and other infrastructure in remote, resource-rich areas of Venezuela).

The Uraguayan woman who was arrested with the American was distributing photos of herself naked, posed on the explosives!

Who are these crazy people? Who was paying them? What was really going on here? Stay tuned.

A further thought: These bombings occurred on the eve of a big parade in Bolivia, commemorating the war in which Bolivia lost its access to the coast, to Chile. The new Chilean president, socialist Michele Batchelet--who was tortured by the US-backed dictator Pinochet--has been trying to heal this wound, and just opened negotiations with Bolivia to resolve the dispute peacefully, between the new leftist governments, hers and Morales'. And guess who was just visiting Batchelet recently, and issuing gooey statements of praise (of Batchelet)--Condi Rice! What was SHE up to?

:think:

[IndianaGreen]

11. Perhaps the bomber wanted to disrupt Bolivian relations with Chile

He was a busy little beaver, and his name gets lots of hits in Google, as shown in yesterday's thread.

Lestat was planning to bomb the Chilean consulate at a time when Bolivia was negotiating for access to the sea with Chile (read second story):



Bolivia Investigates Terrorist Actions

La Paz, Mar 23 (Prensa Latina) Bolivian security services continue Thursday inquiring into the two terrorist bombings that killed two people, although US Claudio Lestat d´Orleans and Uruguayan Alda Riveiro confessed after being caught with a great deal of incriminating evidence.

Deputy Government Minister Rafael Puente called D´ Orleans, 25, a psychopath, while asserting the couple, arrested Wednesday, planned to murder 200 people in similar attacks, including the Chilean Consulate in La Paz.

PRENSA LATINA

Morales Goes to OAS for Sea Access

La Paz, Mar 23 (Prensa Latina) Bolivian President Evo Morales called on the Organization of American States Thursday, to deal with his nation´s demand for a sea outlet to the Pacific, and called on the Chilean government to listen to the people.

The president made the demands in a mass commemoration of the Day of the Sea, at which participated many social organizations, which he asked to join the rest of the country to achieve this objective.

Morales directed his comments specifically to OAS general secretary Chilean Miguel Angel Insulza, whom he invited to come to La Paz to discuss this as soon as possible.

Besides requesting an emergency meeting of the OAS, the Bolivian president also asked the United Nations, the Catholic Church, the European Union and other international instances, such as Cuba, Venezuela and Argentina who have favored a way out, to participate in seeking a peaceful solution to the problem.

He called on the international community "to help repair a historic injury," not given by the Chilean people, but by the English empire in order to access the natural resources of the country; using as examples of such solutions, the restitution of the Canal to Panama and of Hong Kong to China.

PRENSA LATINA

[donsu]

9. kick

nt

[David Zephyr]

10. Kicking this up to the top where it belongs.

:kick:

[Judi Lynn]

12. Bolivia's Morales irks U.S. with bombing remarks

Bolivia's Morales irks U.S. with bombing remarks
23 Mar 2006 22:32:12 GMT

Source: Reuters

LA PAZ, Bolivia, March 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Embassy in La Paz expressed its concern on Thursday over a suggestion by Bolivian President Evo Morales that Washington was involved in hotel bombings that killed two people earlier this week.
(snip)

"There is a war against terrorism by the government of the United States and they send us North Americans to do terrorism in Bolivia," Morales, who regularly criticizes Washington, was quoted as saying by official news agency ABI.

"I urge the government to stop terrorists coming to kill innocents," he said in a speech in the city of Santa Cruz.

"We're concerned about remarks made by the president and we have expressed those concerns to the Bolivian government," an embassy spokesman said, adding the Bush administration condemned the blasts that devastated the two budget hotels.
(snip)

There has been a series of minor spats between the government and the U.S. Embassy, which rarely expresses its irritation publicly.
(snip/)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23280591.htm





_Bush's appointed ambassador
to Bolivia, David N. Greenlee

[David Zephyr]

13. Chile & Bolivia have longstanding bitter feelings.

If there were plans to blow up anything officially Chilean within Bolivia, it would have immediately been a great flashpoint between Chile and Bolivia where longstanding bitter feeling exist since the Great War when Bolivia lost its seaport on the Pacific.

This would have been an international diplomatic explosion between Bolivia and Chile and would have give the White House even more reason to use the U.S. troops now on the Bolivian border in Paraguay to invade the Santa Cruz region where all of the natural gas is that Evo is nationalizing.

This was not the act of a crazy person.

[Peace Patriot]

14. I agree--the "craziness" is likely a cover. I hope Bolivian authorities

get to the bottom of it. Luckily, Chile has a good leftist government and is not about to be sucked in by US/Bush terrorism, nor is Bolivia.

The South Americans are not taking this kind of thing sitting down any more--and they all know very well what the Bush junta is all about.

The junta would love to destabilize Bolivia, with elections occurring next door in Peru, where yet another leftist and anti-imperialist (and indigenous Indian) is ahead in the polls!

I hope Michele Batchelet discloses what Condi Rice was up to.

[David Zephyr]

19. Me, too.

I wonder what in the hell she was doing down there anyway. Supporting a socialist? Hardly.

[burrowowl]

15. KICK!

'Yankees go Home!

[icymist]

16. Soj on the blog Flogging the Simian covers this story extensively.

(snip)
"The American papers refer to the hotels as "budget hotels" without any reference to the fact that these are where government officials stay. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and they have two capitals, so it is quite normal for government officials to stay in (what would be to Americans) budget hotels.

Not to mention that the President of the country only makes about 22,000 dollars a year and by law and rule no other official can make more than he. So LA Times and the rest of you, give me a break with this "budget" hotel crap ok?"



(snip)
"All I have to say is... very interesting. Even leaving all the tinfoil hat stuff aside, I cannot imagine that Lestat was not being monitored by U.S. intelligence if only for his wanting to renounce his citizenship and his non-mainstream religious assertions. The question is, did they ever warn the Bolivian police about his presence?

And who called whom to warn about the second bomb? And was it really C4 and not dynamite that was used? And who is this Jessica Wilson?"

http://www.floggingthesimian.com/?q=node/169

[preciousdove]

17. Who was funding this guys lifestyle?

Calling someone crazy is one way to keep from having a trial (Hinkley).

[Judi Lynn]

18. I really need to hear the next step in this story.

It's just too extreme to forget!

I'll be watching the news when I'm online, for sure.

[icymist]

20. Morales bomb remark angers Washington (Update on this story)

Morales bomb remark angers Washington
AP



La Paz, Bolivia: US diplomats expressed concern at suggestions by Bolivia's left-leaning president that Washington had a role in hotels bombings that killed two people, saying his comments could impede efforts to cooperate in the fight against terror.

A Bolivian judge charged a mentally disturbed American and his Uruguayan lover with murder and falsifying documents for the two bombings of the low-budget hotels late Tuesday and early Wednesday that left two people dead and seven injured.


(snip)

MOTIVES
Pagan priest may have been looking for allies

Bolivian authorities have struggled to understand the motives of a man who has described himself as a Saudi Arabian lawyer, a pagan high priest, a notary public and even a vampire, having adopted "Lestat Claudius de Orleans y Montevideo" as his name, a variation on the character in Anne Rice's dark novels, played on film by Tom Cruise.

(more)
http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Bolivia/10027995.html

[Judi Lynn]

21. Sunday editorial you might enjoy:How President Bush has unified Latin Amer

How President Bush has unified Latin America
Nick Miroff

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Has Latin America ever had such a unifying figure?

At political rallies, his visage is held aloft as a beacon to regional independence and self-determination. He's helped forge new trade partnerships to spur economic growth and alleviate poverty. And his leadership has fanned a gale-force electoral trend that's sweeping the hemisphere to topple one pro-Washington government after the next.

Who is this grand inductor of Latin American leftism? Venezuelan fireball Hugo Chavez? Blue-collar Brazilian Lula Ignacio da Silva? Bolivia's coca-farmer president Evo Morales?

¡Epa! It's George W. Bush, the accidental revolutionary.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/03/26/INGFRHSVGT1.DTL

[IndianaGreen]

23. "class polarization has grown deeper."

Thank you, Mr. Danger!

[Vidar]

22. I hope Morales realizes this is good riddance to bad rubbish.