Bolivia would-be assassins: Photo of Michael Dwyer and Eduardo Rozsa Flores not posted here earlier

[Judi Lynn]

Tipperary man Mike Dwyer pictured with Eduardo Rozsa
Flores in one of several photographs distributed by the
Bolivian police.
Last Updated: Friday, May 1, 2009, 14:48
Photos show Dwyer with guns

TOM HENNIGAN in São Paulo

Photographs in which the Irishman shot dead by police in Bolivia two weeks ago is seen handling various firearms were shown at a press conference on Wednesday in La Paz by the prosecutor investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.

The pictures show 24-year-old Michael Dwyer holding or posing in front of various weapons. In one photograph he is holding what appear to be two 9mm pistols, one in each hand with two other weapons tucked inside his boxer shorts.

Bolivia’s authorities say Mr Dwyer was part of a terrorist group linked with right-wing separatists in the east of Bolivia and planned to assassinate the country’s left-wing president, Evo Morales. On Saturday the prosecutor showed a video which he said showed Mr Dwyer and two other members of the group discussing how to blow up a boat carrying Mr Morales.

The Tipperary man was killed in a police raid on his hotel in the early hours of April 16th in the city of Santa Cruz. He died alongside two other men following what police claim was a shoot-out. Two other members of the group were arrested at the scene.

“The photos were found in the vehicle that belonged to the group and were taken in Bolivia, though we are still trying to confirm the exact date and location,” said Marcelo Sosa, the prosecutor in charge of the case.

The photos reportedly show Mr Dwyer, Eduardo Rozsa Flores, the suspected leader of the group who also died in the police raid, and Elod Toaso, arrested at the scene, along with two other men that are still being sought by police. It is not known how many guns in total the men had in their possession.

At the same press conference, one of the two men arrested in Santa Cruz on Tuesday admitted supplying a weapon to Flores.

Juan Carlos Gueder Bruno said Flores approached him about buying guns and he sold him a weapon for $1,000 (€756). Mr Gueder said Flores told him that he planned to assassinate the prefects (a post equivalent to governor) of Santa Cruz and the neighbouring department of Beni.

Both Santa Cruz and Beni are controlled by the opposition to the Morales government and have been at the forefront of demands for more autonomy for eastern Bolivia.

Mr Gueder said Flores intended to assassinate the two political leaders because he considered them ineffective in the region’s fight to wrest more freedom from the central government in La Paz.

More:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0501/breaking51.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. Just for the record, photo of Hugo Acha, who fled Bolivia to hide in the US A.S.A.P.

http://www.revistalex.com.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/hugo-acha.jpg http://www.revistalex.com.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/hugo-acha2.jpg http://unitel.tv.nyud.net:8090/telepais/Admin/2008-10-7-hugo_achaa.jpg
Looks perfectly well-balanced, well-disposed, doesn't he?

There are some photos in this blogspot of some of the mercenaries you haven't seen before. It's written in Spanish for anyone who wants to spend some time sifting through it:

http://aullidosdelacalle.blogspot.com/2009/04/caso-hotel-las-americas-lo-sucedido-en.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. Added photo, Eduardo Rozsa Flores

http://www.labandaderolando.com.nyud.net:8090/images/photos/etocadorozsa.JPG

From a blog you might find interesting, regarding Argentinian fascists' involvement in the plot:

Main

May 12, 2009
Bolivia terror plot: The Argentine connection, revisited and confirmed

~snip~
Via ABI, I came across this report in Argentina's Página/12. It's shocking, explosive, highly relevant to what I've written about in here previously--and worth translating in its entirety, which I did:

"I was present in Beni (northern Bolivia) with an Argentine cell of eleven ex-carapintadas ("painted faces", notorious paramilitaries), along with ex-militaries who had been on missions in the Balkans. The above-mentioned 'Argentine cell' maintained contacts with sectors of the 'far right', opposed to the current Bolivian government, in Santa Cruz and Cobija, department of Pando."
The information, dated May 4, received by the Argentine Chancellery from the embassy in Bolivia and which was received by Página/12, indicated that "business owners and landowners of Santa Cruz de la Sierra requested the presence of the ex-militaries with the objective of training them in self-defence in case of their eventual imprisonment by the Bolivian authorities."

The pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fall into place following an investigation into a group of suspected terrorists, led by Eduardo Rózsa Flores, "Hero of the Balkan War", which was dismantled by the Bolivian National Police last April 16. President Evo Morales denounced the group for planning his assassination.

Last April 21, we reported that the vice-president of Bolivia, Alvaro García Linera, had communicated with the Argentine ambassador in La Paz, Horacio Macedo, to ask him to collaborate in the control of the border regions "due to the presence of Argentine activists in certain regions of Bolivia". At that time, there was mention of the travels to Bolivia of retired major Jorge Mones Ruiz, one of the "carapintadas" who between 1987 and 1991 took part in armed uprisings to demand impunity for repressors .

The new report states that "Mones Ruiz had been in contact with the late suspected terrorist/mercenary Rózsa Flores and with Baraldini", another comrade-in-arms and fugitive-from-justice for his actions during the illegal repressions in La Pampa, and currently based in Santa Cruz under a false name. Mones Ruiz was assigned to Bolivia as an intelligence official of the Argentine army during the last dictatorship, and liked to boast of the recognition of his Bolivian comrades.

The ex-carapintada was seduced by his links to the ultra-right in Latin America. In '87, the Military Circle published his book, in which he outlined his expertise on the formation of commando groups against the revolutionary processes in Central America. This year, Mones Ruiz found anchorage in the so-called UnAmérica, an NGO claiming to be a counterweight to Unasur, the organization to which all the South American heads of state belong. Leftist governments, particularly those of Bolivia and Venezuela, were the focus of the efforts of the committee, led by the anti-Chavista Venezuelan, Alejandro Peña Esclusa.

Mones Ruiz showed his notions in various formats, but with the same obsession. With another of his carapintada comrades, Breide Obeid, he formed the "Conjunto Patria" (Homeland Alliance) and began to sing his own lyrics in all kinds of encounters. More academically, he published various books, among them "Argentina--without a future?". He studied the "new dangers" and broadcast himself on Web pages on subjects such as "misrule and institutional bankruptcy, attacks on businessses, price controls, energy crises, the 'Papeleros' case, citizen insecurity, corruption, 'twisted' justice, widening of the gap between rich and poor, 'crooked' legislators, social violence, forgotten military commanders, police forces with fewer rights than delinquents, etc., which are generating the conditions for structural changes that society demands." A hyperactive man, last year he began to show up during rural meetings and stir up conflict.

Another snip:

Denver Pedraza, the defence attorney for the Santa Cruz Youth Union (UJC) members Carlos Gueder Bruno and Alcides Mendoza Masavi, implicated in the activities of a presumed terrorist cell dismantled in Santa Cruz, linked Senator Walter Guiteras to the suspected trafficking of weapons in 2006, which were to be used against the government.
"Senator Guiteras, of the Podemos opposition party, was one of the persons allegedly trafficking weapons through the zone, via one of his properties," Pedraza revealed in an interview with a local TV station.

Pedraza named a family, the Farfáns, as suspected ringleaders of an organization which trafficked weapons in the department of Beni, although he did not specify a precise location of the property in question.

"This terrorist event has a name and surname. As of 2006-7, a great many weapons entered Bolivia, especially in the departments of Santa Cruz and Beni," Pedraza said.

...

Pedraza also revealed that as of 2006, when the weapons began coming into the country, and in 2007-8, "the 'lodges' Toborochi, Caballeros del Oriente, and a group of members who ran the companies CRE (electricity), COTAS (telecommunications) and SAGUAPAC (water) began to react ."

...

Pedraza said that these "lodges" immediately organized, and that there was a hunger strike in Santa Cruz, "and then the idea arose among some people there to kill Dr. Hugo Salvatierra, who was Minister of Agriculture, and Dr. Chato Peredo."

These declarations come as the Public Ministry investigates events relating to a terrorist cell which operated in Santa Cruz, which intended to divide Bolivia and made attempts on the life of President Evo Morales. In previous declarations made last week, Pedraza had already made known that he possessed much important information relating to the terrorism case, and asked to meet with President Morales.

http://www.hollow-hill.com.nyud.net:8090/sabina/images/elod-toaso.jpg

Elöd Tóasó, Hungarian/Romanian would-be assassin, posing with a sniper rifle last December at the
Hotel Buganvillas, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Too bad it didn't have a magnifying mirror instead of a high-res
telescopic sight, so he could take a peek in and realize how stupid he looked.
More:
http://www.hollow-hill.com/sabina/fine_young_cannibals/