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### Viewing cable 09LAPAZ635, BOLIVIA: "TERRORISM" EXCUSE FOR MASS ARRESTS?

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09LAPAZ635 | 2009-04-29 21:09 | 2010-12-29 21:09 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy La Paz

`

    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. (C) 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. (C) 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. (C) 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. (C) 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. (C) 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. (C) 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,
    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. (C) 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

`