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P 261945Z MAY 09
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INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 9030
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
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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: LAWYER: 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: A Bolivian government lawyer 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), the lawyer 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. The lawyer 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), the lawyer personally 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 Bolivian government prosecutor trusted by
the ruling Morales administration (who wishes to remain
nameless) approached Embassy FSN May 19 to discuss his role
in investigating 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 the prosecutor, who is a long-time
associate of an Embassy FSN, 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. The prosecutor 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) The prosecutor 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 the prosecutor (and news reports),
there was no shootout, and the firing came exclusively from
the police as all three were asleep.
¶5. (S) The prosecutor 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 the prosecutor suspects they
were killed. The prosecutor does not know their identities.
¶6. (S) The prosecutor 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, the prosecutor 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 the prosecutor.
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. The prosecutor said he 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, the prosecutor
said they were given used clothing to put on.
¶8. (S) The prosecutor said he met with both men as part of
the government investigation 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 the prosecutor, 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. The prosecutor 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. The prosecutor
confirmed such violations did occur.
¶10. (S) However, the prosecutor 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. The
prosecutor 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 punish
ment
or torture. The prosecutor 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. The prosecutor 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. The prosecutor said one of the
groups of marching campesinos was armed by Miguel "Chiquitin"
Becerra, a MAS affiliate. According to the prosecutor, one
of the main events that sparked the conflict was the
early-morning assassination of Pedro Oshiro, a Prefecture
roads maintenance employee. The prosecutor 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.
The prosecutor 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) The prosecutor said he was an integral part of the
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. The prosecutor recalled a meeting with
three other government investigators in which they discussed
whether or not to arrest Ramirez. The prosecutor noted that
he 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, the other three investigators 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) Sitting in a room alone with Ramirez after the
arrest, the prosecutor said Ramirez asked what it would take
to make the case go away. Gesturing to his cell phone, he
asked if the prosecutor wanted money, a house, or to be a
senator or representative in Congress, and said all he had to
do was call President Morales or other contacts. The
prosecutor 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, post FSN emphasized that the
two had worked together years earlier investigating human
rights violations in the Chapare, that he was honest then,
maintains a solid reputation, and that he had no reason to
lie. Because the lawyer participated in the Pando
investigation sponsored by the government, the MAS trusted
the lawyer's involvement in subsequent politically sensitive
investigations. From years of experience, the lawyer also
apparently has several good contacts within the MAS party and
the Morales administration who provided additional
information on these cases. End comment.
URS
