Plot to assassinate Evo, others disrupted:

[EFerrari]

cal04 has this up in LBN:

Bolivia says kills 3 foreigners in assassination plot
16 Apr 2009 17:02:27 GMT
Source: Reuters
CARACAS, April 16 (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Thursday security forces had thwarted a plan to assassinate him along with top officials, killing three foreigners in a half-hour shootout at a hotel.

Morales mentioned Ireland and Hungary the nationalities of what he called foreign mercenaries involved in the alleged plot. He said two people had been arrested.

(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel, Editing by Sandra Maler)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16378214.htm

[EFerrari]

1. It happened in Santa Cruz. Link to LBN thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3834680

[magbana]

2. VIDEO of VP Garcia Linares press conference talking about planned assassination

upper right hand corner of Telesur site.

http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/canal/senalenvivo.php

[EFerrari]

4. Vide seems to be gone but there is this article:

Denuncian plan de magnicidio en Bolivia

El vicepresidente de Bolivia, Álvaro García Linera, denunció este jueves la existencia de un plan de magnicidio que sería ejecutado por un grupo de "terroristas" internacionales y algunos bolivianos, detalló que existen documentos que dan fé de los atentados que en contra de su persona y la del presidente Evo Morales se ejecutarían.

"Advirtió que no estamos sólo frente a una célula terrorista", esto se desprende de la cantidad de armamento que fue incautado.

Detalló que se encontraron planos y documentos que hablan no sólo de hechos del pasado sino de actos futuros, atentados en contra de las altas autoridades del Gobierno Nacional.

Linera pidió seriedad y colaboración a las autoridades del departamento de Santa Cruz para encontrar los responsables para así defender a los ciudadanos.

La madrugada de este jueves la Policía abatió en un hotel de Santa Cruz (este), bastión de la oposición de derecha, a tres personas, presumiblemente extranjeros de nacionalidad húngara, y que estarían relacionados con recientes atentados con explosivos en esta ciudad.

El presidente de Bolivia, Evo Morales, se refirió en su llegada a Venezuela a los dos presuntos terroristas húngaros que sobrevivieron al enfrentamiento policial, llegaban a la Fiscalía cruceña a las 11H30 horas locales (15H00 UTC) para ser interrogados.

Los dos sospechosos, que llegaron fuertemente respaldados por la Policía, serán sometidos en primera instancia a exámenes médicos antes de ser abordados.

Un día antes, el miércoles, en la misma Santa Cruz, un atentado voló el portón de la casa del Cardenal Julio Terrazas, máxima autoridad de la Iglesia Católica en el país andino. Hace tres semanas el viceministro de Autonomías, Saúl Ávalos, fue víctima de un hecho similar. La Policía cree que estos hombres, de los que sobrevivieron dos, estarían vinculados con estos casos.


http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/47571-NN/denuncian-plan-de-magnicidio-en-bolivia/


Two details of note: Some documents have been found associated with this group that refer to future actions. And, the police are investigating a possible connection with two explosions -- attacks on Cardinal Julio Terrazas' residence and a similar one on Saul Avalos, a vice minister of ? "Autonmias" -- not sure what that department is. ef

[magbana]

3. BBC: Police "stop attempt on Morales"

"Police 'stop attempt on Morales'
Bolivian President Evo Morales, file pic
Santa Cruz is a hotbed of opposition for Mr Morales, pictured

Bolivia's President Evo Morales says three foreigners have been killed after he ordered police to thwart a planned assassination attempt against him.

Security forces killed three alleged international mercenaries in the city of Santa Cruz, Mr Morales said.

He said intelligence reports had warned of a plot by a group comprising Irish, Hungarian and Bolivian attackers.

Arriving in Venezuela for a summit, Mr Morales said two people had been arrested over the alleged plot.

The three were killed in a half-hour shootout at the hotel in Santa Cruz, some 900km (620 miles) east of the capital La Paz, Mr Morales said.

Foreigners killed

"Yesterday, I gave instruction to the vice president to move to arrest these mercenaries and this morning I was informed of a half-hour shootout at a hotel in the city of Santa Cruz," said Mr Morales.
Map

"Three foreigners are dead and two arrested."

He added that the alleged plot had been to kill him, the vice president and a cabinet minister.

Bolivian Police Chief Hugo Escobar said two Hungarians and one Bolivian were killed in the shoot-out.

Earlier reports suggested unknown assailants had attacked the home of the Roman Catholic Cardinal Julio Terrazas of Santa Cruz with dynamite.

Interior vice minister Marcos Farfan said Wednesday's blast, which caused structural damage but no injuries, a "terrorist" act. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8003117.stm

[rabs]

5. Morales spoke of an assassination plot

last Saturday during his third day of the hungar strike but apparently it did not make the MSM.

From the Spanish above:

captured documents show how attacks against the vice president and morales would be carried out.

there is more than one terrorist cell because of the number of weapons that were confiscated.

Morales said on his arrival that the three who were killed and the two captured were Hungarians.

Will keep watching Telesur to see what Morales has to say.

[magbana]

6. As, I recall, Fidel said in one of his reflections that Morales was

uncovering assassination plots.

[rabs]

7. Two other recent plots according to Interior Ministry official Marcos Farfán speaking today

Terrorist cell broken up today in Santa Cruz tried to place a bomb on boat Morales and his Cabinet boarded two weeks ago for a trip on Lake Titicaca.


Last March 13, a group of people were detected studying security arrangements for Morales when he was in the Alto Parapeti region to give land titles to the Guarani community.

There was to have been a chain of attacks, and even the (opposition) governor of Santa Cruz department, Rubén Costas, was to have been a target. Rubén Costas said in Santa Cruz today that the raid that killed the three people had been a show and a farce.

Interior ministry official said the three dead were identified as Mayarohi Aryak, (Romanian), Duayer Maikol Martins (Irish( and Eduardo Flores (Bolivian).

A raid on a telephone company exhibit at a trade fair in Santa Cruz today turned up four rifles, a carbine, a machine gun, and sophisticated explosives. The telephone company is named Cotas. (Will try to find out background on this company.)

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

Morales in Venezuela said all three had been Hungarians, so as in all these cases, there is always all sorts of confusion at first.

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

Santa Cruz, 16 abr (ABI).- El viceministro de Régimen Interior, Marcos Farfán denunció el jueves que el grupo terrorista que fue descubierto y desbaratado en Santa Cruz intentó colocar una bomba en el barco militar donde el presidente Evo Morales y su gabinete sesionaron hace dos semanas en una travesía en el lago Titicaca.

"Se tiene informes de que cuando el presidente, Evo Morales, se reunía con su gabinete en el lago Titicaca, los terroristas intentaron colocar un explosivo al buque multipropósito de la Armada Boliviana", informó el funcionario en una conferencia de prensa.

Farfán, que compareció en la conferencia de prensa junto al comandante general de la Policía, Víctor Hugo Escobar, y el fiscal asignado al caso, Marcelo Sosa, argumentó que "este grupo de sicarios intentaron causar daños de carácter material y personal a las autoridades del Gobierno".

Farfán reveló también que el pasado 13 de marzo ese grupo de personas, se desplazó hasta Alto Parapetí, en el sudeste del país, "para estudiar el sistema de seguridad que tiene el Jefe de Estado que viajó a esa región para entregar títulos agrarios a una comunidad guaraní".

Asimismo informó que en el operativo de la madrugada del jueves, en el que la policía abatió a tres supuestos terroristas, las fuerzas especiales de la Policía encontraron "organigramas, planes y documentos que apuntan y demuestran que los atentados no iban a concluir con la casa del Cardenal, Julio Terrazas, sino que había una cadena de actos terroristas".

Farfán precisó que en los documentos encontrados, "incluso el prefecto del departamento de Santa Cruz, Rubén Costas, estaba entre los blancos que estos terroristas perseguían".

Finalmente, el Viceministro de Régimen Interior informó que los supuestos mercenarios muertos son Mayarohi Aryak (rumano), Duayer Maikol Martins (irlandés), Eduardo Rozsa Flores (boliviano).

En el operativo se confiscó una escopeta, cuatro fusiles, una carabina, una metralleta y explosivos sofisticados y de alto poder como el C-4 en el stand de Cotas en la Expoferia de Santa Cruz.

[magbana]

8. Excellent, Rabs! I found the Garcia Linares press conference on the

assassination plots. You have to to the home page of telesur: http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/canal/senalenvivo.php

Go to the right hand side of the page and find the videos (current one may be about Obama) then scroll down within the videos and you will see the video.

[rabs]

9. Watched Garcia Linares press conference

He said government will investigate who paid the terrorist mercenaries, who contracted them.

Also said that in addition to the weapons found at the Cotas exhibition, there were several empty boxes of weapons that have not been recovered yet.

Borev link you posted seems to have identified one of the mercs, a Michael Dwyer. The interior ministry had identified him a "Duayer Maikol Martins" which seems to be phonetic spelling by bolivian reporters.

Borev has this photo, it is the guy on the left.



Here is some information on telecommunication company Cotas is based in Santa Cruz de la Sierra and linked to European companies. The company is going to have to do an awful lot of explaining about why weapons were found at its exhibit at the trade fail in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

http://www.bnamericas.com/news/telecommunications/Cotas_aims_for_triple_play_launch_in_2-3_months

Lots more on Cotas by googling.

[rabs]

10. More info filtering out on the mercs

Killed:
Mayarosi Ariad (Hungarian)
Duayer Michel Martin (Michael Dwyer?) Irishman
Jorge Hurtado Flores (Bolivian)

Wounded:
Mario Tadik (Bolivian)
Iedad Toazo (Hungarian)

These two were taken to La Paz under heavy guard.

Half-hour gunbattle on fourth floor of hotel where they were staying. (Article does not say whether there were any Bolivian police killed or wounded.)

Hurtado Flores fought as mercenary for Croatia during Balkans war, which may explain initial confusion about his nationality. He probably had a Croatian passport.


La Paz, 16 abr (ABI) - El rumano Mayarosi Ariad, el irlandés Duayer Michel Martin y el boliviano Jorge Hurtado Flores son los tres supuestos terroristas abatidos el jueves en un hotel de Santa Cruz, durante un enfrentamiento armado con la Policía boliviana, informaron fuentes policiales.

Los dos europeos y el boliviano, alojados en el cuarto piso del Hotel Las Américas, en el centro de Santa Cruz, contestaron con fuego nutrido a una operación policial y en la refriega fueron abatidos, de acuerdo con informes de Policía.

Los choques armados se prolongaron por cerca de media hora, lapso después del que fueron aprehendidos sus cómplices, el boliviano Mario Tadik y el húngaro Iedad Toazo, luego trasladados a La Paz.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Just found out about this around 1 1/2 hours ago.

I've been reading the LBN thread first, then came here. I am so glad to see so much information here on this.

Here's something from Inco Cola News:

4/16/09
Police Foil Assassination Attempt on Evo Morales, Kill Three of the Gang, Arrest Two Police raided a hotel in Santa Cruz (where else?) this morning and confronted a group of five heavy armed terrorists (guns, bombs etc). In the ensuing shoot-out, three of the suspects were killed. Two of the dead Hungarian nationals and one Bolivian. The other two, apparently one Irish national and one Romanian, were arrested and taken to La Paz. However there are conflicting reports of the groups' nationalities, with Croatia also mentioned. A large quantity of explosives and arms were also confiscated by Bolivia police.

Evo Morales said today (and I quote): "I'm not mistaken in saying that last Sunday the days of Evo Morales might have been counted. The results of todays operation coincide with the preliminary reports we have regarding this group of European and Bolivian terrorists and mercenaries."

According to police reports relayed by Evo in a press conference, the group was targeting Evo Morales, Vice President Alvaro García Linera and Minister Juan Ramón Quintana. Unsurprisingly the racist fascist shits and Evohaters are already looking stupid and calling it all a hoax, with the Prefect of Santa Cruz (where else?) calling it all a put-on and a show.

http://www.incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/04/police-foil-assassination-attempt-on.html

Does anyone think this sounds very much like Operation Condor, with mercenaries moving around the world, with assassination of leftists in mind?

Looking forward to hearing more about these killers.

[rabs]

12. Identification of a second guy who was killed

Eduardo Rozsa Flores (don't know what those little green men on his hat are.)


Interesting man. Bolivian mother (catholic) Hungarian father (communist). Born in Santa Cruz. Commander of a battalion in Croatia during Balkan war. Opposed Pinochet in Chile during coup against Allende. Devout Muslim. Correspondent for BBC in Santa Cruz and for newspaper Vanguardia in Spain. Has website www.kapu.cc.

Comes from well-known artistic family in Santa Cruz. Filmed or star (not clear) in movie "Chico" that intermixes coup against Allende and war in Balkans.

http://www.youtube.com/user/eduflores

Btw, down the right column you will video of Parada Militar. It is the Chilean military.

Here is an AP photo of some of the Bolivian police who carried out the raid. I did not know Bolivia had such police commandos. Photo taken when the two captured men were being taken out of Las Americas Hotel in Santa Cruz.

[Judi Lynn]

15. The Parada Militar guys look as if they're getting very close to goose-stepping, by golly!

Kinda creepy, isn't it? I've heard there still is a heavy influence of the murderous conservatives in Chile's government.
Hope it won't be long until they are replaced. That military parade looked far too intense.

I can't understand what the images mean in his "Chico" video. Still puzzling over this.

Regarding the two figures on the guy's hat, reminds me a great deal of a three dimensional illustration of a Fred Phelps' sign:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/203/511328169_fd01c4bc9e.jpg

Of course, his worldly attributes might just be a tricky cover, too. This guy has been very strange, wouldn't you say? God only knows what he has been really doing all these years.

One of those videos was a knife-fighting instruction. Yikes.

As Senator Frank Church's committee learned in hearings in the 1970's, the CIA had journalists inside big papers, and TV news. Probably all over the world by now, wouldn't you think? Who knows who this guy was REALLY working for?

Sure hope someone learns something.

One of the articles said they're looking back through paper trails on them. Hope they turn up something, but they may not if they are really determined mercenaries.

Oh, god: look at this obnoxious video from the link you found:
Viva santa cruz (jachi e toborochi) bajo el cielo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY2bO_G-4o8&feature=channel_page

[Judi Lynn]

23. This article refers to this clown's website: Irish link to Bolivian assassination attempt

Irish link to Bolivian assassination attempt
Published Date: 18 April 2009

~snip~
Media outlets across the world carried unconfirmed speculation that one of the men shot dead was a 24-year-old from County Tipperary.

It was reported that his social networking website, hosted by Bebo, bore a message from a friend last night simply stating "RIP bro".

The website in question painted a portrait of a man obsessed with guns and assassins, placing him in South America and specifically, according to messages left by his friends, in Bolivia.

There was speculation that a photograph of a fresh tattoo on the suspected Irishman's left shoulder and arm may have matched a tattoo on the corpse of a man strongly resembling the Tipperary man and featured on the front page of Bolivian newspaper, El Mundo.

A spokeswoman for the Irish Foreign Office last night emphasised all such reports were unconfirmed speculation. However, it is understood the Irish Foreign Office are in contact with a County Tipperary family in relation to the matter, in order to provide possible consular support.

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/Irish-link-to-Bolivian-assassination.5182874.jp

[rabs]

14. Condor was a multi-dictatorship operation

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

Does anyone think this sounds very much like Operation Condor, with mercenaries moving around the world, with assassination of leftists in mind?

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

This one seems to me to be more like the Bolivian USTASHA (of which you are fully aware). The Santa Cruz fascists could have easily imported the European mercs and their weapons and explosives (Bolivians said they found enough C-4 to level the entire barrio where weapons were found.)

Btw, the two captured guys are being called the string on the ball of yarn that will unravel who is behind and who paid for the mercenary botch-up. Will be interesting to watch.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Oh, my God! Yes! Now I get it. Profuse swear words.

I just got this instantly from a quick google search:


US Recruitment of Nazis and Croatian Ustasha
Krunoslav Draganovic, Klaus Barbie, and the Rat Lines
By Carl Savich
February 18, 2007

After the end of World War II, the United States helped accused Nazi and Croatian Ustasha war criminals escape from Europe. Albanian fascists and Nazis were similarly helped by the US to escape from Europe and prosecution for war crimes. Krunoslav Draganovic was a Bosnian Croat Roman Catholic priest who had been a part of the NDH Ustasha regime allied to Nazi Germany. After the collapse of the Ustasha regime, Draganovic returned to his base in the Vatican in Rome where he established escape routes for accused Ustasha and Nazi war criminals.
Barbie was an SS Hauptsturmfuerer who in 1942 became the Gestapo chief in Lyons, France. He personally tortured French prisoners and was accused of killing 4,000 victims in France. He was responsible for the arrest and torture of Jean Moulin, one of the leaders of the French Resistance Movement. In April, 1944, Barbie ordered the deportation of 44 Jewish children to Auschwitz. The children were taken from an orphanage at Izieu in France.

In 1947, the US Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), hired Barbie to be an intelligence agent for the US. The US knew of Barbie’s alleged war crimes and his role as an SS and Gestapo officer in the Third Reich. It was because of his expertise as an intelligence officer that made him a valuable asset for US intelligence. The US knew that Krunoslav Draganovic had been a high ranking Ustasha official in the Nazi-allied NDH regime in Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina. The US was aware that Draganovic and the Ustasha regime had been implicated in war crimes and genocide against Serbs, Jews, and Roma in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina. The US, nevertheless, employed these Nazi and Ustasha war criminals who were accused of committing genocide against Serbs and Jews because they were of use in the emerging Cold War against the Soviet Union.

Klaus Barbie, the “Butcher of Lyons”, was a key alleged Nazi war criminal that the US helped to escape from Europe and prosecution for war crimes committed in France. Klaus Barbie escaped prosecution for war crimes by means of the infamous Rat Line, a well-funded escape route established with “official approval” by the US Army 430 Counter Intelligence Corps in Austria. It was created by Jim Milano and Paul Lyon in 1947 to assist US agents, informants, and sympathizers, referred to as “visitors” in US intelligence jargon, to flee or “relocate” from the Soviet Sector in Vienna to the US Sector in Salzburg. The agents, called “shipments”, were primarily Russian defectors and contacts who had been agents for the US in Soviet-occupied regions of Eastern Europe. Milano stated that “as a reward for services, we settled them in different parts of the world.”

More:
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/087.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you so much for that missing memory jogging. My excuse is I haven't been to sleep yet. I should have been far quicker on the draw.

Now I'm getting it. It's not as if this hasn't been going on so long. Wow. Thank you, rabs.

There's a whole lot involved by now!

[formercia]

24. Klaus Barbie was involved in the Che Guevara assasination.

This has long-lived tentacles.

[Judi Lynn]

25. Absolutely had no idea whatsoever! Really. That would mean that probably

the Cuban "exile" operative, Felix Rodriguez, who was also a personal friend of George H. W. Bush, would probably have been connected to Klaus Barbie, I would guess.

Here he is standing by Che, then in the photo of the Operation 40 assassins in a Mexico City night club, he's the drunk lying on the stage, next to Porter Goss.

http://rreloj.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2009/01/jfkrodriguez1.jpg http://lajauretsi.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2008/11/felix-rodriguez1.jpg http://rreloj.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2009/01/porter_goss_barry_seal_felix_rodriguez_et_al.jpg http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com.nyud.net:8090/images/BushFelix2.jpg

Looks as if those tentacles are very VERY long.... Yikes. This is the first time I've heard this. Of course the time is right, as Barbie was working in the villainous, bloody, racist Banzer administration, and Banzer was the President when Che was killed. Had no idea he was connected to this. Thanks.

[formercia]

26. I read his book

I don't think he mentioned Barbie but he did mention that after Che was killed, they took his body to a Knights of Malta Hospital where body parts were removed as trophies.
I wonder what part Poppy got.

Barbie was the one in charge of the counter-insurgency program in Bolivia.

What was left was buried by the airport.

Sick fuckers.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Time: A Plot to Kill Bolivia's Leftist President?

A Plot to Kill Bolivia's Leftist President?

By JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY / LA PAZ AND TIM PADGETT Jean Friedman-rudovsky / La Paz And Tim Padgett – 51 mins ago
Bolivia had been enjoying some well earned quiet in recent days. South America's poorest nation seemed on the verge of a civil war last year between forces loyal to President Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous head of state, and those aligned with the country's white elite. But after a new Constitution was finally approved in January, and an agreement was struck earlier this week to hold new presidential and congressional elections, calm seemed at hand.


It was shattered before dawn on Thursday when authorities uncovered what they insist was an assassination plot against Morales. At 4:30 a.m., police surrounded the Hotel de las Americas in downtown Santa Cruz, the capital of Bolivia's anti-Morales east. They'd been tipped about armed occupants in two of the rooms; and when they went to check it out, say government officials, they were met with gunfire. They returned it and killed three of the five men in the rooms, wounding the other two. According to Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, authorities were then led to Santa Cruz's convention grounds, where they found an arsenal of sharp-shooter rifles, grenades, C-4 explosives and other heavy weaponry. (Is Bolivia's President Evo Morales one of the most influential people in the world? Vote for the TIME 100.)


More important, Garcia said, they also discovered maps and documents showing that the group the men in the hotel allegedly belonged to had been stalking the caravans of high-ranking government officials and plotting assassination attempts. Vice Minister of the Interior Marcos Farfan said the documents indicated that two members of the group were present when Morales handed out land titles to indigenous Guarani in Santa Cruz province last month - and that they'd supposedly abandoned a scheme to plant a bomb at a recent Morales recent cabinet meeting near Lake Titicaca. More ominously, said Garcia, "we also found documents that speak of future preliminary preparations for an assassination of the President and Vice President." (Check out a story about Bolivia's immense and strategic natural resources.)


As he stepped off a plane in Venezuela later in the day, where he was meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez before traveling on to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad on Friday, Morales said unequivocally, "They were going to kill me." He added, "These are international mercenaries" aligned with Bolivia's right-wing opposition. Whether or not the men are linked to the conservative opposition - whose members adamantly denied any ties - officials say a flag of the Nacion Camba - a Santa Cruz-based fascist group - was reportedly found among the weapons. According to security officials, one of the three men killed at the hotel was alleged to be a Romanian; one was from Ireland. One of the wounded, say officials, is a former member of the Bolivian military who trained in Croatia. Eastern Bolivia is home to a politically conservative Croat enclave that has been ardently opposed to Morales and his pro-indigenous government since he was elected in 2005.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090417/wl_time/08599189185200

[Judi Lynn]

17. Bolivia police bust group they say planned to kill Bolivian president, vice president

Bolivia police bust group they say planned to kill Bolivian president, vice president
CARLOS VALDEZ | Associated Press Writer
8:44 PM CDT, April 16, 2009

http://snsimages.tribune.com.nyud.net:8090/media/photo/2009-04/46343399.jpg

A Bolivian police officer displays seized guns taken in the city of Santa Cruz
from an armed group at a police station in La Paz, Thursday, April 16, 2009.
Bolivian police said they broke an armed international group on Thursday
that was plotting to assassinate President Evo Morales and the vice president.
Three suspects were killed and two were arrested in a half-hour long shootout
with officers in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, police said. The area is the
center of political opposition to Morales.(AP Photo/Juan Karita) (Juan Karita,
AP / April 16, 2009)

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian police foiled an alleged plot to assassinate President Evo Morales, killing three men in a 30-minute gunbattle with a mysterious group that included suspects from Hungary, Ireland and possibly Croatia, government officials said Thursday.

Police had attempted to arrest the men in the center of Santa Cruz, an eastern Bolivian city and hub of anti-Morales sentiment, but they fled to a hotel where an intense shootout took place around 4 a.m., witnesses and police said.

The alleged assassins detonated a grenade inside the hotel, blowing out its windows amid the gunfight, according to police. Three of the suspects, identified by state media as Hungarian, Irish and Bolivian, were killed.

A second Hungarian was arrested, along with a retired Bolivian soldier who had fought in conflicts in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, state prosecutor Jorge Gutierrez said.

Police raided a storage facility in a nearby park, confiscating explosives, high-caliber telescopic weapons and what appeared to be travel plans for Morales' motorcade, Police Commander Victor Hugo Escobar told reporters.

More:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-lt-bolivia-assassination-plot,0,1036527.story

[Judi Lynn]

18. Question for a trustworthy Spanish translator. Does this article have any interest value?

I got this in a search for Bolivia Santa Cruz Cotas Branko Marinkovic
(Branko Marinkovic is the guy who is known to arm those nasty violent thugs, the "Youth Groups" or neo-nazi shock troopers who beat up and kill indigenous people. He's the largest landowner in Bolivia, lives in Santa Cruz)

Viernes, Abril 17, 2009.
Política
Ven ‘mano’ del Gobierno contra la región contestataria del MAS

Ante los hechos ocurridos ayer en la capital cruceña, calificado como terrorismo, se manejó desde el oficialismo que era un intento de golpear a Santa Cruz y verla como la región que quiere atentar contra el Gobierno del MAS y la gente que lo rodea, las versiones fueron calificadas como un montaje.
Al respecto, el presidente de la Cooperativa de Electrificación Rural (CRE), Germán Antelo, convocó a la población ante cualquier sorpresa que pueda haber de parte del Gobierno, puesto que ve una especie de montaje para genera incertidumbre sobre los sectores productivos y cooperativos, con fines proselitistas.
Resaltó que están buscando formas de ingresar a las cooperativas, y por lo tanto sostuvo que tenia sus dudas, para generar dudas en el tema cooperativo o sobre las personas que viven en el oriente boliviano, para culpar con todo lo que suceda.
“Tenemos que estar preparados para defender nuestras instituciones porque se vienen tiempos difíciles, es bueno que sepamos que hay un trabajo que se viene haciendo. Intentan desconocer resultados de auditoria porque no han encontrado lo que querían para hacernos daño”, afirmó Antelo.
De su lado, Delmar Méndez, vicepresidente de la Asamblea Legislativa, afirmó que el supuesto atentado terrorista, es imaginar que existe una conspiración que antes que se genere un frente amplio no haya una oposición o candidato o que se anime a hacerle frente a el Estado.
“Es el Gobierno el responsable de estos actos, tres extranjeros resultan muertos, no se si los encontraron y los acribillaron”, cuestionó Méndez.
Para la analista política, Centa Rek, el defenestramiento del grupo terrorista, en la capital cruceña, es “darle un golpe certero a Santa Cruz, que es la ciudad mas contestataria, se apunta a poner en duda la institucionalidad que es lo importante es un justificativo de tomar muchas cosas, como en Pando”.

PUNTOS CÍVICOS

1. SIMBOLOGÍA. El atentado a la casa del Cardenal, Julio Terrazas la pasada noche, se lo hiló con la representatividad que tiene la Feria Exposición de Santa Cruz, puesto que ambos son imagen cruceña, a través del vinculo a las cooperativas, en este caso con Cotas.

2. SPOT. Cívico cuestionó con sorpresa que el Canal 7 TVB, a las nueve de la mañana, haya sido el único medio que difundió un spot con los datos de los dos detenidos y las tres personas muertas un hotel cruceño, cuando no había informe oficial de las autoridades policiales ni Fiscales.

3. QUEJAS. A su arribo a la región venezolana, para participar de una Cumbre con los presidentes de Venezuela y Cuba, el presidente Morales nuevamente le ‘contó’ a la comunidad internacional que siempre quieren atentar contra su vida, hecho curioso que es denunciado en todos sus viajes.

4. FEXPOCRUZ. Los predios de la Feria Exposición de Santa Cruz, será parte activa de una nueva actividad que se realiza con el sector agroproductor, el mismo que se desarrollará este lunes, y el encuentro del arsenal de armas, ocurre a días del evento, cívico ve coincidencia en el encuentro de armas con el Alto Parapeti.

5. COMISIÓN. Conminan a conformar una comisión del Senado para que investiguen los supuestos hechos de terrorismo en la capital cruceña, la comisión seria multipartidaria, para que haya un equilibrio. Así mismo, denotaron un abuso de autoridad en el ingreso a los predios de la Fexpo.

Deslindan de responsabilidad a los Marinkovic

Víctor Peralta, abogado de la familia del ex presidente del Comité pro Santa Cruz, Branko Marinkovic, afirmó que la familia no estaría involucrada en lo absoluto, en el arsenal de armas encontradas por un grupo policial de elite paceño y el supuesto terrorismo.
“Branko Marinkovic y la familia no tienen nada que ver con ningún tipo de actividad terrorista, no es propio de ellos, no tiene ese tipo de accionar y conducta en su vida de provocar dolor y luto en la familia boliviana”, enfatizó Peralta.
Así mismo, anticipó en rechazar cualquier sindicación sobre la familia, puesto que en base a algunas declaraciones de los voceros de Gobierno, que serian los gestores del Golpe Cívico Prefectural, es una mas de tantas del Gobierno a las que tiene acostumbrados a emitir declaraciones y acusaciones sin ningún tipo de pruebas, “lo que corresponde es acudir a la autoridad competente y presentarlas”, enfatizó.
La familia Marinkovic, rechazó a través de su abogado y de manera enérgica y clara el atentado contra el Gobierno del MAS y su cuerpo.

Paz: “No existe fundamento para intervenir Cotas”

La Cooperativa de Telecomunicaciones Santa Cruz, Cotas Ltda, descartó que existan motivos para que se intervenga las instalaciones de la institución, además aseguraron que cualquier acción que sea necesaria asumir lo harán, afirmando que el stand es usado solo para el mes de septiembre.
De acuerdo al abogado de Cotas, Roberto Paz, los directivos de la cooperativa se encuentran esperando para asumir cualquier acción que sea necesaria, descartando los rumores que seria intervenida.
“No existe ningún motivo, que si bien nos encontramos preocupados, estamos tranquilos esperando noticias oficiales. Cotas no tiene ningún nexo mas allá de su utilización”, enfatizó Paz.
Así mismo, sostuvo que no existe ninguna razón para que haya gente de seguridad, puesto que les pertenece el predio, y que solo lo tienen alquilado para el mes de septiembre.
“Responderemos a la determinación de la ley, pero son rumores y no existe el menor fundamento para intervenirla
no tenemos nada que temer, si hay alguna acción sabremos responder desde el punto de vista legal,
Cotas no es una institución política, Cotas es una que esta al servicio del pueblo”, puntualizó el abogado de la institución.
Al respecto, el presidente a.i, Álvaro García Linera, pidió la cooperación de los funcionarios de Cotas, para que la investigación avance rápidamente.

http://www.elmundo.com.bo/Secundarianew.asp?edicion=17/04/2009&Tipo=Politica&Cod=8123

If anyone's willing to look at this and find out why Branko Marinkovic has issued some kind of disclaimer statement it would be wonderful to know what it says. Thank you.

[rabs]

19. Judi, this is just a long CYA by the cruzeno opposition

Opposition cooperatives say the shootout was a show mounted by the government to create uncertainty in Santa Cruz department.

Branko Marinkovic attorney says family is in no way connected to the terrorists and the confiscated weapons.

Cotas (the telecommunications company) denies any involvement with the weapons and C-4 that were found at their trade fair exhibit and that there is no reason to nationalize the company.

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

In other words they are running scared.

[Judi Lynn]

20. Thank you for the overview, rabs. Very, VERY interesting.

Glad they've experienced novelty in their creepy lives!

[rabs]

21. Common grave for two Europeans killed yesterday.

Since no one came forward to claim the bodies, the Romanian and the Irishman were buried in a common grave.

The body of the third one, Eduardo Rózsa Flores, was claimed by his family and given a private funeral.

(Spanish) http://abi.bo/index.php?i=noticias_texto_paleta&j=20090417205755&l=0


Embassy of Ireland in Buenos Aires on Friday sent high-ranking diplomat to investigate Irishman's death.

Interpol has offered to help Bolvian police in the investigation.

[Judi Lynn]

22. That's a high honor for their remains. How shabby to spend your last moments

in someone else's country, conspiring to steal the life from a stranger, and to steal a country's elected leader from the people who voted for him to bring the change they needed so badly.

Scummy men working for human garbage. What a way to go.

Thanks for the news on these guys.

[Judi Lynn]

27. Bolivian President Says Plot on His Life Was Tied to Coup Attempt

Bolivian President Says Plot on His Life Was Tied to Coup Attempt
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: April 18, 2009

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago — Evo Morales, Bolivia’s president, said that a reported attempt to assassinate him last week was linked to a vote in Congress that would allow him to run for re-election, and he suggested the plot was related to a coup attempt last year that led him to expel the American ambassador.

Mr. Morales said earlier last week that an elite police squad shot dead three men in the eastern Bolivian city of Santa Cruz who were involved in a thwarted plot to kill him, his vice president and his chief of staff. They were killed after they opened fire on commandos who tried to enter their hotel room.

On Saturday Mr. Morales said the police had determined the plot involved European mercenaries, with Bolivians aiding in the planning. Investigators are looking into how the suspected plot was organized and financed, with Mr. Morales saying he did not believe that Bolivian businessmen and oligarchs “financed so much money.”

~snip~
He used the bulk of a press conference here to detail the history of what he believes to have been involvement by American officials in attempts to overthrow him. In September he expelled American ambassador Philip S. Goldberg, accusing him of supporting rebellious groups in eastern Bolivia. Mr. Morales also later threw out officials from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.

Mr. Morales said Saturday that he gave instructions to his vice president to intervene with certain “neo-liberal” groups. Police officers discovered arms, bombs and telescopic sights with silencers, he said.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/world/americas/19bolivia.html

[Judi Lynn]

28. Irishman confirmed as among alleged Bolivian plotters

Irishman confirmed as among alleged Bolivian plotters
24-year-old Mike Dwyer
Published Date: 19 April 2009

http://editorial.jpress.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/web/Upload/BELF//TH1_19420094Bolivia%20Mike%20Dwyer%202_%20Lewis.JPG

It has been confirmed that an Irisman has been shot dead in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate the President of Bolivia.
The Irish Foreign Office has confirmed the young man's name as Michael Dwyer, 24, from County Tipperary.

Bolivian police said they had broken up an armed international group that was plotting to assassinate President Evo Morales. Three suspects were killed and two were arrested in a half-hour shoot-out with officers in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, police said.

Police confiscated explosives, high-calibre weapons and plans to follow the president's motorcade, police commander Victor Hugo Escobar said.

~snip~
Mr Dwyer was a graduate from the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology with a degree in construction management.

He had been employed with a Galway security firm and was sent to Bolivia for training in November. However it is understood he was recruited to work in security for one of the other men who was killed, a Bolivian man with Croatian citizenship.

More:
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/Irishman-confirmed-as-among-alleged.5184114.jp

[Judi Lynn]

29. Efforts in Bolivia to secure release of Irishman's body

Last Updated: Sunday, April 19, 2009, 11:24
Efforts in Bolivia to secure release of Irishman's body

http://www.irishtimes.com.nyud.net:8090/newspaper/breaking/images/2009/0419/228633_1.jpg

PATRICK LOGUE and ELAINE EDWARDSAn Irish official is in Bolivia in an effort to secure the release of the body of Mike Dwyer (24) who was shot dead in the city of Santa Cruz on Thursday.

The former GMIT student from Ballinderry, Co Tipperary, died in mysterious circumstances with two other men and are accused of being part of a gang plotting to kill president Evo Morales.

Bolivian police said a cache of weapons was discovered in the hotel after a 30-minute shoot-out but other reports suggest the men were surprised by the police raid and shot unarmed. Graphic pictures show the men lying dead in their underwear in the hotel and other pictures how one of the dead men with his hands tied.

~snip~
One of Mr Dwyer's 324 friends on his Facebook account is Eduardo Rozsa Flores (49), who was also killed during the incident. Mr Flores is a Bolivian-Hungarian who fought in separatist movements in the former Yugoslavia. According to reports Mr Flores commanded a brigade in the Balkans after arriving there as a war correspondent in 1991. Magyarosi Arpak, a Romanian, was also reported killed in the Santa Cruz incident.

Mario Francisco Tadik Astorga (58), a Bolivian-Croatian who also fought in the Balkans, and Elot Toazo, a Hungarian computer expert, were arrested and taken away for questioning. They were later remanded in prison in La Paz.

~snip~
Mr Dwyer was a graduate of construction management from Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT). He finished his studies last year and worked for a security company in Galway until last November. It is understood he was sent the US by his company and secured another security job in South America while there.

More:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0419/breaking4.htm

[Judi Lynn]

30. Bolivia: Croatian militants in Evo Morales assassination plot?

Bolivia: Croatian militants in Evo Morales assassination plot?
Submitted by WW4 Report on Sat, 04/18/2009 - 22:33.

President Evo Morales said three men shot dead by an elite National Police squad in the eastern city of Santa Cruz on April 16 were involved in a foiled plot to assassinate him. Police officials said the three men—identified as a Romanian, an Irishman and a Bolivian—were killed after they opened fire on commandos who tried to enter their room on the fourth floor of the Hotel Las Américas. A Hungarian and a Bolivian were taken into custody in connection to the shootout. Bolivia's official news agency described the five men implicated as mercenaries belonging to a "terrorist cell."

The group, suspected by authorities of being behind an April 15 dynamite attack on the home of Santa Cruz Catholic Cardinal Julio Terrazas, was tracked down the following day to the Hotel Las Américas. The ensuing gun-battle killed Arpad Magyarosi, a Romanian; Irishman Michael Martin Dwyer; and Eduardo Rozsa Flores, a Bolivian-Hungarian named as ringleader. Authorities say Rozsa Flores fought in the war for Croatian independence in the 1990s, where he commanded a paramilitary group. He was later involved in the right-wing autonomy movement in Santa Cruz, and was named as a member of Opus Dei. The two arrested men were named as Mario Francisco Tasik Astorga, 58, another veteran of the Croatian war, and Elot Toaso, a Hungarian computer expert.

The two detained men were formally charged with "terrorism" by a court in La Paz, where they have been transfered, and authorities say they have already found evidence linking the cell to the Santa Cruz autonomy movement. One anonymous source told the official Bolivian Information Agency the men "were economically financed" by powerful Santa Cruz interests. (BBC News, ABI, April 18; NYT, April 17; Bolpress, Bolpress, April 16)

http://www.ww4report.com/node/7212

[Judi Lynn]

31. Please look over an important article posted by Democracyinkind in LBN.

Check his remarkable link:
New Discoveries Reveal US Intervention in Bolivia November 2, 2008

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3838405#3838413

See what he learned from records through the FOIA, and see this photo of the USAID building in Bolivia, still doing a land office business there, financing opposition, organizing opposition, around the clock:

http://www.bigwood.biz.nyud.net:8090/USAID-expedite/20081008-155026-BO.jpg

Unexpected dirty underhanded backstabbing meddling where we don't belong. The governments of other countries are their business. Period.

[Ghost Dog]

32. That building looks very helpful.

For sure. Yeah.

Everybody knows what USAid is for.

[Judi Lynn]

33. Croatia: Morales murder plot suspect 'wanted to form separatist army'

Croatia: Morales murder plot suspect 'wanted to form separatist army'

Zagreb, 22 April (AKI) – A Croat allegedly involved in a plot to kill leftwing Bolivian president Evo Morales said in an interview that he travelled to Bolivia to form a secessionist army in the country's mineral-rich Santa Cruz region.

“They called me from Bolivia, from Santa Cruz, they told me to come home, because the motherland calls,” Eduardo Rosza Flores said in a Hungarian media interview.

The interview was recorded last September and excerpts from it were published on Wednesday by Croatian daily Jutarnji.

Flores, who had dual Bolivian-Croatian nationality, was killed last week in Bolivia in a gunfight with police.

“My task is to form an army in Santa Cruz as soon as possible and to be its leader,” Flores said. “I’m not a mercenary, nor will I ever be, but if motherland needs me I’m going,” said Bolivian-born Flores.

In the interview, recorded just before he travelled to Bolivia, Flores said the Santa Cruz region opposed Morales’ rule and was fighting for autonomy.

“Only if autonomy doesn’t succeed by peaceful means, will we proclaim independence,” he concluded in the interview.

Flores, 49, a Bolivian of Croatian origins, said that his trip to Bolivia was well organised, including his air tickets and illegal crossing of the border from Brazil.

~snip~
Some Bolivian newspapers have made a link with the World War II fake or quisling state in Croatia that was formed by the leader of the separatist Ustashe movement, Ante Pavelic, under the auspices of Hitler and Mussolini.

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.3239993223

[EFerrari]

34. Good. Let the idiot sing his heart out. The information

will be valuable.

And I have to wonder if any of my tax money subsidized his project.

[rabs]

35. Don't think he will be singing

because he is dead and buried. ;-)

[EFerrari]

36. LOL! Well, we know it won't be an angelic choir, in any case.

:)

[rabs]

37. Photos from the Bolivian press

Eduardo Rózsa Flores, doing a Guckert/Gannon stunt.


Michael Dwyer, shot to death


Magyarosi Arpak, shot to death


Eduardo Rózsa Flores, when he was fighting in Balkan war.


Not certain who this guy is.


Irish diplomat Derek Lambe who is in Bolivia to recover the Irishman's rotting corpse.

[Judi Lynn]

38. They seem to have gone over the edge with their narcissistic role playing.

Kinda prophetic, Eduardo Rózsa Flores' taking a photo looking dead in a hotel room surrounded by guns, eh?

I would guess the book on the table is "assassination for dummies."

Thank you for posting these photos, rabs. It really adds depth to this story.

These guys were damned WIERD. What a way to spend someone's one and only life. Hired killer. Creepy.

[Judi Lynn]

39. Flores: Fascist Mercenary and War Criminal

Flores: Fascist Mercenary and War Criminal
Apr 19th, 2009 | By De-Construct.net | In Analysis, Croatia

Flores Accused of Murdering Two Reporters in Croatia
Recently thwarted series of assassinations by the international group of mercenary terrorists hired to behead Bolivian socialist government unearthed several unsavory characters suspected of committing war crimes on the territory of former Yugoslavia, while ethnically cleansing Serbs from their ancestral homes in Slavonia and Serbian Krajina in Croatia.

The following article from 1996, from Belgrade daily Politika, sheds more light on one of them — Spanish-Hungarian neo-Nazi Eduardo Rozsa Flores, also accused of murdering a Swiss and British reporter while serving in Zenga units, Croat paramilitary troops responsible for numerous atrocities against the Serbian population in Croatia.

~~~~~~~
Tracing War Crimes
By Radoje Arsenic, “Politika”, Belgrade, January 4, 1996

Eduardo Flores arrived in Croatia in 1991 as a correspondent of a Spanish weekly. Soon, he joined the infamous Croat paramilitary unit Zenga and became the commander of the “International Brigade”. Now, “Reporters without Frontiers” accuse him of killing two foreign correspondents in Croatia, Swiss Christian Wurtemberg and British photographer Paul Janks.

Eduardo Rozsa Flores, a journalist of Spanish-Hungarian extraction and a citizen of Hungary and Croatia, recently requested accreditation in the U.N. headquarters in Zagreb but was refused. A civilian UN official said that he had been vetted and that it was established that the said journalist was suspected of having committed war crimes and two murders, and “persons suspected of having committed murders are not given press accreditation”.

After a long investigation, the international journalists’ association, “Reporters without Frontiers”, prepared a comprehensive material and forwarded it to the United Nations Security Council which the expert group in Geneva published within its resolution 780. The essence of the said material is that Flores, the correspondent of the Catalonian weekly “La Vanguardia” of Barcelona and the commander of the “International Brigade” within the Croat Zenga’s which operated in Eastern Slavonia at the end of 1991 and in 1992, is directly responsible for the death of two foreign journalists, Swiss Christian Wurtemberg and British photographer Paul Janks, who worked for the German EPA news agency.

~~~~~~~~~~
Croat Officials Pinned Flores’ Murders on Serbs
According to the findings of the “Reporters without Frontiers”, the Swiss journalist was brutally murdered in the region of Osijek on 12 January 1992. The autopsy carried out in the Osijek hospital showed that the death had been caused by a rifle bullet and subsequent strangulation with hands and a rope. However, the statement issued by Croat officials said that Wurtemberg, who was in the brigade for about two months, “had been ambushed and killed by the Chetniks while on patrol”.

But the facts are quite different and show that Wurtemberg joined the “International Brigade” in mid-November 1991 using a false identity and hiding his face behind a mask. As established by the “Reporters without Frontiers”, he was trying to investigate and disclose the facts about the war crimes of the “International Brigade” and its connections with ultra-rightist organizations in West European countries whence most of its members were recruited. He was also investigating the routes of trade in arms and narcotics.

During the last week of 1991, Spanish journalist Julio Cesar Alonso came to the headquarters of the “International Brigade” where he ran into his old friend Wurtemberg. Wurtemberg confided in him that he had left the Brigade a few days before and that he intended to return to Switzerland. Several days later, Alonso met with two members of the Brigade — one of them was its commander Flores (rewarded for his merits with Croatian citizenship), in the Zagreb “International” hotel. According to his subsequent testimony, Flores said he had uncovered that a Swiss was “a mole” in the Brigade.

Since Alonso knew that the only Swiss in the Brigade was his friend Wurtemberg, he hurried to Osijek to warn him. In the Brigade headquarters he met Flores again who told him with a smile: “By the way, we solved the problem of Christian. There is no more the problem of the Swiss.”

Although Croat officials claimed Wurtemberg had been “ambushed and killed by the Chetniks”, it is interesting that his laptop disappeared, while his diary was saved and given to his parents, but without several pages which were torn out.

Immediately after the murder of the Swiss correspondent, British photographer Paul Janks came to Osijek after he was informed about Wurtemberg’s death by his colleague who had expressed doubt in the official version Croats issued about Wurtemberg’s death. Janks began to ask questions about the death of his Swiss colleague and four days later (17 January 1992) was killed himself. Again, Croat official version was that he had been “killed by a Serb sniper”, with an accurate shot between the eyes from about 900 metres in the vicinity of the village of Brijest at the outskirts of Osijek.

More:
http://de-construct.net/e-zine/?p=5553

[Judi Lynn]

40. A reminder of another right-winger who went to Bolivia:

Klaus Barbie
A Nazi war criminal known as the 'Butcher of Lyon' who was personally responsible for the torture and death of thousands of Jews. Barbie managed to evade execution for his war crimes by fleeing Europe to Bolivia with the assistance of U.S. intelligence agents.

Profile - Raised To Be A Nazi:
Klaus Barbie, a member of Hitler’s youth brigade, joined the Nazi party in 1937. He earned a reputation of being a sadistic killer while in Lyon where he was the head of the Fourth Section of the Gestapo.

A Personal Award From Hitler:
Hitler personally awarded Barbie the “First Class Iron Cross with Swords� because of the atrocities of torture and murder of over 26,000 people. Barbie was also known for his barbaric act of transporting over 44 Jewish children found hidden in the village of Izieu to the Auschwitz death camp. His arrest, torture, and murder of Jean Moulin, the highest ranking member of the French Resistance ever captured by a Nazi, secured his Nazi career.

A Cowardly Killer:
After the war, Barbie escaped his conviction and death sentence. American intelligence agents protected Barbie and created new identities for him and his family and assisted their relocation to Latin America because of Barbie's "police skills" and anti-Communist enthusiasm. There he lived a comfortable and prosperous life under the name of Klaus Alttman.

Once A Torturer Always A Torturer:
In 1957 Barbie became a citizen of Bolivia and worked as torturer and interrogator in Peru and Bolivia. In 1971 he was discovered by Nazi hunters, the Klarsfelds, but it was not until 1983 that he was deported to France to face charges for the murder of Moulin.

http://crime.about.com/od/murder/p/db_barbie.htm

~~~~~~~~~
~snip~
After Germany invaded France in 1941, Barbie became head of operations to control the Resistance, the underground organization of French patriots resisting Nazi rule. He is widely believed to have been responsible for the torture and death of Jean Moulin (1899–1943), the secret head of France's anti-Nazi coalition. As head of the Gestapo security police in Lyon, Barbie also appears to have been responsible for a number of "actions" against innocent French Jews. Among them a raid on an orphanage in the town of Izieu, which sent over fifty boys and girls to the gas chambers at the concentration camp of Auschwitz in Poland.

After Germany invaded France in 1941, Barbie became head of operations to control the Resistance, the underground organization of French patriots resisting Nazi rule. He is widely believed to have been responsible for the torture and death of Jean Moulin (1899–1943), the secret head of France's anti-Nazi coalition. As head of the Gestapo security police in Lyon, Barbie also appears to have been responsible for a number of "actions" against innocent French Jews. Among them a raid on an orphanage in the town of Izieu, which sent over fifty boys and girls to the gas chambers at the concentration camp of Auschwitz in Poland.

More:
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ba-Be/Barbie-Klaus.html

~~~~~~~~~~
Klaus Barbie: women testify of torture at his hands
from the Saturday, March 23, 1987 issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer

LYON, France--In 1944, when she was 13, Simone Lagrange testified yesterday, Klaus Barbie gave her a smile as thin as a knife blade, then hit her in the face as he cuddled a cat at the Gestapo headquarters in Lyon.
Lise Lesevre, 86, said Barbie tortured her for nine days in 1944, beating her, nearly drowning her in a bathtub and finally breaking one of her vertebrae with a spiked ball.

Ennat Leger, now 92, said Barbie "had the eyes of a monster. He was savage. My God, he was savage! It was unimaginable. He broke my teeth, he pulled my hair back. He put a bottle in my mouth and pushed it until the lips split from the pressure."

The three women were among seven people who took the witness stand yesterday to testify against Barbie, the former head of the Gestapo in during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II.

Barbie, 73, is on trial in Lyon, accused of torturing Jews and members of the French Resistance and deporting them to Nazi death camps.

But he did not hear their testimony because he has refused to attend the courtroom sessions since the second day of the trial, as he may do under French law.

He has, however, denied the accusations against him and has contended that his 1983 extradition from Bolivia to France was illegal.

Several of the seven witnesses yesterday sobbed as they told of arrest, torture, rail convoys to the Drancy collection center near Paris and on to concentration camps.

They depicted Barbie as a harsh, sadistic officer ready to resort to any cruelty to extract information.

Lagrange, her voice breaking, recalled the arrest of her father, mother and herself on June 6, 1944, the day Allied troops landed in Normandy to drive back the Germans.

Denounced by a French neighbor as Jews and Resistance fighters, Lagrange and her parents were taken to Gestapo headquarters where a man, dressed in gray and caressing a cat, said Simone was pretty.

"I was a little girl, and wasn't afraid of him, with his little cat. And he didn't look like the typical tall, blond SS officer we were told to beware of," she said.

The man, whom she identified as Barbie, asked her terrified parents for the addresses of their two younger children.

"When we said we did not know, he pulled my hair, hit me, the first time in my life I was slapped," she said.

During the following week, the man hauled her out of a prison cell each day, beating and punching at her open wounds in an effort to obtain the information.

"He always came with his thin smile like a knife blade," she said. "Then he smashed my face. That lasted seven days."

Later that month, Simone and her mother were put aboard a sealed train for the Auschwitz concentration camp on a horror ride "which turned us into different people" and that still gave her nightmares 40 years later.

From Auschwitz, where her mother was gassed, the inmates were marched to Ravensbruck, where only 2,000 of the 25,000 people who began the march arrived alive. On the way, Simone saw her father marching in another convoy.

"A German officer told me to embrace him. As we were about to meet, they shot him in the head," she said. "It wasn't Barbie who pulled the trigger, but it was him who sent us there."

More:
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/barbie.html

~~~~~~~~~
US Terror Co-Dependency from Klaus Barbie to Posada Carriles
by toni solo
www.dissidentvoice.org
June 23, 2005

~snip~
Klaus Barbie -- linking Nazi and US terror
The case of Klaus Barbie is one of the most notorious examples of how the US government cynically used war criminals for its own purposes. After World War Two, Barbie escaped prosecution for the murder of over 4,000 thousand civilians and the deportation of over 7,000 Jews to concentration camps. In Lyon, France, where he eventually stood trial, Barbie was feared as a vicious sadist responsible for overseeing the arrest and torture of more than 14,000 resistance members -- “terrorists” in current US parlance.

With that track record, Barbie was recruited by the US authorities to work for them in US-occupied Germany. When the French authorities sought his arrest in 1956, the US government helped him escape to Bolivia where he assumed the name of Klaus Altmann. In the following decades, he came to work as an interrogator for repressive governments in Peru and Bolivia.

The 1970s was the era of Pinochet and Plan Condor, an international covert action program coordinated by the United States to attack dissident left-wing political groups in South America. It was the time of the Argentine “dirty war,” the Stroessner dictatorship in Paraguay, repression in Uruguay, and the Pinochet tyranny in Chile. Barbie was in his element. In Bolivia in 1980, he actively assisted the corrupt narcotics-based regime of General Meza Garcia take power. Klaus Barbie was finally extradited to France in 1983 and ultimately convicted in 1987 before dying in prison in 1991.

The pattern of US and allied government behavior towards individuals like Barbie and Posada Carriles, throughout multiple terrorist interventions around the world, could hardly be clearer. The US authorities and their allies value highly torturers and terrorists so long as their activities serve the desired ends. The Bush regime's current efforts to protect Posada Carriles, someone with a profile as a torturer and terrorist very similar to Klaus Barbie, are not an aberration. They are a tacit acknowledgement of a long-standing hypocritical norm.

http://dissidentvoice.org/June05/solo0623.htm