Bolivia Mercenaries update

El Gaviero has two posts that neatly sum up in English the latest happenings in the investigation into the mercenary terrorist cell dismantled in Santa Cruz.

• This post sums up the latest arrests and the backbround to what the terrorists were planning.

• This post links the fascists to local Santa Cruz leaders and also to Human Rights Foundation, a very dubious NGO that has some nasty rightwingers behind it, including our old friend the bipolar Alek Boyd.

Two recommended reads to keep you fully up to date. Nice work from blogmeister MG and good to see El Gaviero back and regular, too.

Bolivia: Two arrests and one telescope

Foreword: I prepared this post last night for publication this morning. Later I went over to Bina's place and found she had already covered both subjects...and better than me, too. So if this subject interests you make sure you hightail it over to Bina's and read more and better with a ton more linkies, too.

Late yesterday Bolivian police made two more arrests as they try to mop up the terrorist cell built to certainly force an armed separation of Santa Cruz and most likely assassinte Evo Morales. PL reports that Juan Carlos Gueder Bruno, aged 48 and member of the far-right wing UJC in Santa Cruz (remember the guys with the the Swastikas on their rides?) along with an un-named second person thought at this moment to be a Paraguayan national known as "El Capitan" (the captain) who is known as an arms smuggler and supplier

Intriguingly, the official investigator into the terrorist cell said last night that he would be in a position to provide the names and positions of the people who were funding the group and would be making an announcement today, Wednesday. Watch this space.

Meanwhile, more photos of the defeated terrorists have emerged. Elod Tóasó is one of the two people in the Santa Cruz mercenary gang that didn't die in the shooting. He is presently in a jail cell somewhere in Bolivia waiting his turn to be heard, but when this photo was taken he was hanging out at the expense of the Santa Cruz lodges in one of the swankiest hotels in Santa Cruz, the five star Buganvillas. According to the hotel owners, Tóasó and cohorts were there for a couple of months and they all used false names, too.

Now I don't know about you.........

.......and I'm not the greatest expert on firearms in the world.......

....but that telescope looks like a serious piece of kit to me. Especially as we see it held by a Croatian war veteran who was trained in sniper warfare and likely knows what it means to put a bullet through the head of another human being at long range. So will you all just cut it out with all this innocent victim BS, yeah? This gang:

1) Was in Bolivia to do dirty work.
2) Got caught and are now either dead or in jail.
3) Deserving of nobody's sympathy unless you happen to be fascist apologist scum.

The end.

Bolivia Quiz for New Irish Viewers!

Welcome friends from across the sea in the land of Guinness, green things and small people at ends of rainbows! We're so glad that you've finally realized there's a whole continent somewhere South of uncle's house in Boston MA, even more pleased that you've realized it's made up of different subsections called "countries", too. It's slightly sad that it took the sudden death of an idiot countryman of yours to get you this far, but every cloud, eh...?

So to help you out with your ongoing education about all things Bolivia here we go with our gentle multiple choice quiz entitled:

*****ALL ABOUT EVO*****

All you need to do is study the question and click on the answer you think is correct. And don't worry if you get one wrong as it won't make your interweb machine blow up in front of you. I'll be wishing the best of Irish Blarney luck to you, so I will. Here we go!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A) Acting out a personal fantasy about being an international man of mystery in Bolivia is:
1) Stupid and dangerous
2) Perfectly normal
3) What's Bolivia again?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

B) Foreign nationals working under assumed names for Santa Cruz fascist scum are:
1) Perfectly normal, actually. Happens all the time
2) Slightly suspicious, perhaps
3) Good enough reason from them to be under surveillance, so it is

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

C) Foreign nationals ____________ carry firearms in Bolivia.
1) strictly, stopSTOPstop, mega no-no, cannot under any circumstances
2) always
3) might as well as long as nobody is looking

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

D) Plotting to kill the President of Bolivia is:
1) kind of frowned upon
2) normal behaviour for a "bit o dis bit o dat" Irish dude
3) likely to be the last thing you ever do if you're living in Bolivia

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

E) Irish journalists that pass themselves off as experts about a country they couldn't even find on a map one week ago are:
1) laughable
2) par for the course
3) what's Bolivia again?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

F) According to the Princeton University online dictionary, the definition of the word "denial" is:
1) A river in Egypt
2) A psychiatric defence mechanism that causes illogical rejection of painful thoughts
3) The refusal to recognize that people who don't look like us are normal

Bad news for the Bolivian white supremists: They're losing their Uncle Tom

Savina Cuellar is the Prefect of Chuquisaca Department in Bolivia, the region that includes the historical (and still official) capital city, Sucre. Cuellar is also famous for being the indigenous member of the opposition half moon alliance that tried and failed to topple the legitimate democratic government of Evo Morales this year. A more classic Uncle Tom figure is hard to imagine, as up until now she has shamelessly hitched her political wagon on the power block that includes white supremist shits such as Ruben Costas of Santa Cruz dep't, a man who calls indigenous politicos such as Morales "monkeys" and Leopoldo Fernandez of Pando, now in jail accused of being the mastermind behind the Sept 11th massacre. Up to now the token indigenous member of their fascist uprising has been a useful figure, giving them some semblance of legitimacy amongst the people they otherwise use as quasi-slave labour on their vast landholdings.

However, it seems as though Cuellar is finally getting a dose of shame about the company she keeps. Up to now she has been clearly advocating the "NO" vote in next month's contitutional referendum. Just last month she signed a joint declaration with other rebel prefects that called on people to vote against the new constitution on January 25th, even though said document gives autonomy to Bolivia's departments....exactly what the usurpers have been ostensibly demanding (the reality was "no indios in power", but let's not worry about that too much). But yesterday, Cuellar showed that she was breaking away from her masters by saying, "Every person must vote according to their own conscience. I have not instructed anyone to vote "NO"."

This obvious lie is welcome, of course, but the backtracking must have a reason. Perhaps she's finally got the dose of guilt that would have come sooner or later. Perhaps it's realpolitik to appease angry constituents that have accused her of selling out on many occasions. Perhaps she just realizes the blatantly obvious; the "YES" vote is a sure-fire win on Jan 25th and she doesn't want to be painted as on the losing side. Perhaps perhaps perhaps. But whatever it is, she has just opened up an almighty crack within the racist alliance already in its death throes.

The DEA in Bolivia

So come on, riddle me this one dudettes and dudes:

What were the 37 US Drug Enforcement Agency agents in Bolivia doing with 1,000 (one thousand) M-16 machine guns?

Below is an excerpt from this fascinating report written by Roger Burbach and published in Upside Down World. Will the US keep insisting on Evo's paranoia? Go click that link and read for yourself. Unmissable.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Then on November 1, Morales released a bomb shell by announcing the indefinite suspension of the activities of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Bolivia, and the expulsion of the 37 DEA agents from the country. “Agents of the DEA carried out political espionage, including the financing of delinquent groups,” Morales declared. He pointed to a key U.S. operative involved in these activities: “Steven Faucette, the regional agent of the DEA in Santa Cruz, who on a diplomatic mission of the U.S. embassy made trips to Trinidad and Riberalta [cities in the Media Luna provinces of Beni and Pando, respectively] with the objective of financing the Civics who were committed to carrying out a civic coup.”

Morales went on to disclose that a plane with North American registry called Super King had flown to airports in the Media Luna without registering flight plans or providing notification of “the cargo it transferred to pick up vehicles when it landed on the runway, in clear violation of our national sovereignty.” Bolivian intelligence also discovered seven security houses run by the US “that carried out political espionage,” including telephone surveillance of political, police and military authorities (19)

The DEA and its 37 agents were expelled from the country. The Bolivian government appropriated what amounted to a DEA military arsenal, including airplanes, boats, ground transport vehicles, communications equipment and one thousand M-16 machine guns.

Guess what? Bolivia wants peace...all Bolivia

"Jaw jaw is better than war war."
Winston Churchill (a man who knew about both)

Leaders of Bolivia, militants, national and local governments, indigenous resistance goups, fascist shock troops; please take notice.

Yesterday the United Nations released a survey taken of over 2,000 Bolivians from all departments and all walks of life (margin of error on survey +/-2.11%). The results might surprise people who've never been to Bolivia or bothered to speak to any of its citizens before opening their mouths and opinionating about what's going on. Bolivians recognize the need to change their country, they don't not support violence, they want to two sides to talk for as long as necessary in order to reach an agreement etc etc. and according to the suvey that's as true in the "rebel states" of Santa Cruz and the other medialunas as it is in the eastern pro-Morales states.

Here are some charts that the UN put together to present its findings yesterday. All I've done is translate the question over each one. All in all it looks like the average Bolivians are a lot smarter than the people that claim to be their leaders.

Do you agree with this phrase? It is important that Bolivians support the re-start of dialogue (between the gov't and the medialuna states)

Dark green = strongly agree, green = agree, orange = disagree, red = strongly disagree

Which of these two phrases is closer to your way of thinking?

Green = The country needs to change but without violence:
Red =Some violence is always needed when the country wants to change

Do you agree with the following phrase? However difficult or long it may be, we must continue negotiating until we reach an agreement

Dark green = strongly agree, green = agree, orange = disagree, red = strongly disagree

Do you agree or disagree with the people who say that sometimes violence is needed to support the process of change that the gov't proposes?

Dark green = strongly agree, green = agree, orange = disagree, red = strongly disagree