Bolivian ex-official sued over '03 riot deaths (tracked down in Florida)

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Bolivian ex-official sued over '03 riot deaths
A former Bolivian defense minister was sued over his alleged role in atrocities in his country -- a case he says is politically inspired by President Evo Morales.

Posted on Tue, Oct. 16, 2007

BY ALFONSO CHARDY
[email protected]

A former Bolivian defense minister now living in Pinecrest is accused in a federal lawsuit of ''crimes against humanity'' in the deaths of 67 people, among them children, during bloody labor riots four years ago in Bolivia.

The former official, Carlos Sánchez-Berzaín, says he welcomes the lawsuit -- it alleges he allowed security forces to massacre civilians during the protests -- as a way to ``expose the truth.''

He blames the deaths on President Evo Morales, who was among the coca growers and labor chiefs who helped lead the protests. It was a rebellion ''inspired by the Cuban ideology'' and funded by Venezuela's government, Sánchez-Berzaín said.
(snip)

The lawsuit was filed in Florida. A similar suit in Maryland accuses Bolivia's then-president, Gonzálo Sánchez de Lozada, of human rights violations involving the same protests. After weeks of bloody riots, Sánchez de Lozada fled to the United States on Oct. 17, 2003, accusing Morales of leading a violent rebellion.

The two lawsuits were filed in September by lawyers with the Center for Constitutional Rights and other human rights lawyers. Judith Chomsky, one of the center's lawyers, said evidence should convince juries that Sánchez-Berzaín and Sánchez de Lozada -- no relation -- are liable for ''extrajudicial killings'' and ``crimes against humanity.''

Among the poignant deaths described in the lawsuit: that of 8-year-old Marlene Nancy Rojas Ramos. Her parents are among the plaintiffs.

Marlene was killed by a sharpshooter.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/story/272897.html

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Carlos Sánchez-Berzaín, sitting with former
Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada

[Solon]

1. I really hate it that the United States is a haven for some of the worse human rights violators...

especially of Latin America.

[formercia]

2. They come here because the US has been a haven for NAZIs

ever since the end of WWII.

All they have to say is they are anti-communist.

There is a well established support network to get them settled.