Bolivia asks U.S. if granted ex-minister asylum

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivia asks U.S. if granted ex-minister asylum
Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:11pm EDT
By Adriana Garcia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bolivia's leftist government asked Washington to disclose whether it granted political asylum to a former defense minister accused of ordering violent crackdowns against protesters five years ago.

Ambassador Gustavo Guzman, Bolivia's envoy in Washington, told Reuters on Tuesday he sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. State Department seeking explanation after former Defense Minister Carlos Sanchez Berzain said last week he had been granted political asylum.

"This type of incident obviously complicates relations between Bolivia and the U.S., it darkens them. It's not what we seek," Guzman said.

The two-year-old government of President Evo Morales has differed repeatedly with the United States over drug-fighting policy and has accused U.S. officials of spying on Cubans and Venezuelans in Bolivia and funding the opposition.

Sanchez Berzain and ex-President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada are accused in Bolivia of ordering a military crackdown on anti-government protests in October 2003, when 60 people died and hundreds were injured.

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN103505...

[Judi Lynn]

1. Former Bolivian defense minister given US asylum

Former Bolivian defense minister given US asylum
1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Bolivia's former defense minister Carlos Sanchez Berzain was granted political asylum in the United States last year, after saying he feared persecution by the government of Evo Morales, according to documents released in Washington Tuesday.

Sanchez Berzain received political asylum in April 2007 after telling US authorities that he feared he would be "persecuted and tortured" by the government of Bolivia's newly-elected leftist president, according to documents released by La Paz's embassy in Washington.

"I have endured numerous unfounded allegations against me by Morales in the past, and now I fear that his new powers as president will allow him to silence me once and for all," Sanchez Berzain wrote in his asylum petition.

The former defense minister added that Morales was particularly opposed to his efforts to combat drug-trafficking, in a country famous for its cultivation of the coca plant used in the production of cocaine.

The current Bolivian government is said to be considering an extradition request against Sanchez Berzain for his role in a 2003 army crackdown that led to the deaths of some 60 civilian protesters.

Bolivia's ambassador to Washington, Gustavo Guzman, said the revelation about Sanchez Berzain's US asylum "complicates" already strained bilateral relations.

"It is irritating, it complicates relations between Bolivia and the United States," he said.

More:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gn0zP4yoqTmbs0cbwNT...

[subsuelo]

5. Berzain is represented by top Obama foreign policy advisor Greg Craig

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/05/a-man-a...

Craig also represents Carlos Sánchez-Berzaín, the Bolivian Defense Minister who has been accused in a federal lawsuit of "crimes against humanity" because of his alleged role in the suppression of labor union riots in 2003 that resulted in the deaths of 67 people.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Nearly fell out of my chair hearing that, subsuelo. Isn't that a shock?

David Craig also, as you may recall, acted as the attorney for Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the father of the child who was held prisoner for months in Miami by the drunken grand-uncle and his hysterical family, which was being handled by the Cuban American National Foundation as they fought like wildmen to keep the boy from returning to his childhood home and family in Cuba around 2000, and caused the international incident when they refused to relinquish the child, turn him over to federal authorities, and Janet Reno had to send in INS agents in the dead of night (avoiding a violent riot from the thugs holed up in neighboring houses, and the horde normally crowding around the house in the daytime).

David Craig seemed like a really clean man at that time. Wouldn't have dreamed he'd do this in a thousand years. You can't do worse than to protect a genocidal mass murderer.

[subsuelo]

7. Generally nothing shocks me too much anymore

But this was surprising.

[magbana]

2. MACHETERA: Bolivians Tell US Ambassador of Ethnic Cleansing Where to Go, Plus Video

GO TO SITE TO SEE VIDEO
http://machetera.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/bolivians-tel... /


Bolivians tell U.S. Ambassador of ethnic cleansing where to go
June 10, 2008 · No Comments

Cast your mind back to 2003 when the government of Bolivia announced its plans to send its natural gas to the U.S. via a pipeline through Chile. The Bolivians in El Alto, who don’t have access to their own gas, were enraged, and took to the streets, where the Bolivian army, under the direction of Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, gunned them down. Now Sánchez Berzaín is (naturally) being welcomed by the United States. Dan Keane filed a remarkably even-handed report for the Associated Press, here. Still, Machetera prefers to go to the local source. Bolpress’s account follows the video (in Spanish) which begins with one of the demonstrators talking about how foreigners have apparently still not learned the meaning of the word “respect”:

Thousands of Citizens from El Alto Surround the U.S. Embassy in La Paz

Bolpress

Translation: Machetera

Thousands of citizens from the city of El Alto surrounded the U.S. Embassy building in La Paz, after breaking through several police security cordons. At the doors of the diplomatic headquarters, the citizens of El Alto demanded the expulsion of Ambassador Philip Goldberg after the government of his country granted political asylum to an ex-minister facing trial for genocide in Bolivia.

FULL ARTICLE AT:
http://machetera.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/bolivians-tel... /

[Judi Lynn]

3. Saw the video attached to the article. Really, really nice. I hope Goldberg swallowed his tongue.

It may be _Bush is going to go bull-goose Reagan, against the progressive tide in South America, but maybe it's simply time for the people to start pooling their resources and making a stand. He will NOT win.

There was a link with the article I want to see later which looked interesting:
http://wordpress.com/tag/the-coming-latin-american-war /

Should be worth studying.

Thanks for this info., and it was very much a pleasure to see the video. More power to them.

[magbana]

4. Glad you got a chance to see the video

Yes, the video was good. I t looks like the link about "the coming latin american war" displaysa a long list of Machetera's
posts from her blog.