Bolivian president accuses U.S. of assassination attempt

[kskiska]

La Paz — Leftist President Evo Morales said Tuesday the U.S. government had organized groups to kill him and said he believed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's assertion that Washington was preparing to overthrow his administration.

“I've been informed recently how the U.S. had organized teams — groups to persecute Evo Morales, to kill Evo Morales. They haven't been able to and now we're organized, from unions to this political party and they can't stop us anymore,” Mr. Morales said, without giving more details.

The U.S. Embassy in Bolivia called the charges “baseless.”

“We're supporting democracy in Bolivia in a consistent manner and are looking for a constructive relationship with the Bolivian government based on dignity, mutual respect and common interests,” the Embassy said in a statement Tuesday.

more…
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060531.wbolivia0530/BNStory/International/home

[upi402]

1. "mutual respect"? "dignity"?

Wow. Pretty scary when the US government uses *those* words! Wonder what's up.

[fooj]

2. Baseless?

[xxqqqzme]

3. 'baseless'...'supporting democracy'...

'dignity, mutual respect and common interests'....yep, something is being planned.

[Judi Lynn]

4. The ambassador, David N. Greenlee is a true slime. He has been

mucking around Bolivia far too long.

Here's a reference to his warning of a pending assassination planned for Evo Morales:

A few weeks ago, after the February 11 to 13 rebellion in La Paz, there was an action – it can’t be called “undercover” – to destabilize, or, as the leader of the Movement toward Socialism party (MAS) says: To threaten the principal leaders of the party of the coca growers and the other Bolivian social movements with death.


“I got a letter yesterday…”

On Saturday morning, March 22nd, Congressman and coca growers’ leader Evo Morales met with the Vice President of Bolivia, the former journalist Carlos Mesa. The Vice President delivered a “letter” sent directly from the office of Ambassador Greenlee. This same letter, days before, had been delivered by Mesa to the Senate Leader for the MAS party, the veteran union and social leader Filemón Escóbar.

The document, a white page without stationary nor anyone’s signature, said that the United States Embassy had obtained “trustworthy” information about a supposed coup d’etat that the MAS was planning for April, together with “key military personnel.” According to the “diplomatic” letter, the leaders of this witchcraft would be Antonio Peredo Leigue, the former Vice Presidential candidate for the MAS and current National Congressman, and the same Evo Morales, but that “internal struggles inside the party might delay the execution of this plan, and might even make the execution of this plan impossible so that it won’t happen.”

Internal fights? Well, certainly events prior to the delivery of this singular “letter” from Mr. Greenlee had demonstrated that problems exist inside of the MAS party, but the reference made by the document is much more serious: “There is a group inside of MAS that wants to see Evo Morales and Filemón Escóbar assassinated during this coup in April.” .......
(snip/...)

http://www.narconews.com/Issue29/article720.html



Greenlee
Greenlee background, from same article:

According to a report published in the biweekly Bolivian magazine, El Juguete Rabioso (“The Rabid Toy”), Greenlee’s relation to this country dates back to 1965, when the new ambassador served as a Peace Corps volunteer. Later, he left for Vietnam, and became an expert in undercover operations in the US “diplomatic” schools… where he shared experiences with the ex “Southern Command chief Gary Speer, and with Otto Reich.”

As you recall, Otto Reich is the _Bush scum who engineered the American support for the Venezuelan coup against Hugo Chavez, and who acted as a relentless agent of Disinformation in the Office of Public Diplomacy in the State Department for Ronald Reagan during Iran Contra, and came under censure by the U.S. Senate.

[arikara]

5. Do countries have any say over who they accept as ambassador?

Can't they refuse to allow these scum into their countries?

[Judi Lynn]

6. I'll bet any countries which have been dependent upon U.S. aid

have been unable to have choices.

Evo Morales appears willing to start challenging this helpless condition, however, and _Bush already plans to rip away almost all his Bolivia budget, which will anger the Bolivian military, and open the possibility of recruiting disgruntled officers for yet ANOTHER _Bush-backed South American coup!

Bush Budget Would Cut Military Aid to Bolivia by 96 Percent Thursday, February 9th 2006

Joel Brinkley, New York Times

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 — Less than a month after an assertively anti-American president took office in Bolivia, the Bush administration is planning to cut military aid to the country by 96 percent.

The amount of money Bolivia normally receives is small; much of it is used to train Bolivian military officers in the United States. But the cut holds the potential to anger Bolivia's powerful military establishment, which has been responsible for a long history of coups.

Evo Morales, a Socialist leader, became president on Jan. 22 and has promised to end American-financed programs to eradicate Bolivia's coca crop. Coca is the main ingredient in cocaine. United States officials say if Bolivia ends the programs, farmers in Peru and other coca-producing states could demand the same. That could lead to a flood of cheap cocaine in the Americas and Europe.

The State Department said the military aid is being cut because of a law that says Washington must end military assistance to countries that have failed to ratify a pledge not to extradite Americans to the International Criminal Court. The Bush administration does not recognize the court as legitimate. Under pressure, just over 100 countries have signed an agreement. The administration has in some cases waived the rule and provided military aid to countries that have not signed, but officials would not provide numbers.
(snip)

In the current fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2005, Bolivia is to receive about $1.7 million. Next year, according to the budget proposal, Bolivia would get only $70,000. Just over half of this year's money would be used for civil defense supplies and other nonlethal equipment. Another $792,000 would be used primarily to send Bolivian military officers to the School of the Americas in Georgia. In recent years, Bolivia has sent between 50 and 100 officers a year to the school, said Adam Isacson, program director for the Center for International Policy, which tracks military aid to Latin America. Cutting the financing "would antagonize the Bolivian military," he added.

Jaime Aparicio, the Bolivian ambassador to Washington, agreed that the aid cut would anger the military, adding that "this is not going to help the United States interest in Bolivia."
(snip/...)

http://www.soaw.org/new/newswire_detail.php?id=1046

[melm00se]

8. they can

refuse accreditation but that is a rare, extreme and highly provocative move by the host government.

[goforit]

7. Leave it to the stupid ass administration to repeat the same crime!

[robcon]

9. This guy Morales is a nut job.

Worse than Chavez.

[Mika]

15. What's even worse, is that Morales and Chavez are.....

... are you ready?.... friends with Castro! ((((GASP!!))) :scared:

[Minstrel Boy]

16. "I like Fidel Castro and his beard"

Well, I couldn't leave
Unless the old man chased me out,
'Cause I'd already promised
That I'd milk his cows.
I had to say something
To strike him very weird,
So I yelled out,
"I like Fidel Castro and his beard."
Rita looked offended
But she got out of the way,
As he came charging down the stairs
Sayin', "What's that I heard you say?"

I said, "I like Fidel Castro,
I think you heard me right,"
And ducked as he swung
At me with all his might.
Rita mumbled something
'Bout her mother on the hill,
As his fist hit the icebox,
He said he's going to kill me
If I don't get out the door
In two seconds flat,
"You unpatriotic,
Rotten doctor Commie rat."

- Bob Dylan, "Motorpsycho Nightmare"

Well, it is a great beard. :)



When his old friend Pierre Trudeau died, honourary pallbearer Fidel Castro declared three days of mourning and the flags flown at half-mast. I guess Trudeau liked his beard, too.

[hibbing]

25. I'm a clean cut kid and I been to college too

Nice, fun song. I take it you know Bear Mountain Picnic?

Peace,
hibbing

[killbotfactory]

28. Just like Nelson Mandela

[Pavulon]

10. America is why..

bolivia is a poor landlocked nation. Exxon is trying to kill me...nationalisim is a great smokescreen...

Proof, umm, hey look over there!

[Gato Moteado]

12. yeah, the poor, landlocked nation can't be ALL our fault....

....i mean at least i doubt it is the fault of the US that bolivia is landlocked. i think peru and chile are the countries that get in the way of beachfront property for bolivia.

[K-W]

24. They arent a poor nation, they are a rich nation full of poor people. EOM

[KingFlorez]

11. I'm sure he has good reason

Since Bush thinks Leftist are evil and are a threat

[Walt Disney]

13. This guy may actually challenge Hugo in the paranoia department.

Then again, a fascist must always be aware of what's behind him. :crazy:

[Minstrel Boy]

14. Ever heard of the Cocaine Coup?

Here's a little history lesson, pulled from a post on my blog last December. See if you can recognize the fascists:


...on July 17, 1980, "los Novios de la Muerte" - narcotics traffickers and mercenaries recruited by fugitive Nazi and CIA asset Klaus Barbie - overthrew the democratic government of Bolivia in the "Cocaine Coup." Cocaine production increased dramatically and America was flooded with the cheap drug. In his essay on the drug war's shills in Kristina Borjesson's Into the Buzzsaw, 25-year DEA veteran Michael Levine writes that "there are few events in history that have caused more and longer-lasting damage to our nation." Bolivians could say the same.

Levine made headlines two months prior to the coup when his DEA sting netted Bolivian cartel leaders Roberto Gasser and Alfredo Gutierrez outside a Miami bank. He had paid them $8 million for the then-largest ever seizure of cocaine. Just a few weeks later Gasser and Gutierrez were released, thanks to pressure from the CIA and the State Department, and weeks after that both men and their cartels became principal financiers of the coup, and were rewarded by the new regime with squads of neo-Nazis to bully their competition.

And then there's Sun Myung Moon. Robert Parry remembers that one of the first international well-wishers who travelled to La Paz to congratulate the putschists was Moon's right hand Bo Hi Pak, former publisher of The Washington Times and "Koreagate" principal, who declared "I have erected a throne for Father Moon in the world's highest city." Later disclosures from the Bolivian government strongly suggested that Moon's organization had heavily invested in the coup, and Parry writes that in 1981 "war criminal Barbie and Moon leader Thomas Ward were often seen together in apparent prayer." Lt. Alfred Mario Mingolla, an Argentine intelligence officer recruited by Barbie, described Ward as his "CIA paymaster." His monthly salary was drawn from the offices of Moon's anti-communist umbrella organization, CAUSA. (As we've seen, Moon still has a huge stake in South America, having purchased the land above the world's largest fresh water aquifer, in Paraguay. These people play a long game.)

"Meanwhile," Parry adds, "Barbie started a secret lodge, called Thule. During meetings, he lectured to his followers underneath swastikas by candlelight." Old habits, hardly dying, and a polyglot web of fascist patrons unashamed to profit by the labours of their Nazi lieutenants.

And here's another would-be funny thing: there were no American headlines about all of that. None at all.

So, let's see now if you can spot the fascist:



Fugitive Nazi and CIA asset Klaus Barbie (his Bolivian papers)


Democratically elected President of Bolivia, Evo Morales

Take your time, and think hard.

[drduffy]

17. Naw.... it's just the US govt. has a long history

of offing or attempting to 'off' 'uncooperative' latin and south american leaders. As is better documented by others on this forum. To insinuate otherwise is 1) calling Morales and Chavez of lying (who knows?) --- but no matter how much they lied they couldn't compete with georgie, and 2) flying in the face of fairly substantial inductive evidence that makes the truth of what they say more probable.

I've learned so much crap - over the last year - about the US and it's 'benign' policies toward governments which do not act in accord with U.S. economic interests.... I would frankly be surprised if they had not had some contingency plan in play regarding Morales. And, of course, they already tried once with Chavez.

It is all coming to a head. And the U.S. Empire, I think, is going to be stymied. It is ... seeming.... that the whole world (except Howard and Tony) is reacting to us as if we are a pariah. Gee, go figure. Iran and the countries allying with Russia/China, China involved in much of Africa where the oil is, and China having trade agreements with at least Venezuela and Brazil. And much of South America leaning left. We are going to fail to achieve global hegemony, I think. I also believe that we could have done so much better to help the world face peak oil and climate change had we worked cooperatively rather than following the paranoid ideation of the neocons and corporatists.... What losers. And now we have lost as well. ..... Oh well.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

20. paranoid-i have two words for you:salvador allende

when they lock up kissinger for that one, then maybe you can say morales' comments are purely fanciful

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

21. 4 more: school of the americas

directly involved in the murder of archbishop oscar romero

[killbotfactory]

30. Start reading about US history in that region

Here's a good place to start.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/index.html#Latin%20America

[Judi Lynn]

33. Oh, jeez. That's a GREAT resource. God forbid some of these yahoos

should actually take time to do some reading on the subjects on which they blast forth daily. The facts would simply disorient them.

[redqueen]

35. Facts? Facts? They'll decide what's a fact and what's not!

:rofl:

[CHIMO]

18. Former “Economic Hit Man” John Perkins on “The First Truly Global Empire”

Former “Economic Hit Man” John Perkins on “The First Truly Global Empire” and its Impact on Latin America


AMY GOODMAN: When you say you failed, you mean what?

JOHN PERKINS: Well, I was sent in to Panama to bring Omar Torrijos around, to bring him into our system, and he refused to do that. He said, ‘Look, I know if I play your game’ -- he told me directly -- ‘If I play your game, I'll become very rich. But that's not what interests me. I want to help my poor people.’ And, so he said, ‘You can either get out of Panama or play the game my way.’ Well, we decided to stay and try to bring him around. He never would come around. And I knew all along that if I failed to bring this man around something dire would happen to him. And, you know, this is what’s going on in Latin America right now. Evo Morales is being visited this week by an economic hit man who’s going into his office saying, ‘Congratulations, Mr. President –’

AMY GOODMAN: Who? Who is he being visited by?

JOHN PERKINS: Well, an economic hit man who has to remain nameless at this point, but --

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to leave it there for right now; but this is just part one of our conversation, as we come to the end of our hour. We're talking to John Perkins. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is his book, from a man who’s done it, who’s been there, who calls himself an economic hit man.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/03/1435206&mode=thread&tid=25

[Judi Lynn]

19. This is excellent. I'd like to include more from your link:

....No, I never worked directly for the N.S.A., I worked for a company called Chas T. Main, big consulting firm out of Boston. And these days almost all of this work is done by private contractors. It’s not done directly by the C.I.A. or the N.S.A. They may recruit us, but we work for private industry.

The same is true of the jackals, Amy. If economic hit men fail, which we don’t usually do (but I did in Panama, for example, and I tell in detail in the book about how that ended up) – but my failure ended up in a jackal going in and assassinating Omar Torrijos, the president of Panama. When economic hit men fail, the jackals go in and either overthrow governments or assassinate leaders; and they, too, do not work directly for the government. These days, they’re private contractors. The days of the government agent, the 007, who’s licensed to kill, are long gone.
(snip)

Right from the horse's mouth.

Thank you so much. What John Perkins has to say in one small interview is worth more than 1,000 years of gibbering from every right-wing loon who will hurl himself at this message board trying to ridicule and discredit him. This man knows whereof he speaks.

Truly appreciate this info.

[Poll_Blind]

22. Hrm, looks like Boosh wants to add some more stars to the flag.

Those should be black, though, for oil.

PB

[BrotherBuzz]

23. I shudder at that thought. Don't we add states in pairs?

Where will it be? North Korea? Iran? Anything's possible with Commander Cuckoo Bananas in charge!

[Judi Lynn]

26. Jindal Steel to ink mega mine deal with Bolivia

Jindal Steel to ink mega mine deal with Bolivia

AGENCIES< THURSDAY, JUNE 01, 2006 09:20:14 AM>

LA PAZ: Bolivia's government has said it was nearing a deal with Jindal Steel and Power Limited on a potential $2.3-billion mega-mine concession for one of the world's biggest deposits of iron ore.

Juan Ramon Quintana, a presidential spokesman, said on Wednesday that the last phase of negotiations was on the share of profits reserved for the Bolivian state "so that the one benefiting most is Bolivia."

The government had expected to make an announcement sooner but one was now expected possibly as early as the weekend, Development Planning Minister Carlos Villegas said.

Jindal is the lone bidder on the concession in Mutun, in the country's east, believed to hold 40 billion tonnes of iron ore and 10 billion tonnes of magnesium.

Quintana said Jindal was expected to invest $2.3-2.5 billion over the next eight years, and that the project could create 10,000 jobs directly and 30,000 indirectly.
(snip/...)

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1600678.cms

[BrotherBuzz]

34. Imagine that, an industrial giant willing to play by the rules...

This is a win win situation for both Jindal and Bolivia.

According to Jindal Steel's propaganda, they have a strong social commitment to the community they conduct business in, and I think it will appeal to the Bolivian population. Let's hope this endeaver is a success and becomes the standard by which other corporate entities conduct business in Bolivia .

The people are the pillars of strength in any organization. So the task of employee welfare has been taken up with commitment and imagination at the Jindal Organization.

Jindal were amongst the first to introduce free housing, subsidized meals, free transport, medical benefits and recreational and other facilities for workers in the Hisar industrial belt.

Such trend-setting efforts, however, have not been confined to its factories. Jindal has also worked for the welfare of the community at large.

Wherever Jindal sets up base, it makes true the aspirations of the towns it owns. This is especially true in the areas of education, health and infrastructural facilities. N C Jindal Public School, New Delhi; the 500-bed N C Jindal Hospital, Hisar; Vidya Devi Jindal School, Hisar; Jindal High School, Vasind are some examples. Another milestone in the field of community development was accomplished when, on 19th December 1998, Adult Education classes were started in Berhana village near the SAW Pipes Ltd. (Kosi Kalan).

[truth2power]

27. Well, that settles it...

"“We're supporting democracy in Bolivia..."

The Great US Empire doesn't support or promote democracy anywhere in the world. Never has. Never will.

If our embassy is babbling about "democracy" I guess that means the charges are true. :eyes:

[killbotfactory]

29. It would be odd if we weren't plotting to bring him down.

He's a threat to our "regional interests". That's all that matters to the thugs in washington.

[WhiteTara]

31. yeah right they support democracy in Bolivia

just like they supported Allende on 9/11/72
:grr:

[killbotfactory]

32. We support democracy in Latin America

Provided their democracy does what we want them to.