- Title: BOLIVIA: Presidential assassination plot thwarted
- Date: 18th April 2009
- Summary: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (APRIL 16, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE TWO ARRESTED ASSASSIN SUSPECTS ARRIVING IN POLICE VEHICLE GENERAL VIEW OF GOVERNMENT PALACE BOLIVIAN VICE PRESIDENT ALVARO GARCIA LINERA IN NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BOLIVIAN VICE PRESIDENT ALVARO GARCIA LINERA, SAYING "The detection [was of] a band of foreign and Bolivian mercenary terrori
- Embargoed: 3rd May 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA2PA70TEXU6YYAXQYIA7RZOIXM
- Story Text: Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Thursday (April 16) that 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, a socialist, is Bolivia's first indigenous president and has faced tough opposition in relatively wealthy regions of the country.
Police chief Hugo Escobar said two Hungarians and one Bolivian were killed in the shootout in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz. He said two people had been arrested.
"They went to arrest five foreign citizens but, unfortunately, the men opened fire, threatening the security of our police officers. Naturally, the police reacted and we regret the deaths of three people, one of them a Bolivian and the other two of Hungarian nationality," Escobar said.
Morales said he had information that the plot was to kill him, the vice president and a cabinet minister.
The two other members of the suspected assassination party were arrested and transported by police to the administrative capital of La Paz.
Morales said an Irish person may have also been involved.
Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera linked the group to a bomb explosion on Wednesday outside the home of a Roman Catholic cardinal.
"The detection [was of] a band of foreign and Bolivian mercenary terrorists, an extremely dangerous band. This group of mercenaries was made up of foreigners and some Bolivians and has put at risk not only the security of the spiritual guide of the Catholic Church [referring to Julio Terrazas] but also the personal security of top authorities from the national government, including the presidential department," Garcia Linera said.
Police said a "dynamite attack" had been launched on the Santa Cruz home of Cardinal Julio Terrazas, a religious figure who said last year he opposed many of the reforms made by Morales. No one was injured in that attack.
Morales has announced several plots against him in the past but the results of investigations have never been released, causing some Bolivians to doubt their veracity.
Last year, right-wing opposition groups launched violent protests against a new referendum promoted by Morales that gives the indigenous majority more power.
Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia in September, accusing him of encouraging the protests in a bid to oust him.
The president ended a five day hunger strike on Tuesday after lawmakers passed an electoral law that creates more seats in indigenous areas where his support is strongest. Morales had stopped eating to pressure for the law to be passed.
Critics say the law stacks the electoral field in his favor ahead of a December presidential election that the former coca farmer is expected to win. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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