EVO PRAISES DEMONSTRATORS, CLAIMS USG CONSPIRACY

C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 001359 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/16/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC PTER BL SUBJECT: EVO PRAISES DEMONSTRATORS, CLAIMS USG CONSPIRACY REF: A. LA PAZ 1301 B. LA PAZ 1261 Classified By: EcoPol Chief Mike Hammer reasons 1.4 b,d ¶1. (SBU) Summary: In an interview with a Bolivian magazine reproduced in the leading La Paz newspaper on June 15, Evo again alleged a USG "conspiracy" in Bolivia and suggested a USG plot to kill him. Also on June 15, during an donation in his base of El Alto, President Evo Morales praised the June 9 violent demonstration against the U.S. Embassy and claimed to be "surprised" by the event. End summary. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Evo: "My Respect and Admiration" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (SBU) When Minister of Government Alfredo Rada replaced the La Paz police commander a day after his decision to use gas and water to protect the Embassy, official Bolivian news sources stated that Commander Escobar had been demoted because of his "harsh" repression of the protesters attacking the Embassy. This tacit support for the violence at a diplomatic mission was converted into full-blown Presidential praise on June 15, when President Evo Morales congratulated his followers in El Alto for their actions of June 9. Evo declared that the U.S. Embassy "protects criminals, defends them and hides those who for so many years caused such damage to the Bolivian people, especially (here in) El Alto." Describing the June 9 march as "firm and decisive", Evo went on to congratulate the various planners of the march, including the Central Obrera Regional (COR),the neighborhood federation FEJUVE, and others. Evo described the march as "a grand movement" and offered "my respect, my admiration." To applause, he added, "Congratulations for this great organization, for this great mobilization of leaders, to the FEJUVE, to all the organizations that mobilized." ¶3. (C) Comment: Neither President Evo Morales nor any other representative of the central government has condemned what occurred on June 9. Although during his June 15 speech in El Alto Evo repeated multiple times that he was "surprised by the large mobilization of people," his purported surprise is not credible. The march was publicized for days in advance and was organized by groups who figure among Evo's strongest supporters. In fact, Evo was in El Alto with Cuban Ambassador Dauza the day prior to the demonstration, and the Cuban Ambassador did his part to encourage marchers to descend upon the Embassy by accusing "imperialism" of not respecting "the justice of the people"--a clear reference to the granting of asylum to former Defense Minister Sanchez Berzain. End comment. - - - - - - - - - - Conspiracy Theories - - - - - - - - - - ¶4. (SBU) In a separate interview published on June 15, Evo trotted out his now-familiar allusion to the war in Iraq, saying that in the '50s and '60s the people used weapons against the empire (the United States),but now the empire uses weapons against the people. When asked if he was afraid that the USG "might kill him", Evo responded: "Much more than that. Here conspirators, along with those oligarchic groups, Santa Cruz's secret groups...the fear I have is that the people who support us will decide to rise up against the opposition, and that the minority opposition will cause a large confrontation. That is what I fear." ¶5. (C) Comment: In the week since the June 9 attack on the Embassy, groups of protesters have twice been close enough that we have had to lock down the building (in neither case did the protesters actually arrive at the Embassy.) El Alto leaders continue to threaten reprisals for the decision to grant former Defense Minister Sanchez Berzain asylum, and El Alto councilman Roberto de la Cruz stands by his threat to return to burn the Embassy. In such an environment, even silence from the government would be irresponsible. Instead, Evo himself has chosen to laud the perpetrators of last Monday's violence. With Evo continuing to lose control over parts of Bolivia, ongoing use of the U.S. Embassy as a political symbol is almost assured and more physical confrontations at the Embassy are likely. End comment. GOLDBERG