GOVERNMENT CLAIMS INTERNATIONAL TERRORISTS ARE IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 000593 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/16/2025 TAGS: ASEC PGOV PTER PREL BL SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT CLAIMS INTERNATIONAL TERRORISTS ARE IN SANTA CRUZ REF: LA PAZ 572 Classified By: APP/SC Debra Hevia for reason 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Early April 16, a Bolivian National Police (BNP) SWAT team raided the ExpoCruz fairgrounds in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, reportedly discovering arms and ammunition. Police also raided a downtown hotel, engaging in a firefight and ultimately killing three individuals (reportedly including one Hungarian/Romanian, one Irish national and a Bolivian) allegedly connected with the arms cache. Two others are under arrest. President Morales, on his arrival in Venezuela this morning, claimed that the GOB had been aware of the group for some time and that the group was linked to rightist foes of his administration. (Note: Last Sunday, President Morales alleged that rightist groups supported by the U.S. Embassy were plotting against him.) The Vice President alleged that the group had planned to assassinate President Morales, himself and Prefect Ruben Costas. So far, aside from President Morales, comments last Saturday, the GOB has not alleged any USG involvement. End summary. ¶2. (U) In the pre-dawn hours of April 16, an elite police force flown in from La Paz mounted an operation against alleged international terrorists in Santa Cruz. At five o'clock a.m., the BNP set off a sound device at the Hotel Las Americas, located in the city center. The ensuing firefight resulted in three dead: press reports claim that the deceased were a Hungarian/Romanian national, an Irish national and a Bolivian. Two others were arrested and transferred immediately to La Paz, and a sixth alleged terrorist escaped. Some press reports linked this police operation to the pursuit of the individuals who placed a bomb at Cardinal Julio Terrazas' Santa Cruz residence the night of April 14. ¶3. (C) Parallel to the BNP operation in the city center, the police raided the EXPOCRUZ fairgrounds, and claimed to have found a cache of weapons and ammunition hidden in the stand of telephone cooperative COTAS, one of the hallmark institutions of Santa Cruz. Press reported that the BNP confiscated a shotgun, five rifles, a pistol, two bags of C-4 explosives, a machine gun, and a molotov cocktail. COTAS denied any knowledge of or responsibility for the arms. Embassy contacts who work at the fairgrounds, including the Expocruz organizers from the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Services and Tourism (CAINCO),and the Agricultural Chamber of the East (CAO),told us that they had not been allowed to enter the grounds and could not confirm press reports. Embassy police contacts also could not confirm the information, as it is being closely held within the top levels of the Bolivian government. International Terrorists to Destabilize Bolivia? -------------- --- ¶4. (U) In a press conference from Venezuela, President Evo Morales said the police had carried out the operation against a group of "international mercenaries" that were part of a plot to assassinate President Morales, Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, and Minister of the Presidency Ramon Quintana. He claimed the Bolivian "right" was responsible. Vice-Minister of Government Marcos Farfan told press that the group was made up of international terrorists, who had been recruited to come to Bolivia, and that documents acquired by the government showed they had plans to attack Morales, Garcia Linera, and Santa Cruz Prefect Ruben Costas. (Comment: Why Costas would be a target is unclear as he is a vocal opponent of the regime. End comment.) When the press asked why the Santa Cruz local police and prosecutors had not been involved in the operation, Farfan said "We are investigating a very serious act...We have to clarify who contracted them, why they were hired, and who financed them." ¶5. (U) Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera spoke to the press at mid-day and said that after the bombing of the Cardinal's residence, the government ordered a rapid investigation. He confirmed that federal, rather than local, prosecutors would be pursuing the case, as it involved a highly-dangerous and heavily-armed group of Bolivians and foreign mercenaries. Morales had instructed that the operation be carried out before departing for Venezuela. Not only were weapons and explosives found, Garcia Linera said, but also plans for future attacks, and the government had recently detected surveillance against high-level officials. Santa Cruz Prefect Out on a Limb -------------- ¶6. (C) The police operations set off panic in Santa Cruz society. Many Crucenos jumped to the conclusion that the weapons cache had been planted by the police in the COTAS stand at EXPOCRUZ, and that the government would use it as an excuse to take over COTAS and arrest the leaders of CAINCO and CAO (both groups represent vocal opposition to the Morales administration). Some of the leaders reportedly went into hiding. There were also rumors that the terrorists were Croatian, which could link them to former civic committee president Branko Marinkovic, of Croatian heritage. In a press statement soon after the operations were made public, Prefect (Governor) Ruben Costas called them irregular, anomalous, and illegal, as they were organized in La Paz and excluded Santa Cruz police and prosecutors. He claimed the government was mounting an accusation against COTAS, CAINCO, CAO, and EXPOCRUZ about a civic-prefect-oligarchy coup attempt, and called it a deplorable show. In his own press conference, Garcia Linera insisted rumors that the government wanted to intervene in COTAS were false, and that the declarations of Costas were designed to obscure the truth. He called on the Prefect to collaborate in the investigation. President Previously Linked Paramilitary Groups and U.S. -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) The government's assertion that there is an international terrorist group operating in Bolivia is worrisome. Equally worrisome would be a possible attempt to link the alleged terrorists to the U.S. Embassy. On April 12, Morales said in a media interview, "I have information that there truly are paramilitaries in Bolivia, especially in Santa Cruz; we are not sleeping, we know how they are organizing themselves....Perhaps our days are numbered, because they are preparing themselves, and the Bolivian people should know that, if something happens to Evo, or Alvaro, or a minister, it is the work of the fascist right that is organizing with the support of the Embassy of the United States....What other plans might they have? What else are the instruments of the empire preparing in Bolivia or in the world?" (reftel) Press reports on the events in Santa Cruz have reminded the public about the President's allegations just five days ago. We would not be at all surprised by a GOB attempt to link the U.S. Embassy to these recent violent events in Santa Cruz. Comment: Murky Facts, Many Conspiracy Theories -------------- - ¶8. (C) In true Bolivian style, the conspiracy theories far outnumber the confirmed facts. There was a bomb a the Cardinal's house, followed two days later by a police shoot-out that left three people dead. The government seems to be setting up an accusation that a source inside Bolivia is recruiting and financing international terrorists to destabilize the country, and could well point a finger at the U.S. Meanwhile, in Santa Cruz, people firmly believe the entire event was orchestrated and carried out by the government itself. URS