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