Posted on 04/18/2009 6:25:31 PM PDT by zaphod3000
Mystery deepened on Friday surrounding the breakup of a suspected assassination plot against Bolivian president Evo Morales that left three dead, as opposition leaders cast doubt on the government's story and said it was using the plot to influence coming elections.
The hazy details of what happened on Thursday, in accounts by Bolivian authorities, seem lifted from the pages of a Hollywood script. An alleged plot against the president and other top officials was broken up by an elite police squad. Three men were killed in their underwear after a half-hour shootout at a hotel. Allegedly among the dead were an Irishman and two Hungarians, one of them a battle-hardened veteran of the Balkans war and author who starred in a 2001 Hungarian movie about his own life called "Chico."
SNIP
Bolivian police said the three men, killed in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, and two others who were arrested were part of a wide plot by "mercenary cells" to assassinate public figures, commit terrorist acts, and possibly overthrow Bolivia's government.
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Santa Cruz is a hotbed of political opposition in Bolivia, and local officials on Friday questioned the government's version. Rubén Costas, prefect of the department of Santa Cruz, said the police operation may have been a "show" aimed at destabilizing opposition movements, who hope to challenge Mr. Morales in presidential elections in December.
The killings of the suspects came during a week of strange events. On Wednesday, an explosive device detonated in front of the home of Cardinal Julio Terrazas, a frequent critic of Mr. Morales's government. According to Bolivia's official news agency, police believe the explosion was linked to the alleged plot.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
“Three men were killed in their underwear”
I hate it when that happens.
This is why your mom always wanted you to make sure you wore clean underwear.
I’ve always said that plot roils are a dangerous breed and should be more closely controlled. Why can’t everybody just get a foreign swimming dog and get along?
Gee, who would fund this? Brazilian gas companies? Bolivian coca growers? Euro-Bolivians? Chilean democrats? Shining Path? It would be interesting to find out who really funded these guys, if there was a real plot in the first place.
Colombian drug cartels trying to eliminate competition? CIA? If this is true (a big if) my vote is with the Euro-Bolviians. The country’s elite despises Morales—I wouldn’t put it past them. I doubt coca growers, as Morales has booted DEA agents and decriminalized coca growing—he even appointed a coca grower as head of their anti-drug efforts (talk about the fox guarding the hen house). And like the article said, maybe the government set up the whole thing.
“Three men were killed in their underwear”
They probably removed their cloths after they were dead to conceal the powder burns.
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