Irish diplomats are to meet senior Bolivian government officials tomorrow for high-level talks on the killing of 24-year-old Tipperary man Michael Dwyer.
Authorities in Santa Cruz have released the Mr Dwyer's body for repatriation but his remains are not expected home for several days due to travel difficulties.
The former GMIT student from Ballinderry, Co Tipperary, died in mysterious circumstances with two other men and are accused of being part of a gang plotting to kill president Evo Morales.
But junior minister at the Department of Foreign Affairs Dick Roche said today there was nothing to suggest Mr Dwyer involved in criminality.
“My understanding is that Mr Dwyer had absolutely no form of record from any garda source that would have suggested that he had any misbehaviour, or that he had any record,” Mr Roche said.
Derek Lambe, a second secretary from the Irish embassy in Argentina, and Ireland’s honorary counsel in Bolivia Peter O’Toole will meet with senior officials from the Bolivian justice ministry in the capital La Paz tomorrow.
The talks are expected to focus on the circumstances surrounding the killing in the city of Santa Cruz and what progress the Bolivian authorities have made in their own investigation into the deaths.
It is understood the men where shot by a special police unit and not local officers.
Following talks between Mr Lambe and top police chiefs and local government officials, Mr Dwyer’s body was released from the morgue to a local funeral directors today.
It is understood the Dwyer family are not travelling to Bolivia so Irish officials are working to have the body repatriated to Ireland by the middle of the week.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said: “Normally these things take a while no matter what the circumstances are surrounding a death.
“It is quite difficult to move a body between countries.”
A spokesman for the Dwyer family, said they are still not clear on the events surrounding the violent death and are focusing on trying to get the body home.
“There’s just so many different stories on it now,” he said.
“I think that so much of it is not going to come out for a long time and probably some of it is never going to come out. They’re just trying not to focus on any speculation.”
Bolivian police said a cache of weapons was discovered in the hotel after a 30-minute shoot-out but other reports suggest the men were surprised by the police raid and shot unarmed. Graphic pictures show the men lying dead in their underwear in the hotel and other pictures show one of the dead men with his hands tied.
President Morales has linked the plot to the political opposition, whom he has accused of various attempts to overthrow him. But the opposition dismissed the latest claims as attempts to discredit them.
On Thursday President Morales said the opposition wanted to "riddle us with bullets" but Santa Cruz Governor Ruben Costas, in remarks on La Paz-based Radio Fides, said the operation was a “show” staged by the government so it can eventually blame him and other members of the opposition for threats against Mr Morales.
The opposition parties in Santa Cruz object to Morales’s nationalisation of the country’s natural gas industry, based in the Eastern lowland provinces.
One of Mr Dwyer's 324 friends on his Facebook account is Eduardo Rozsa Flores (49), who was also killed during the incident. Mr Flores is a Bolivian-Hungarian who fought in separatist movements in the former Yugoslavia. According to reports Mr Flores commanded a brigade in the Balkans after arriving there as a war correspondent in 1991. Magyarosi Arpak, a Romanian, was also reported killed in the Santa Cruz incident.
Mario Francisco Tadik Astorga (58), a Bolivian-Croatian who also fought in the Balkans, and Elot Toazo, a Hungarian computer expert, were arrested and taken away for questioning. They were later remanded in prison in La Paz.
Bolivian newspaper Nuevo Díareported that the media did not have access to the court hearing at which the two men were remanded.
It said the court instructed that they be detained in San Pedro prison in downtown La Paz, but that they had asked to be taken to Chonchocoro, a maximum security prison outside the city, because they were "scared to death".
The judge did not change his ruling and the men were taken to San Pedro with their heads covered, the paper said.
The newspaper said the file on the case was being handled like a "state secret" and that the court hearing had taken place in the early hours of the morning.
The Dwyer family said in a statement yesterday afternoon they were "shocked and devastated" by the “tragic death of a beloved son and brother".
"They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of their wider family, friends and their local community. The Dwyer family ask for privacy during this very difficult time”, the statement read.
Mr Dwyer was born in June 1984. He is the son of Martin and Caroline Dwyer, Ballinderry, Co Tipperary. Martin is an electrician and Caroline is a pharmaceutical engineer. They also have two daughters, Aisling (25) and Ciara (21). They also have one other son, Emmett (14).
Mr Dwyer was a graduate of construction management from Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT). He finished his studies last year and worked for a security company in Galway until last November. It is understood he was sent the US by his company and secured another security job in South America while there.
Additional reporting: PA