ANALYSIS:The fate of any investigation is part of government-opposition feuding, writes TOM HENNIGANin Santa Cruz
THE INVESTIGATION into the circumstances surrounding the activities and death of Irishman Michael Dwyer in Bolivia last week are now caught up in the bitter political dispute that has poisoned Bolivian politics for years and threatens to pull apart this deeply divided country.
The indigenous-dominated government which draws its support from the highlands in the west of the country claims Mr Dwyer was part of a group of mercenaries who planned to assassinate President Evo Morales and destabilise his left-wing government.
The right-wing opposition, which is centred in the eastern, mainly mestizo lowlands, dismiss last Thursday’s police raid on the Hotel Las Americas in the city of Santa Cruz as a “show” put on by the government to smear it ahead of elections in December, with leading figures insisting that Mr Dwyer and two of his companions were executed by elite police. Two other men were arrested.
“The government is taking a very complex step. It is starting to execute people because it is already clear that there was no shoot-out nor confrontation, and you cannot combat terror with terror,” said Oscar Ortiz, president of the opposition-controlled senate.
The government has staunchly defended the police action. “It is not possible that foreigners – armed, violent and anti-democratic – come here and attack against democracy and the integrity of the national territory,” President Morales said at a military ceremony in La Paz on Monday.
Both sides’ accusations are running ahead of the investigation into the deaths. The public prosecutor in charge of the case has said he has yet to find evidence to back up the government’s claim that the five men were involved in a conspiracy to assassinate the president or any of the other claims made against them by President Morales and his vice-president.
Forensic results of the investigation into the scene of the raid are not due until this weekend and could show that the dead men used weapons at the time of the raid. But poor relations between the government and opposition, which have resulted in several deaths in various incidents in recent months, has meant the investigation has been called into question by opposition leaders.
They distrust the fact that the case is being handled from the capital, La Paz. It is from the government stronghold in the west that the elite police who raided the hotel are thought to have come, and the public prosecutor in charge is also from the capital.
Opposition leaders in Santa Cruz insist this violates normal legal procedure. There is also concern about the value of the forensic results after the bodies remained in the hotel for over 12 hours under police control before examination of the scene commenced. Business, civic and political leaders in Santa Cruz linked to the opposition – which the government refers to collectively as the Santa Cruz oligarchy – say they expect to be called in for questioning about their supposed links to Mr Dwyer’s group.
Alvaro Garcia Linera, Bolivia’s vice-president and the government’s harshest critic of the Santa Cruz-centred opposition, has assiduously attempted to link the five men found in the Hotel Las Americas in the public’s mind with opposition interests.
Speaking on Monday, he told reporters: “The five were a tentacle of an organisation which had an objective, and formed part of other groups, articulated by a structure of people linked to certain business, civic and political activities.” He is yet to provide any evidence for his claims.
The opposition in Santa Cruz says it believes the timing of the hotel raid was linked to upcoming elections in December, when Bolivia will vote for a president and congress under its recently approved new constitution.
The opposition recently forced the Morales government into agreeing to draw up a new electoral roll before the vote, claiming the old one was riddled with inconsistencies that greatly amplified government majorities.
“The government had to back down over the electoral roll. Now it wants to scare those people who support the opposition. To do this they mounted this ‘show’, which culminated in the vice-president saying that behind these terrorists are businessmen and other groups in Santa Cruz,” says Jose Moro, a member of the Committee Pro-Santa Cruz, the opposition’s main umbrella group leading the drive for greater regional autonomy for Santa Cruz. “They want to cause panic so that people will not participate in the opposition campaign in December for fear of their liberty. The government already has huge resources and now it wants that people fear to contribute to the opposition campaign.”
Incumbent Evo Morales is favourite to win the presidential election.