Irish 'involved' in Bolivia 'assassination attempt'

[cactusflower]

Good summary Utopian Hermit Monk.

The hard evidence so far indicates that the Hungarian, Romanian (and possibly Croatian) members of the group were linked to a sinister neo-Nazi paramilitary organization. Michael Dwyer's presence is explained by a link to a colleague employed by I-RMS at the Corrib site. His nationality, linguistic limitations and the absence of evidence of prior participation in any far-right Irish group make his participation something of a mystery. So far, the most obvious explanation is that he was naive, easily manipulated and drawn to Bolivia by the promise of work, easy money, living the high life in luxury hotels and travelling around in expensive vehicles. It is hard to believe that he wouldn't have had suspicions about what the group was up to, but he may have kept his questions to himself for fear of bringing his dream trip to an abrupt end. Sadly, his decision to remain in Bolivia, even after his travelling companions returned to Ireland, led to the kind of abrupt end that he surely never imagined.

Of more immediate concern is the presence in Ireland of Tibor Revesz, Commander of the Székely Legion, and the existence of at least four Irish branches of this group, including one at the Corrib site

Personally, I don't think there is much mystery about Dwyer's motivation at this stage: there is ample information on this site. He didn't have a job, he was in to security work. He enjoyed paramilitary games. Looking at the photos, until it all went horribly real, he was living the life of Reilly. No one is saying he was doing anything here other than riding shotgun for somebody else.

Personally I am far more interested in seeing from this the way that a democratic government is under attack from wealthy elites and their hired guns. The US stands behind the Santa Cruz Council of course. There is at least one report that the guys were paid in dollars. The existence of right wing private armies, tolerated by governments, is dangerous and should be stopped. It is plain that the Romanian government has allowed the "Legion" to train openly for years.

I agree that the matter of recruitment here, and right wing paramilitary organisations operating here, is far more important than the precise frame of mind that Dwyer was in.

I am also disturbed to some in the Press (with the exception of Jim Cusack in the Independent yesterday and some IT reporting) presenting disinformation as fact, and ignoring important facts.

The use of unlicensed security men without proper identification marks at the Shell to Sea protests has also emerged from this. I wonder if the authorities are doing anything about that ?

[cactusflower]

TeleSUR has shown about 20 seconds of the video. You can see it here (report begins at 10:47). The audio is clear enough, but Rózsa Flores is speaking in Spanish.

Thank you very much for your useful posts, Huésped. Can't find the report though - would you give directions to where it is on the site ?

[islands]

the link in HUésped's post opened the video for me, Cactusflower. I don't understand enough Spanish to follow it properly though.
If the link doesn't work for you, try pasting this into your browser

www.telesurtv.net/noticias/videos_demanda/player.php?ckl=2123

TeleSURtv.net

[marmurr1916]

Thank you very much for your useful posts, Huésped. Can't find the report though - would you give directions to where it is on the site ?

It's here: move forward to about 10:50.

[Utopian Hermit Monk]

Thanks for the video link, Huésped.

It is far from convincing.

The three people who appear could be Rozsa Flores, Arpad and Dwyer, but, at least in that 20 second clip, none of them is shown clearly. The entire clip is slightly blurred.

The audio is even less convincing. The person allegedly speaking ('Rozsa Flores') is moving about. At one point he has his back to the camera. At the end, he is facing downwards. But the sound level/frequency of the voice remains unchanged.

It is not even clear that the moving figure - allegedly 'Rozsa Flores' - is actually the one speaking. Even if the audio content is authentic, the unchanging sound level would make more sense if the voice belonged to someone else, possibly the person holding the phone, speaking to Rozsa Flores.

The content of what is being said is also unclear. The speaker is definitely using Spanish, but only about 25% of the words are anyway clear.

The other two people who appear - who could be Arpad and Dwyer - do not appear to be listening to the speaker (which would make sense, since they are unlikely to have understood Spanish). 'Arpad' appears to be reading a newspaper.

If authentic, this could have been recorded by one of the group's hosts/contacts in Santa Cruz, who later passed it on to the police in order to save his own skin.

It is also possible that the video was found on a phone in one of the hotel rooms following the police assault, and was recorded by a member of the group. If so, the audio could have been tampered with afterwards.

Even if it is authentic, it provides a stronger indication that Dwyer probably wasn't aware of what was being discussed in this type of informal conversation.


As for the content, even if it turns out to be 100% authentic, I have read more sinister implied threats against members on the Irish Government on p.ie (I recall what some people jokingly wished had happened to a certain Minister after the door fell off his helicopter!). If this is the strongest evidence of a plot to assassinate Evo Morales, the Bolivian Government is really grasping at straws.

[Huésped]

"A representative of an organisation called The Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem Knights of Malta Federation of Autonomous Priories said on Sunday that it would launch an international campaign to collect the 15,000 dollars legal fees for Toaso and to provide him with medical and humanitarian aid. Andras Nagy said some of Toaso's basic rights had been violated since he was captured. "
(Hungarian held captive in La Paz in better condition, MTI, 27/04/2009)

This organisation is not a religious order. Instead these "Knights of Malta" are closely related to the "International Bodyguard and Security Services Association" (IBSSA).

Michael Dwyer originally went to Bolivia to take part in a three-month bodyguard training course. It is still unknown who organised the course (that reportedly fell through).

Why did Előd Tóásó's family seek help from an organisation with close ties to IBSSA? Did Előd's friend Tibor Révész play a role? He travelled with Michael Dwyer to Bolivia in November 2008 to attend the same security course and, also in 2008, he took part in a bodyguard course by IBSSA (according to his CV).

IBSSA allegedly had a role (via Giacomo Spartaco Bertoletti's IBSA) in recruiting and training Fabrizio Quattrocchi before he went to Iraq (see Aldo Torchiaro's article, L'antiterrorismo come business, Il Riformista,07.04.2005).

Regarding the video, don't forget that the whole video is 3 minutes long, not just 20 seconds. The sound could be manipulated, of course, but the voice (and the laughter) did remind me of Rózsa Flores in "Chico". On the other hand, the fact that he is speaking in Spanish almost certainly means that he isn't discussing the attack with Michael Dwyer.

[Utopian Hermit Monk]

"A representative of an organisation called The Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem Knights of Malta Federation of Autonomous Priories ...

This organisation is not a religious order. Instead these "Knights of Malta" are closely related to the "International Bodyguard and Security Services Association" (IBSSA)....

Why did Előd Tóásó's family seek help from an organisation with close ties to IBSSA? Did Előd's friend Tibor Révész play a role? He travelled with Michael Dwyer to Bolivia in November 2008 to attend the same security course and, also in 2008, he took part in a bodyguard course by IBSSA (according to his CV).

Tibor Revész runs security/bodyguard courses under the banner: 'International Protective & Security Academy'.

This Academy's website is hosted on the same portal as the Szekely Legion pages linked previously.

In the Links section of the Academy's web pages, there is a link to IBSSA.

(Curiously, there are also links to the CIA, FBI, MI5, MOSSAD, the (London) Metropolitan Police, Interpol, the International Krav Maga Federation, etc., etc.)

[Gruffalo]

Thanks for the video link, Huésped.

It is far from convincing.

The three people who appear could be Rozsa Flores, Arpad and Dwyer, but, at least in that 20 second clip, none of them is shown clearly. The entire clip is slightly blurred.

The audio is even less convincing. The person allegedly speaking ('Rozsa Flores') is moving about. At one point he has his back to the camera. At the end, he is facing downwards. But the sound level/frequency of the voice remains unchanged.

It is not even clear that the moving figure - allegedly 'Rozsa Flores' - is actually the one speaking. Even if the audio content is authentic, the unchanging sound level would make more sense if the voice belonged to someone else, possibly the person holding the phone, speaking to Rozsa Flores.

The content of what is being said is also unclear. The speaker is definitely using Spanish, but only about 25% of the words are anyway clear.

The other two people who appear - who could be Arpad and Dwyer - do not appear to be listening to the speaker (which would make sense, since they are unlikely to have understood Spanish). 'Arpad' appears to be reading a newspaper.

If authentic, this could have been recorded by one of the group's hosts/contacts in Santa Cruz, who later passed it on to the police in order to save his own skin.

It is also possible that the video was found on a phone in one of the hotel rooms following the police assault, and was recorded by a member of the group. If so, the audio could have been tampered with afterwards.

Even if it is authentic, it provides a stronger indication that Dwyer probably wasn't aware of what was being discussed in this type of informal conversation.


As for the content, even if it turns out to be 100% authentic, I have read more sinister implied threats against members on the Irish Government on p.ie (I recall what some people jokingly wished had happened to a certain Minister after the door fell off his helicopter!). If this is the strongest evidence of a plot to assassinate Evo Morales, the Bolivian Government is really grasping at straws.

UHM how are we so sure that Dwyer did not speak Spanish? He had been in Bolivia long enough to have gathered a reasonable command - grant it maybe not fluency. Personally, I think he probably did not have any and that may have caused enough confusion to get him shot, but I have not seen the proof that he could not speak Spanish. May be I missed it.

Is it possible that this video clip was filmed by one of the two men who were arrested?

[cactusflower]

Tibor Revész runs security/bodyguard courses under the banner: 'International Protective & Security Academy'.

This Academy's website is hosted on the same portal as the Szekely Legion pages linked previously.

In the Links section of the Academy's web pages, there is a link to IBSSA.

(Curiously, there are also links to the CIA, FBI, MI5, MOSSAD, the (London) Metropolitan Police, Interpol, the International Krav Maga Federation, etc., etc.)

This is from the IBSSA website - linked further back in the thread - from a report on an event attended in the USA:

We, members of the small Hungarian liaison team are proud of being part of these international coalition efforts, and especially doing it under the auspices, or as I feel as an integral part of the United States Central Command. At this point let me think of those allied and partner nations’ servicemen and servicewomen, who are doing an excellent job in the theater by bringing peace to tens of millions of people, and assisting them in their nation-building struggles. Over a thousand Hungarian soldiers are among them either under UN or NATO ISAF flag, nearly half of them in the CENTCOM’s AOR.

Ladies and Gentlemen!
Anniversaries, remembrance days also give us the opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to those who are providing vital support for our troops in the theatre and assist us in our daily coalition activities throughout the entire year. Today, I have the honor to thank to a member of the CCC for his outstanding support. Let me call upon Colonel Josep Moore, Deputy Chief Service Support, Chief of Resources and Sustainment Section of the CCC.

This is Colonel Moore’s second tour with the CCC. First time I met him here was in 2005, then he deployed back again to the AOR. He has field experience in both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, served in Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, Afghanistan and Horn of Africa. In October 2006 he returned and took over his present position, in which he is responsible for leading and oversee the day-to-day and long range support operations of the Intelligence, Logistics – including both the transportation and equipment support sections, especially Coalition Operational Needs Statements (CONS) – Communications, Joint Manning of Coalition Staff positions for Iraq, Afghanistan and – until the end of September – the Horn of Africa Sections of the CCC in support of all Coalition Forces within the AOR.

Colonel Moore’s name is well-known in the Hungarian Defense Forces. Hungarian soldiers met him in Iraq, and tie his name with vital logistic support the United States provided and providing for them in their efforts to meet the highest interoperability standards, timely deployment and sustainment. In his different capacities he oversaw the coordination of Hungarian donations to both the Afghan National Army and the Iraqi Army; coordinated the deployment of, and loan of vehicles to the Hungarian Transport Battalion in Iraq; oversaw the coordination of having C-17 support for Hungarian rotations, in one case to help Hungarians to demonstrate capabilities to host NATO C-17 fleet on Hungarian soil; oversaw the temporary loan of 27 HMMWVs including CREW CIED systems for expanding Hungarian force contribution in Afghanistan; he is tirelessly working on temporary loan of mission critical equipment needed for Hungarian Special Operations Forces to be deployed in Afghanistan early next year.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to read the decree signed by HE Dr Imre Szekeres, Minister of Defense of the Republic of Hungary.
This medal is the second highest one the Hungarian Minister of Defense awards; it is comparable to the Defense Meritorious Service Medal in the U.S. system.

Finally, let me introduce the Hungarian Liaison Team. My colleague, Lieutenant Colonel Attila Rabai is our intelligence officer, working in the Coalition Intelligence Fusion Cell as fulltime member. His background is signal intelligence, has been serving in United Nations and NATO peace support operations before, and represented Hungary in NATO’s Signal Intelligence Committee for six years

http://www.politics.ie/foreign-affai...tempt-165.html

There seems to be a close and cosy relationship with the Hungarian and US armed forces. The Szekely Legion is reported to include around 70 "former" members of the armed forces.

[jcdf]

Are FamilyGuy and Gruffalo the same person or two people sharing a collective delusion?

FamilyGuy the young brazillian in Uk was not deliberately executed and I do not think Dwyer was either. I never said that either one was executed or that they were involved in terrorist activity. I think they were two people in the wrong place at the wrong time, victims of cavalier gun happy police. This is what I meant when I said their stories had something in common.

I do not use drugs. Morales has become more isolationist and paranoid, he thinks foreigners are trying to kill him and has lengthened the leash on Bolivia's police.
Hugo Chavez is trashing the political institutions that got him into power in the first place. He thinks the West is conspiring against him.
What the hell does any of this have to do with the Nazis?