Irish 'involved' in Bolivia 'assassination attempt'

[Utopian Hermit Monk]

I have been following developments via the Bolivian newspapers, and it looks like some pieces of the puzzle are coming together.

1. summarising reports I posted earlier in this thread:

- According the hotel's Manager, there was no evidence of a shoot-out
- The hotel's security cameras were mysteriously de-activated during the police operation
- The five members of the group arrived on Tuesday evening (3 together, followed shortly afterwards by 2 more), and hardly left their rooms thereafter.
- The police arrive at about 4 a.m. on Thursday.
- members of the group were in different rooms at the time, and were shot in, or near their beds.
- some opposition politicians have described the police operation as "murder"


2. latest reports in Bolivian newspapers:

- police say that the group had been under surveillance for some time
- one of the two people detained, Elot Toazo (Hungarian) told a judge that he is an IT expert, he formerly worked with a bank in Hungary, and was recruited to work with what he thought was a travel agency in Bolivia, but then found himself involved with the Eduardo Rozsa Flores group. Incidentally, his sister and other relatives/friends are expressing the same shock and disbelief as Mike Dwyer's friends here. The same is happening with friends of 29-years old musician Arpad Magyari, the third man shot dead.
- the second detainee, Mario Tadik (almost 60 years old) says he was recruited to take care of the group's publicity/correspondence.
- the judge decided that there is enough evidence against the two detainees to warrant their imprisonment on suspicion of subversive activities.
- a Hungarian journalist, Andras Kepes, says he taped an interview with Eduardo Rozsa Flores in September, in which he explained the reasons for his return to Bolivia. This interview was to remain secret until either Flores returned to Hungary, or something unforeseen happened. Kepes doesn't provide details, but indicates that Flores' stated reasons for the trip to Bolivia had nothing to do with terrorist activities. The interview will be broadcast on Hungarian TV on Tuesday.



What seems to be emerging is that:

1. Mike Dwyer was certainly part of a group, whose precise purpose remains unclear.
2. He had previously established contact with Eduardo Rozsa Flores via his Facebook page.
3. His role in the group appears to be related to his interest in guns and martial arts.
4. Perhaps, like Toazo, he thought he was being recruited for a regular security job, only to find that he was involved in something different
5. The group arrived at the hotel around the same time on Tuesday evening, and hardly left their rooms until the police operation at 4 a.m. on Thursday.
6. The group had been under police surveillance, and an elite armed police unit (flown in from La Paz for the operation) took them by surprise early on Thursday morning.


So far, there is no evidence that Mike Dwyer or other members of the group had been actively engaged in terrorist activities.
The remaining big question is whether police had sufficient evidence that such activities were being planned by the group to warrant Thursday's fatal assault.

[Breadan O'Connor]

No evidence that this young lad was hanging out with mercenaries except the words of his murderers

It appears that Rosza Flores, the alleged "leader" was a former colonel of the Croatian army.

He allegedly fought at the savage battles of Vukovar and Osijek.



It is known that the Croats received extensive American help in preparing Operation Storm against the Serbs in 1995

Hungarian Spectrum: The Hungarian far-right in Bolivia--Eduardo Rózsa-Flores

[Thac0man]

A good summation of the situation to date Utopian.

[toxic avenger]

So, we're looking, as I said, at a young chap who fell in with a bad crowd one way or another, and simply being in the presence of that crowd was enough to get him killed. And the killings were nothing like the way they were described, they were shoot-to-kill from the start. All that remains is to find out what they were doing there and whether some or all of them were indeed plotting or whether the whole story of a plot is fiction.

[Utopian Hermit Monk]

new development:

El Deber newspaper


In response to accusations that the entire incident was State-orchestrated, Evo Morales has suggested that an international investigation team should be invited to Bolivia.
He insists that there is evidence of a plan to assassinate himself and other members of his government. He indicates that the attack on the residence of the Archbishop of Santa Cruz, Cardinal Terrazas, set in motion the Special Forces operation that led to Thursday's deaths.




I think the Irish Government should respond to this suggestion by offering to send a Garda forensics team, as part of a larger international investigation.

[toxic avenger]

Perhaps there was a plot, perhaps not. Perhaps they were all in on it, perhaps only some or none were. But this was a shoot-to-kill operation and, plot or no plot, that's not morally justifiable, nor is the invention of the 'shootout' story. Perhaps Morales has nothing to do with it. We'll see.

[Hegarty's Crowd]

It appears that Rosza Flores, the alleged "leader" was a former colonel of the Croatian army....He allegedly fought at the savage battles of Vukovar and Osijek.

I can assure you he didn't fight in Vukovar. He defended ethnic-Hungarian Croat villages around the Osijek area.

It is known that the Croats received extensive American help in preparing Operation Storm against the Serbs in 1995]

Quite some jump you're making there Breadan. Flores served in the Croatian army during 1991 when Croatia was under savage attack and concluded his service around mid-92 when the UN peacekeepers arrived.

Flores has no connection with Operation Storm which occurred several years later in a completely different area to Osijek.

[Stepp]

Some info from Hungary: Yesterday a crowd gathered at Rózsa Flores's house, there was strong police presence too. A commemorative service was held after. The office of state security searched Flores's house, but is not releasing any details. The Interpol did not yet contact the Hungarian police about the matter.

Yesterday the family of Előd Tóásó asked the Order of Malta to provide legal assistance. Today an officials said they will be providing assistance since Tóásó was travelling with Hungarian passport.

[the klingon]

Quite some jump you're making there Breadan. Flores served in the Croatian army during 1991 when Croatia was under savage attack and concluded his service around mid-92 when the UN peacekeepers arrived.

Flores has no connection with Operation Storm which occurred several years later in a completely different area to Osijek.

Was he not a "BBC reporter" during 95?

The Gardai will be laughed at down there, same as limerick. Interpol have offered to help (the bolivians) but we should ask for assistance. There is a alot of things they can do without setting foot in Bolivia.

The bomb (what scale? allegedly dynamite) going off in that Archbishops residence - could it be unrelated to thse guys? Could it be a false flag to initiate an encounter?

There is simply no way the Special forces could have engaged the guys (if they were armed and running around) with precise shooting like that, I think they were roused from their beds and killed.

It would have been quick. That is the only comfort I can offer the posters claiming to be his friends.

[liamfoley]

new development:

El Deber newspaper


In response to accusations that the entire incident was State-orchestrated, Evo Morales has suggested that an international investigation team should be invited to Bolivia.
He insists that there is evidence of a plan to assassinate himself and other members of his government. He indicates that the attack on the residence of the Archbishop of Santa Cruz, Cardinal Terrazas, set in motion the Special Forces operation that led to Thursday's deaths.




I think the Irish Government should respond to this suggestion by offering to send a Garda forensics team, as part of a larger international investigation.

Preferably before Morrales & his marxist goons intimidate the witnesses,
Utopian-Monk, can you please link to the other news reports, I am honestly too lazy to go searching through Bolivian newspapers, thanks.