Anti-terrorist' militarization in Bolivia

[Judi Lynn]

Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Mon, 12/09/2019 - 19:22

Andean Theater Bolivia Colombia FARC Israel Peru police state Santa Cruz Venezuela

The new Bolivian regime's Government Minister Arturo Murillo has announced creation of a special "Anti-Terrorist Group" (GAT), drawn from elite units of the National Police force, to "completely disarticulate all the terrorist cells" operating in the country. Murillo made the announcement at a Dec. 2 meeting of the National Police Special Anti-Crime Struggle Force (FELCC) in Santa Cruz, where he charged that recent political violence in the country had been instrumented by foreign "terrorist" operatives financed by Venezuela as part of a plan to "destabilize" the countries of South America. He particularly mentioned Martín Serna Ponce, a supposed operative of Peru's defunct Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), and Facundo Morales Schoenfeld, a veteran of Colombia's FARC. (Aristegui Noticias, Mexico, Dec. 3; La Razón, La Paz, Dec. 2)

Lawmaker Tomás Monasterio, a leader of the right-opposition under the recently deposed government of Evo Morales, is meanwhile calling for the imprisonment of Alpacino Mojica, a Santa Cruz candidate for the Chamber of Deputies with Morales' Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) in the recently annulled elections, claiming that his campaign was financed by Serna Ponce. (Los Tiempos, Cochabamba, Dec. 4; Página Siete, La Paz, Dec. 3)

Morales Schoenfeld was arrested Nov. 30 on "criminal association" charges related to the recent unrest in Bolivia, and remains detained in Santa Cruz. (Diario Popular, Argentina, Nov. 30) Although the new reports are vague on his current whereabouts, Serna Ponce was convicted in 1999 on charges of kidnapping Bolivian businessman Samuel Doria Medina, and was a fugitive for several years after escaping from a prison in La Paz. He was recaptured by Bolivian authorities in January 2012, and presumably remains incarcerated. (La Información, Madrid, Jan. 9, 2012)

Murillo also told Reuters Dec. 6 that he will seek Israeli help to fight "terrorism," again citing a supposed Venezuelan conspiracy to destabilize regional governments. "We've invited them to help us," he said of the Israelis. "They're used to dealing with terrorists. They know how to handle them." He added, without irony: "The only thing we want is to bring peace."

More:
https://countervortex.org/node/16558

[safeinOhio]

1. "Freedom Fighters"

Not terrorist.