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S E C R E T LA PAZ 000750 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PHUM PINR ENVR ASEC PTER BL
SUBJECT: LAWYER: GOB INVOLVED IN TERROR, PANDO, YPFB CASES 
 
REF: A. LA PAZ 659 
     ¶B. LA PAZ 635 
     ¶C. LA PAZ 176 
     ¶D. LA PAZ 156 
     ¶E. 08 LA PAZ 2374 
 
Classified By: A/EcoPol Chief Joe Relk for reasons 1.4 (b, d) 
 
¶1. (S) Summary: A Bolivian government lawyer who worked 
closely on the Santa Cruz terrorism case, the investigation 
into the September 2008 Pando conflict, and the YPFB (state 
oil company) murder and corruption case provided new 
information on GOB involvement in all three incidents.  In 
the alleged terrorism case (reftels A, B), the lawyer said 
high-ranking members of the ruling Movement Toward Socialism 
(MAS) party hired and eventually had three members of the 
group killed, planted flash memory drives with false lists of 
"involved" Santa Cruz businesses, planted the business card 
of one "suspect," and coordinated the production of a 
supposedly damning cell phone video.  The lawyer detailed 
human rights abuses against the two surviving suspects in the 
terrorism case and serious human rights abuses in the illegal 
arrests that followed the Pando conflict (reftel E).  In the 
YPFB case (reftels C, D), the lawyer personally experienced 
pressure and bribery attempts by MAS leadership to dismiss 
the case.  End summary. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Santa Cruz: GOB Set-Up, Killings 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (S) A high level Bolivian government prosecutor trusted by 
the ruling Morales administration (who wishes to remain 
nameless) approached Embassy FSN May 19 to discuss his role 
in investigating three of the major cases in Bolivia over the 
past year, beginning with the existence of an alleged 
terrorist cell in Santa Cruz.  On April 16, an elite unit of 
the Bolivian police force killed three alleged cell members 
in a Santa Cruz hotel and arrested two more.  In the days 
that followed, government investigations yielded confused 
confessions from the two captured men, lists of Cruceno 
business leaders supposedly connected with the group, and an 
almost unintelligible cell phone video of cell members 
allegedly discussing assassinating President Morales. 
 
¶3. (S) According to the prosecutor, who is a long-time 
associate of an Embassy FSN, members of the Morales 
administration were involved in the group's hiring and in 
setting up subsequent events to cover their tracks and 
implicate the opposition.  The prosecutor related that 
Morales administration members hired the group, dealing with 
Eduardo Rozsa, Michael Dwyer, and Arpad Magyarosi, all of 
whom were killed on April 16.  He said the other two group 
members did not know who had hired them, and it was for this 
reason their lives were spared in the hotel shootings.  He 
said the MAS wanted to cover their tracks by killing those 
who knew the government masterminded the sham terror cell. 
 
¶4. (S) The prosecutor noted that in publicly-released photos 
of the three dead men, the police placed guns on or near the 
corpses to make it appear there had been a gun battle. 
However, he said these guns came from the police munitions 
depot and had never been used, as evident by still-attached 
safety gear (i.e. plastic inserts used for transport and 
before a gun's first use).  Further, in the autopsy process, 
he noted some of the bullet holes had been covered up with a 
type of putty to make it seem as though it was not an 
execution.  According to the prosecutor (and news reports), 
there was no shootout, and the firing came exclusively from 
the police as all three were asleep. 
 
¶5. (S) The prosecutor said the group originally numbered 
seven people, but that two of the group mysteriously 
disappeared after the bombing of Cardinal Terrazas' home on 
April 14.  He said while most of the group celebrated the 
successful bombing, the two other members objected to 
 
attacking religious figures such as Terrazas.  By the next 
day, the two had vanished. Rozsa reportedly said they had 
flown out of the country, but the prosecutor suspects they 
were killed.  The prosecutor does not know their identities. 
 
¶6. (S) The prosecutor identified Bolivian National Police 
Colonel Santiesteban and a Captain Andrade as two of the 
GOB's primary contacts with Rozsa's group, and said they 
hired the group.  On April 25, government prosecutor Marcelo 
Sosa publicly revealed a difficult-to-understand cell phone 
video recording in which Rozsa, Dwyer, and Magyarosi are 
shown allegedly discussing how they could have bombed (and 
killed) President Morales during a previous trip by Morales 
to Lake Titicaca.  While Sosa said the main voice in the 
recording was that of Rozsa and that Rozsa's chauffeur made 
the video, the prosecutor said he personally knows 
Santiesteban and identified him as the video's author.  He 
said Colonel Santiesteban's voice can be heard throughout the 
recording and that he personally led the April 16 police raid 
in which the three men were killed. 
 
¶7. (S) The two men who were captured on April 16, Mario Tadic 
and Elod Toaso, were not privy to as much of the information 
as Rozsa, Dwyer, and Magyarosi, according to the prosecutor. 
Nevertheless, he said Tadic and Toaso were tortured and 
showed pictures of the two bloodied, missing teeth, and with 
broken ribs, bruises, and specific lacerations from being cut 
with knives.  The prosecutor said he took the pictures with 
his own cell phone and could provide them.  The two were 
taken from the hotel room in only their underwear and 
transported by plane from Santa Cruz to La Paz.  Their 
whereabouts were unknown for approximately 24 hours, during 
which time the torture occurred.  For a meeting in La Paz 
with the human rights ombudsman, as required, the prosecutor 
said they were given used clothing to put on. 
 
¶8. (S) The prosecutor said he met with both men as part of 
the government investigation and discussed their activities. 
One confirmed he had a gun in his backpack and that it was 
his.  However, when shown a computer flash memory drive that 
was also in his backpack, he said it was not his and that he 
had never seen it before.  According to the prosecutor, given 
the detainee's willingness to admit the gun was his, and 
after the amount of torturing they had undergone, he believed 
the statement that the suspect had never seen the flash 
drive.  The prosecutor said there was also a business card in 
the backpack for Hugo ACHA Melgar, a representative of Human 
Rights Foundation - Bolivia, and the detainee said he had 
never seen that before either.  (Note: Acha is now one of the 
government's primary suspects in the case and is reported to 
be in the United States.  End note.) 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Human Rights Violations in Pando 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶9. (S) After the September 2008 violent conflict in Pando, 
the GOB engaged in several rounds of illegal detentions, 
which were questioned in the media as violating human rights. 
 The criticisms centered on violence employed during the 
arrests, the lack of any government lawyer present as 
required by law, the hour of the arrests (pre-dawn, a 
violation), the lack of arrest warrants in many cases, and 
the lack of access to detainees by human rights groups and 
the government's own human rights ombudsman.  The prosecutor 
confirmed such violations did occur. 
 
¶10. (S) However, the prosecutor said that in the specific 
case of Jorge MELGAR Quette, a television commentator who was 
detained, seemingly for publishing a videotape of Presidency 
Minister Juan Ramon Quintana saying before the events that 
ex-Prefect and detainee Leopoldo Fernandez would "sleep with 
the worms," the human rights violations were much worse.  The 
prosecutor said human rights advocates had been puzzled by 
the fact that Melgar, who was arrested on October 8 and is 
still under detention, did not show any signs of punish 
ment 
or torture.  The prosecutor revealed that Melgar was left for 
over 24 hours in a separated room in the jail with convicts 
who were paid by government sources to rape him serially, 
effectively torturing (and silencing) him without easily 
visible proofs.  The prosecutor said similar treatment was 
given to three members of the Santa Cruz Youth Union and many 
others. 
 
¶11. (S) One of the most contested elements of the Pando 
conflict is whether the marching campesinos were ambushed or 
if they were well-armed and participated in a conflict that 
spiraled out of control.  The prosecutor said one of the 
groups of marching campesinos was armed by Miguel "Chiquitin" 
Becerra, a MAS affiliate.  According to the prosecutor, one 
of the main events that sparked the conflict was the 
early-morning assassination of Pedro Oshiro, a Prefecture 
roads maintenance employee.  The prosecutor said Oshiro was 
well-known to both the Pandinos and the marching campesinos, 
and that he attempted to disperse the march to avoid 
violence.  Perhaps miscalculating the intent of the 
campesinos, Oshiro was apparently dragged to a nearby car. 
The prosecutor said forensic analysis showed he was shot from 
close range with his hands up in front of his face, pleading 
for his life and trying to protect himself. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
YPFB Corruption and Murder Case 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶12. (S) The prosecutor said he was an integral part of the 
arrest of Santos Ramirez as part of an investigation into a 
January 27 case involving murder and the theft of a $450,000 
kickback delivery.  The prosecutor recalled a meeting with 
three other government investigators in which they discussed 
whether or not to arrest Ramirez.  The prosecutor noted that 
he had received official orders to make the arrest, that the 
case was splashed across the front pages of the popular 
press, and that there was abundant evidence tying Ramirez to 
the crime.  Still, the other three investigators recommended 
not going after Ramirez, who was well known for his clout as 
well as his corruption.  Fearful that he would be tagged as 
corrupt himself or open to blackmail if he did not go after 
Ramirez, the prosecutor went ahead by himself and coordinated 
Ramirez's arrest. 
 
¶13. (S) Sitting in a room alone with Ramirez after the 
arrest, the prosecutor said Ramirez asked what it would take 
to make the case go away.  Gesturing to his cell phone, he 
asked if the prosecutor wanted money, a house, or to be a 
senator or representative in Congress, and said all he had to 
do was call President Morales or other contacts.  The 
prosecutor said there was pressure by other Morales 
administration members to let Ramirez off the hook, including 
Corruption Minister Nardi Suxo.  When it became clear this 
would not occur, however, the Morales administration acted 
cannily, announcing to great fanfare that Ramirez's arrest 
was proof that the government was committed to act against 
all corruption. 
 
- - - - 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶14. (S) Post has no way to verify the content of this 
source's statements.  However, post FSN emphasized that the 
two had worked together years earlier investigating human 
rights violations in the Chapare, that he was honest then, 
maintains a solid reputation, and that he had no reason to 
lie.  Because the lawyer participated in the Pando 
investigation sponsored by the government, the MAS trusted 
the lawyer's involvement in subsequent politically sensitive 
investigations.  From years of experience, the lawyer also 
apparently has several good contacts within the MAS party and 
the Morales administration who provided additional 
information on these cases.  End comment. 
URS