Bolivia asks U.S. if granted ex-minister asylum

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Bolivia asks U.S. if granted ex-minister asylum
Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:11pm EDT
By Adriana Garcia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bolivia's leftist government asked Washington to disclose whether it granted political asylum to a former defense minister accused of ordering violent crackdowns against protesters five years ago.

Ambassador Gustavo Guzman, Bolivia's envoy in Washington, told Reuters on Tuesday he sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. State Department seeking explanation after former Defense Minister Carlos Sanchez Berzain said last week he had been granted political asylum.

"This type of incident obviously complicates relations between Bolivia and the U.S., it darkens them. It's not what we seek," Guzman said.

The two-year-old government of President Evo Morales has differed repeatedly with the United States over drug-fighting policy and has accused U.S. officials of spying on Cubans and Venezuelans in Bolivia and funding the opposition.

Sanchez Berzain and ex-President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada are accused in Bolivia of ordering a military crackdown on anti-government protests in October 2003, when 60 people died and hundreds were injured.



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[Judi Lynn]

1. Former Bolivian defense minister given US asylum

Former Bolivian defense minister given US asylum
1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Bolivia's former defense minister Carlos Sanchez Berzain was granted political asylum in the United States last year, after saying he feared persecution by the government of Evo Morales, according to documents released in Washington Tuesday.

Sanchez Berzain received political asylum in April 2007 after telling US authorities that he feared he would be "persecuted and tortured" by the government of Bolivia's newly-elected leftist president, according to documents released by La Paz's embassy in Washington.

"I have endured numerous unfounded allegations against me by Morales in the past, and now I fear that his new powers as president will allow him to silence me once and for all," Sanchez Berzain wrote in his asylum petition.

The former defense minister added that Morales was particularly opposed to his efforts to combat drug-trafficking, in a country famous for its cultivation of the coca plant used in the production of cocaine.

The current Bolivian government is said to be considering an extradition request against Sanchez Berzain for his role in a 2003 army crackdown that led to the deaths of some 60 civilian protesters.

Bolivia's ambassador to Washington, Gustavo Guzman, said the revelation about Sanchez Berzain's US asylum "complicates" already strained bilateral relations.

"It is irritating, it complicates relations between Bolivia and the United States," he said.

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