President Morales Suspects U.S. Behind Attempt on His Life
"I'm
asking President Obama to condemn this, and that he not remain
silent … if he says nothing, then I can think the conspiracy was organized by
the United States Embassy. I come seeking a dialogue of cooperation, not
relations of conspiracy; I want to build trust and don't want meddling."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain. According to Bolivian reports, Clinton and Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca held a 'positive' meeting.
Although Chancellor David Choquehuanca
maintained that he had a "positive" meeting with U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, President Evo Morales demanded that his U.S. counterpart
Barack Obama speak out publicly about the alleged assassination attempt against
the Bolivian head of state.
Within the framework of the
Fifth Summit of the Americas being held in Trinidad and Tobago, the Bolivian
head of diplomacy [Choquehuanca] had an encounter with the U.S. Secretary of State. In a brief
telephone conversation with La Razón, the Bolivian Ambassador to the
United Nations, Pablo Solón, deemed the meeting "positive."
Solón, who is a member of the
Bolivian delegation participating at the Summit, avoided further comment with
respect to Choquehuanca's encounter with Clinton. Although the Chancellor was expected
to hold a press conference on the matter yesterday, there was no news of it by
the close of this edition.
While the Bolivian Minister
of Foreign Affairs attempted to rebuild Bolivia-U.S. relations, President
Morales yesterday asked Barack Obama "not remain silent" like his
predecessors, and that at in the Summit of the Americas, he publicly "condemn"
the alleged assassination attempt that was to be perpetrated in Bolivia.
Flanked
by Venezuela President Hugo Chavez and Cuba leader
Raul
Castro, President Evo Morales tells of the plot against his
"In this meeting - I'm
asking President Obama to condemn this, and that he not remain silent … if he
says nothing, then I can think the conspiracy was organized by the (United
States) Embassy," Morales maintained, according to the EFE [the Spanish News Agency].
According to dispatch by the
international news agency, the Bolivian President added that Obama should make
this gesture, after many countries and the Organization of American States repudiated
the attempt on his life.
According to the state-run
Bolivian Information Agency [ABI], Morales spoke for 55 minutes in front of a hundred
journalists covering the Summit, and lamented the fact that the government in
Washington, "hasn't spoken out against the assassination attempt" in
Bolivia.
Friday, Bolivian law
enforcement ordered the protective detention of Bolivian Tadic Astorga and
Hungarian Elod Toazo, who are accused by the government of attempting to
assassinate President Morales. They were first detained in Santa Cruz.
During the operation, two alleged
foreign mercenaries died. They were identified as Magyarosi Arpak of Romania
and Dwayer Michael Martin of Ireland, as well as Eduardo Rosza Flores of Bolivia,
from whom, it was explained, advanced weaponry was confiscated.
According to the EFE, Evo
Morales explained that he had attended the Summit of the Americas with the hope
of seeking cooperation and dialogue and he demanded that the United States
leave aside its meddling in the affairs of other countries. He maintained that
during the George W. Bush Administration this was business as usual.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
"I come seeking a dialogue
of cooperation, not relations of conspiracy; I want to build trust and don't
want meddling," insisted the president of Bolivian, with regard to his
objectives for the Fifth Summit of the Americas, according to EFE.
AL-JAZEERA WITH PRESIDENT MORALES
According to AFP international
[Agence French Presse], Morales believes
that improving relations with the U.S. depends solely on that country. "It's
in the hands of the government of the United States to improve relations"
with Bolivia and the other countries of the region, the president said, who
later claimed to have proof that the hands of U.S. diplomats were behind a
conspiracy against his government.
"If (Barack Obama) says
nothing, then I think that this conspiracy was organized by the (United States)
Embassy," President Morales is quoted as saying.
[Editor's Note: President
Obama subsequently said, "I just want to make absolutely clear that I am
opposed and condemn any efforts at violent overthrows of democratically elected
governments, wherever it happens in the hemisphere. That is not the policy of
our government. That is not how the American people expect their government to
conduct themselves.]
