Bolivia: Gov’t Says Ex-President Linked to Indigenous Protest

La Paz, Sep 22. -Government Minister Sacha Llorenti announced that links had been discovered between former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (2002-2003) and an ongoing indigenous mobilization against an interdepartmental road project.Llorenti made his remarks to a radio station in New York, where he was accompanying President Evo Morales at the 66th United Nations General Assembly. He said details would be revealed when he returned to Bolivia.

Since Oct. 2003, Sanchez de Lozada has been a fugitive after fleeing to the United States. In Bolivia, he faces charges of military repression against a social mobilization, which resulted in 68 deaths and more than 400 injured.

According to Llorenti, Bolivian authorities had said that outside elements were involved in a protest march organized by the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia, which began on Aug. 15 from the city of Trinidad to the capital.

Llorenti also condemned what he called a political conspiracy by domestic and foreign right-wing factions against Bolivia linked to the case. (Prensa Latina)