At Last! Washington Post Finds Answer to US-Cuba Problemz

Have you noticed that relations between Cuba and the United States have been sort of crap for the past 50 years? Well GOOD NEWS because it's all going to change now, forever!

Get this: Cuba has discovered massive underwater reserves of the good stuff (oil), enough to turn the island into the Abuja Kirkuk "Qatar of the Caribbean." Our relationship will now improve, dramatically, forever, b/c what could possibly go wrong? Nobels & Pulitzers 4 everyone, hooray!

From Bolivarian Revolution

Ignacio Villa Vargas, the key witness against the Santa Cruz Bolivian mercenary terrorists, blows the lid off the story

5/18/09

Today in Bolivian daily 'Cambio' there are a dozen or so pages devoted to the story of the Santa Cruz terrorist cell taken down by Bolivian police and the aftermath of the whole episode. The main event in today's paper is an official, published Q&A with Ignacio Villa Vargas, the Bolivian national who was the group's Mr. Fixit, chauffeur and gopher.

In the very extensive interview he basically blows the lid off the whole affair, directly implicating Branko Marinkovic, Ruben Costas and other Santa Cruz bigwigs with Eduardo Rozsa Flores, Michael Dwyer and the others in the terrorist cell. He also testifies that the group was out to kill Evo Morales, Veep Alvaro Garcia Linares, their Cabinet Minister Juan Ramon Quintana and the Bolivian Cardinal Terrazas whose house was bombed. Here is the first part of the confession.

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Question: Please tell what you want to inform the Interior Ministry regarding the latest events occurred in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, specifically regarding the attack on the house of Cardenal Julio Terrazas and other aspects.

Ignacio Villa Vargas answers: First I would like to say the I was President of the Santa Cruz Youth Union (the far right wing Unión Juvenil Cruceñista, or UJC) for seven years in the 1970s. This is why I am well-known in the city of Santa Cruz and also in Cotoca. Because of this the ex-President of the UJC, 'Negro' Cejas, came to find me, because I was his advisor. He told me that they were putting together a "real group" and I should get in contact with a person who answered to the name of Germán. The gentleman called me on my cellphone and we arranged to meet at the COTAS stand inside the trade fair show site for our first meeting, to which I drove my vehicle. This must have been on a date in or around October 2008.

When I arrived at the meeting Germán was in a group with Branko (Marinkovic) and other gringos that I didn't know. Also present were Estaban Mauricio Roca, Pedro Yovió and Guido Nayar. There must have been eight people there and it was 1pm, the time the meeting was to start.

Branko Marinko­vic talked to me and offered me a series of economic offers and other deals. We were talking and they also linked me by phone to the Prefect of Santa Cruz, Ruben Costas, who offered me a house and some land. I asked what would have to be done and they answered that we had to finish what had been started. They were definitely referring to the attacks that were going to happen in the city soon as a demonstration of serious intent. They attacked the radio of Guido Guardia two months later, they made the attack on Saúl Ávalos by localizing him as target. Sometimes they would ask me to take them on a tour of the streets before the attacks. I saw that they were looking for escape or emergency routes. Regarding the attack on the Cardenal, Germán (Rózsa) and the Irishman (Dwyer) were there that day. They asked me to pick them up from the Hotel Santa Cruz at around 10pm and asked me to drive around several times close to Seminario Street in the Santa Cruz neighbourhood (where the Cardenal lived).

Later I found out that a terrorist event occurred which repulsed me because I am Catholic. While laughing Germán commented that they had got out the car and placed the explosive that I saw them holding into a rubbish bin. He also said that he lit the fuse, got back in the car and drove forward half a block and waited for the explosion, then had to go back three times until Germán verified that the fuse had taken. He said with a smile that it was a pity we hadn't killed the priest and that involved with the explosion were the driver and in the back seats were Germán and Michael Dwyer, who was armed with a pistol with the instruction to open fire and kill if somebody saw them.

I can co-operate with the information about the other vehicle hat participated in the attack, a white 1997 Toyota Corola driven by a certin Alberto Mendoza (I know know if he is the owner) and they had paid 200 Bolivares to use it for two hours. they told him it was to do some business."

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More excerpts

Question: Please tell us who is Germán, noting his general characteristics

Answer: Germán is Eduar­do Rózsa Flores. He also called himself as well as Germán by the last name Villaroel. I met him at the Expoferia meeting. He was semi bald with a scar on his face by his left cheekbone, a robust body and the leader of the group, the one shown dead in the police intervention.

Question: What was the objective of Germán?

Answer: His objective was to kill Evo (Morales), Linera (his VP) and Quintana (his cabinet minister). He talked about his constantly. He said there was somebody who was going to give him more than U$100,000 to kill Quintana.


Question: How was he thinking of carrying out the attacks if the seat of government is in La Paz?

Answer: It was going to happen in Santa Cruz. They even talked about buying a rocket launcher that cost more than U$120,000. The money was going to come from the owner of the Bimodal terminal named Daré, with whom I even talked by telephone and said that Germán had to pick up part of the money to do the job. They also wanted a radar to locate the aircraft that transported Quintana to Pando and then to use the rocket.


Question: How often did they meet and where was the place of meeting with the "bosses", as you call them, and who were they?

Answer: They met every 15 or 20 days. The safest place was the trade fair grounds because it had a security perimeter where only authorized people could enter. When I attended the meetings there were present Monseñor Rivero Alejandro Melgar, Branko Marinkovic, Rubén Costas, Hugo Achá and others. Generally they met when Germán called a meeting. Sometimes he would also be present at the meeting. Soemtimes I could see that Alejandro Melgar went with Germán and I to pick up the money (nobody else, not even the gringos) from the Melgar office, in the Oriente Building 5th floor first office on the left. There are three offices all together and they met there and sometimes I was present. They only talked about financing questions.

Question: Tell us who provided the firearms and how contact was made with these people.

Answer: Only by telephone. I don't have it (the number) now but I can get it later. I once went to a purchase of a mini Uzi with silencer for U$1,500. We bought it in "the fourth ring" (neighbourhood of Santa Cruz). Germán did the deal which had been previously agreed with the vendor.

Question: Who financed these operations?

Answer: Everyone knows that they funded the group but nobody will report the financing. CRE, Cotas, Saguapac and other Santa Cruz institutions funded German's group or the UJC.

Question: How many attacks took place in Santa Cruz or in other departments of Bolivia?

Answer: In Santa Cruz only three, in the interior I don't know. The three in Santa Cruz were those I've mentioned; the radio of Guido Guardia, the house of Ávalos and the Cardinal's house. There were only three.

Question: Where did you stay when the attacks took place?

Answer. For the first attack we were staying in Branko Marinkovic's house at Km4 of the northern highway. For the Ávalos attack we were in the Hotel Asturias and for the Cardinal's attack in Hotel Las Americas. For the three attacks Germán was always the leader. Security and gunman was Michael Dwyer and his driver, always in the same place.

Question: What was going to be the next attack to be made that you know of?

Answer: I heard that they were going to take a car laden with explosives to the Prefecture. It was going to be in the day time and cause the maximum amount of damage possible to the people at the place, for the simple reason of damaging the Prefect.

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And it continues and continues. The whole Spanish version is very long and has dozens of questions and answers. None of it is good for the bigwigs in Santa Cruz, that I promise you.

From Inca Kola News

Bolivia terror plot: A new ringleader fingered, plus more members come to light

Just like a bad penny, some nasties (like the Szekler Legion, screengrabbed above) keep coming back...and yes, there are Irish and Corrib project crests on that page. Hmm, whatever could it mean?

I've been meaning to translate this item for a few days, and just now got around to it:

A Hungarian, Tibor Revesz, has been fingered as head of the suspected terrorist cell broken up last month in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Revesz is believed to have had more power than the Bolivian-Croatian-Hungarian Eduardo Rózsa Flores, according to revelations by an opposition deputy, Bernardo Montenegro, of the Podemos party.

"According to the information we have, Tibor Revesz was the head and organizer of this group. Not only here, but in his own country, he had knowledge of the organization of irregular groups," Montenegro told the Special Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, which is investigating the case.

Montenegro revealed that this new element came from the declarations of the Bolivian, Mario Tadic, and the Hungarian, Elöd Tóásó, survivors of the police operation that killed three other assassins last April 16 in the Hotel Las Américas in Santa Cruz. The two prisoners are currently incarcerated in La Paz.

The congressman said that Revesz had been in Bolivia throughout the first stage of the formation of the irregular group, and that for some as yet unknown reason he left the country and left behind five persons, three of them later killed: Eduardo Rózsa, Michael Martin Dwyer (of Ireland), and Arpád Magyarosi (of Hungary), as well as the two detainees, Tadic and Tóásó.

"There definitely were not only these five persons in this irregular group. There were other persons who came to Bolivia, such as the Hungarians Revesz, Gabor Dudog, and a man named [Daniel] Gaspar. Tadic said that at one time, he heard someone say to Mr. Rózsa that it was cheaper to buy two bullets than to pay for travel tickets," said Montenegro.

According to Montenegro, Revesz is in Hungary, for which reason Tóásó fears for his family. Revesz has an extensive criminal record when it comes to forming irregular (i.e. terrorist) groups.

"He is a person very much connected to irregular groups. He is believed to have been the mentor to various irregular movements and apparently came to Bolivia and began to form this group. One of the hypotheses is that he was in charge of this cell, above Rózsa," Montenegro said.

I've done the Googly Moogly on Tibor Revesz, and here's what I found:

* He was with Mike Dwyer in Ireland, and is suspected of having recruited him when both worked as security goons for I-RMS, the private-security contractor for Shell Oil. They worked together on the controversial Corrib gas line project. He is now suspected of having been the unnamed "mutual friend" who hooked Dwyer up with Rózsa and travelled with Dwyer from Ireland to Bolivia, only to return later on.

* Revesz is also known as "Photosniper" and is believed to be a member of the infamous Szekler Legion. His résumé is chock-a-block with "security" activities that would also be of benefit to a would-be mercenary...or terrorist. His profile definitely matches that of the unnamed "32-year-old Hungarian" who travelled with Dwyer to Bolivia.

* This Hungarian blogger has heard reports that Revesz was arrested. So far, I haven't found further details. I would welcome more, if anyone knows.

The other "new" Hungarian name on this blog's radar, Gabor Dudog, also worked "since January" for a security company in Ireland. Hmmm, also for Shell? His mother, predictably, claims he "didn't do anything wrong". Now, where have we heard that before? BTW, Indymedia Ireland is doing terrific research on this case, check it out.

According to the Hungarian ambassador to Bolivia, Dudog and Daniel Gaspar (the other "new" name) have already left the country. No explanation, but if they have ties to this unsavory bunch, none is really needed. They are wanted for questioning (at the very least) by Bolivian authorities, so I foresee an extradition hearing. Play nice, Hungary!

Meanwhile, there's a real effort to paint Elöd Tóásó as a poor suffering innocent, here. There's also a "defense fund" and petition, which I hope won't find many contributors. I don't buy any of this "oh, but he's innocent and a hero" crap--I've blogged the cellphone video indicating him as being involved in the conspiracy up to his eyeballs. Not to mention I have the pic of him with the big fat sniper rifle. Innocent, my ass--and if he's suffering now, GOOD. He ought to, for what he tried to do. Foreign intrigue is not fun and games, people. If he's co-operating with the authorities and singing like a canary, fine--but he does not deserve freedom. He knew what he was involved in, and his moral sense didn't dissuade him. I hereby remind anyone coming here to troll on his behalf that he faces charges of terrorism and attempted multiple murder, and that this is not some set-up on the part of the Bolivian government, as some people appear to think.

Now, on to the next piece of translation, in which more names are named:

According to today's edition of the state newspaper Cambio, three names were found in the pocket of the Bolivian-Croat cell leader, Eduardo Rózsa Flores, who died resisting arrest.

One of the implicated is Juan Líder Paz, an engineer by profession, who, according to the inquiry, financed the extremists. Paz is a fugitive from justice as of Thursday, but yesterday his attorney presented a request establishing legal residence on his behalf before the prosecutor in charge of the case, Marcelo Sosa.

The other implicated man is Héctor Renato Laguna, also an engineer, in charge of recruiting youths to the so-called Bolivian Socialist Falange ['Bina's note: a known fascist organization] in order to commit separatist and seditious acts.

According to Cambio, the third man is Enrique Vaca, member of the directorate of Fexpocruz, the agricultural fair of Santa Cruz. He is believed to have supplied [fake] credentials to Rózsa. At the present time, Vaca is also a fugitive from justice.

The commission also took statements yesterday from the Bolivian citizen Ignacio Villa Paz, nicknamed "El Viejo" (the Old Man), who is considered a key witness for the prosecution. Villa was one of the closest persons to Rózsa, for which reason his statements are of relevance to the clarification of the international network's activities.

In the statements of "El Viejo", several names of opposition authorities and members of the business sector of Santa Cruz recur. According to Villa, departmental prefect Rubén Costas and businessmen Branko Marinkovic, Mauricio Roca and Guido Nayar also aided the extremist group.

According to the information obtained so far, the group intended to perpetrate separatist actions and had plans to assassinate president Evo Morales and various members of his cabinet.

More on these new guys later, I'm sure. Meanwhile, enjoy this pic I found of Mike Dwyer and Eduardo Rózsa Flores in shorts...

Somehow, neither looked quite as good in them as Evo, eh?

UPDATE: Otto has a nice, incriminating partial translation of the Cambio piece mentioned in the Prensa Latina article above. Check it out. Among other things, it totally blows to smithereens the notion that Mike Dwyer was in Bolivia on some "bodyguarding" course. He was clearly under shoot-to-kill instructions from Eduardo Rózsa Flores, as the incident of the night of the bombing of Cardinal Terrazas' house indicates. And he seemed very keen to do the job, too. (As though all those guns down his pants would indicate anything else.) BTW, the article also blows to shit any notions that there was a legal basis for what Rózsa was doing (as he indicated in his interview with Andras Kepes in Hungary). The man was a terrorist, as was everyone else in his band. Any questions?

From News of the Restless

Maracaibo goes to hell, in true paramilitary style

Ever since Manuel Rosales fucked off to Peru, falsely claiming he was being "persecuted", the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela, has been effectively without a mayor. But even when Burusas was still in the city, he was apparently either grossly incompetent or flat-out criminal, if this story is any indication:

"Commando-type men arrived, armed to the teeth, and shoved us against the wall. They told us that if they saw us talking on the corner again, they would fuck us."

So says Francisco (name altered to protect the privacy of the 17-year-old), who was threatened with death along with six other young people by a suspected "death squad" in the Lomitas del Zulia sector of the Francisco Eugenio Bustamante parish, population 93,967, on April 24 at 8:00 pm.

A total of 11 sectors are alarmed at the presence of a violent group that is trying to take the law into its own hands.

Francisco says that days before the men came to the neighborhood, the residents of Calle 60B-1 in Lomitas del Zulia were shocked to find a leaflet stuck in the doors of their houses, warning of a "social cleansing" due to the rise in juvenile delinquency in Maracaibo.

Panic took hold in the zone as people recalled the threats of the "death pamphlets" which circulated in the city and other muncipalities over the last two months.

Francisco recalls that the six armed men got out of a grey Ford Fiesta Power and corralled him when he was conversing with a group of other boys. "One of them wanted to leave on his bicycle, but they pointed a pistol at him and frisked him to see if he was armed."

A neighbor intervened, and assured that the boys were all right and asked that they be left alone. "Then they went away. But if we see them again in the street, we won't respond," said one of the boys, in a hoarse voice.

From then on, the residents changed their routine. They live in fear of the men who threatened them with death.

The same thing happened a week before, in the Libertador neighborhood of the same parish, when several hooded men shouted at passersby that they would kill "delinquents and drug traffickers", according to Adolfo Jacobo, a Maracaibo taxi driver.

"20 days ago, a friend showed me a flyer that some guys were throwing around in the streets, saying they would kill criminals, never mind if it took the lives of any innocent people," said a resident of Avenida 95 in the same neighborhood, who declined to be identified. He added that as of that moment, the neighbors all locked themselves indoors after 7:00 pm, for fear of "being caught in a shooting."

"We are worried about the lack of (police) patrols. Now we can't even stand in front of our houses because of the insecurity and the threatening pamphlets," said Eduardo Rincón, an electrician from Lomitas del Zulia in eastern Maracaibo.

His version coincides with that of Commissioner Jotny Márquez, chief of the CICPC-Maracaibo, who questions the crime-prevention work of the regional police because crime rates have risen.

In the José Antonio Páez neighborhood, near Lomitas del Zulia, people are also alarmed by the appearance of the pamphlets.

Aura Medina, a 47-year-old housewife, said that after the leaflets were distributed, several suspicious cars were seen passing through the neighborhood during the night. "We're afraid that they will do what they did to those young guys, and take people from their houses and kill them," said Medina, referring to a case of some young people who were taken from the La Chinita neighborhood, in the southern part of the city, last April 18.

Families of the victims have joined the CICPC and the Ombudsman's office in calling for justice for their loved ones. "Right now, we know that they called several municipal police officers to testify who were involved, and we hope they will clarify what happened," said Aída Rodríguez, mother of Jender Soto, who was killed by gunfire.

A spokesman for the CICPC informed that five members of the Maracaibo police were called to give statements about the occurrences. However, a tribunal source denied, for the time being, that the officials were directly involved in the murders.

The pamphlets found in Maracaibo were of the same content as those which circulated in Colombia in 2008.

Translation mine. (Sabina's)

It seems pretty clear what's going on. Colombian paramilitaries have been a problem in western Venezuela for years, because that region borders on Colombia. And right-wing politicians, too, have been western Venezuela's bane for the same amount of time. It seems only logical to suspect that the two are somehow connected; the paras "provide security" to the rich, corrupt right-wingers, and do so by menacing the poor. They also seem to have had some collaborators among the Maracaibo police, and this even when Giancarlo Di Martino, a member of the PSUV (Chavecito's party) was mayor of Maracaibo and trying to get a handle on the situation. Do the PoliMaracaibo respect no authority unless it's that of a fascist enabler? Sure smells that way.

It doesn't hurt, either, to recall that Colombian paramilitaries have been found to be involved in several failed coup plots against Chavecito--always hired at the behest of those same right-wing political figures who pose as heads of "civil society" and NGOs, and who are constantly screeching about political persecution when the law starts catching up to them.

So, when will the Dissociated Press, the Old Grey Whore and the WaHoPo write about the truly persecuted in Venezuela--the residents of neighborhoods terrorized by these right-wing commandos, operating illegally at the behest of poor, persecuted Manuel Rosales? Don't hold your breath, kiddies, they're still busy painting Chavecito as the villain on whose shoulders all of this somehow must fall.

From News of the Restless

Breaking News

No Joe, I’m not mad.

YELTSIN

They said there would be hurdles

The Real Enemy in Iraq

By RS Janes


From BartBlog

How To Read A Juan Forero Story In Three Easy Steps

...if you think you're ready to try these tips out for yourself, proceed.

From Bolivarian Revolution

‘Daily Show’ on the one line America will not cross

But Only Because the American Nazi Party Was Taken

By RS Janes

Today’s GOP — moving from the ridiculously stupid to the space-cadet silly

“A member of the Republican National Committee told me Tuesday that when the RNC meets in an extraordinary special session next week, it will approve a resolution rebranding Democrats as the ‘Democrat Socialist Party.’”
— Roger Simon, “GOP, RNC to Rebrand Democrats as ‘Socialists,’” Politico.com, May 13, 2009.

That’s fine, the Republicans should go ahead and do that, as long as they accept this appropriate title as well:

“Things for the Republicans are bad, very bad. It is worse than just about any Republican wants to admit.” [...]
“…But the big picture is clear for all to see: Under Republican rule, government got bigger and more intrusive.
“Which brings us to personal freedoms: From the legislating of morality (Schiavo as the prime example), to the various conservative-led state bans on gay marriage, the Republicans did very little to expand personal freedoms and if anything looked like the party trying to take freedoms away.” [...]
“No one is stepping up and accepting any responsibility. The public only sees a bunch of cowards afraid to take responsibility.”
— Chuck Todd, “Yes, It’s That Bad for the GOP,” NBC News, May 14, 2009.

From BartBlog

Meet Zulema Jattin! Senator, Terrorist, Drama Queen

[Sorry, most links in Spanish. Shockingly, the U.S. press hasn't picked up any of this.]

Zulema Jattin is the kinda-sexy close ally of President Uribe, and one of four Colombian congresspeeps, recently charged for their political, financial and murderin' relationships with the paramilitaries. She reacted to her arrest by accusing the Supreme Court of "kidnapping" her and being "poisoned by hate and personal resentments" against the "friends of the President." And then she conveniently, hilariously suffered from "heart palpitations" at her Court hearing, resulting in a postponement of her testimony.

A little background on our little drama queen - She won her dad's former seat representing the paramilitary-laden Cordoba Department in the lower house in 1998 (5 of Cordoba's 6 Senators are now under "parapolitica investigation"). He had lost it due to his involvement in the drug money election scandal that rocked the presidency of Ernesto Samper.

Weirdly, in 2002 she was actually kidnapped by the paramilitaries for 20 days. But she's more forgive-y than Jesus, apparently, as she subsequently ran for Senate in 2006 with the paramilitary boss, "Comandante Andres" as her running mate in the lower house.

Zulema is a member of the Partido de la U, the unofficial party of Uribe, whose leaders have reacted to her arrest by calling for a return of Congressional immunity. And if that isn't sketchy enough for you, some of the evidence against her is found in the iPod of renowned terrorist kingpin Salvatore Mancuso, currently on trial in the U.S.

This all bodes pretty badly for Uribe, which is the immediate reason why the Congressional vote on his reelection was suspended yesterday. But you wouldn't know that from reading this AP article, which only mentions the other four explosive death-scandals Alvaro is currently dealing with. Best. Ally. Ever.

From Bolivarian Revolution

Zen and the Art Alaska Politics

Accuracy Fever: Catch It!

Here are some terrible truths that somehow managed to appear "in the news" this week. Aliens have kidnapped all the editors, maybe? Take a screen capture of this page b/c this shall never be repeated again, jobs will be lost, etc. etc.:

* Evo Morales is Popular: Don't let John Enders' Heart of Darkness reportage fool you. Most Bolivians love their corner kicking cocalero. Polls show his approval ratings on the ups.

* Hugo Chavez is Really Popular: Opposition polling firm Datanalysis had Chavez' ratings at 59% (the same as Obama's, suck it Davidow) in March. But then they refused to release the results b/c they were so high. But then they leaked, ha ha.

* Venezuela Makes Big Drug Busts: Yes the US is perennially "concerned" about Chavez' "cooperation" on drug interdiction, but the Venezuelans are actually seizing more blow these days than when the DEA was running (over) the country. Another two-ton bust last weekend.

* Ecuador Makes Really Big Drug Busts: What does 17 tons of coke even look like? Crimany.

* Venezuela's Economy Grew: The global economy is collapsing, but Venezuela's managed to actually grow in the first quarter '09. Which means that the IMF is even wrong-er than usual (Take the bet!).

Your mind is blown, I know.

From Bolivarian Revolution