BOLIVIA: Terrorist bombings kill two

Stuart Munckton

"A wave of condemnation swept through Bolivia today after the terrorist attacks that killed two people and resulted in the arrest of a U.S. citizen", Prensa Latina reported on March 22. Two bombings occurred at low-cost tourist accommodation in La Paz on March 21.

Bolivian President Evo Morales "denounced the attacks as actions aimed at destabilization on the part of sectors of the oligarchy who are being affected by changes underway", noting that "history shows that terrorism always precedes coup d'etats".

Morales called for the Bolivian people to organise themselves into committees to defend democracy and called for the US to takes steps to stop terrorists travelling from its territory to carry out such attacks.

However, Bolivian police, who originally believed the bombings to be part of a terrorist campaign, later said the perpetrator, Claudio Lestad, was merely a mentally disturbed individual, according to a March 23 Associated Press report.

From Green Left Weekly, March 29, 2006.

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From GLW issue 662