'Irishman is Jackal' in Bolivia hit plot
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Bolivian police claim to have killed a group of mercenaries, including an Irishman, who were reportedly plotting to kill president Evo Morales (right).
Bolivian security forces yesterday claimed a foreign hit squad – including an Irish mercenary – had been killed while attempting to assassinate President Evo Morales.
Three people died in the half-hour shootout in the opposition stronghold of Santa Cruz.
Police chief Hugo Escobar said two Hungarians and a Bolivian, who were believed to be part of a conspiracy to kill Morales, were killed, while the president later said an Irishman was among what he called a foreign mercenary group involved in the attack.
Morales, a socialist, is Bolivia's first indigenous president and has faced strong opposition in relatively wealthy regions of the country, including Santa Cruz.
However, the governor of Santa Cruz, a prominent critic of Morales, voiced skepticism about the government's account.
But government officials said authorities had recently been following the suspects.
“Yesterday I gave instructions to the vice president to move to arrest these mercenaries and this morning I was informed of a half-hour shootout at a hotel in the city of Santa Cruz,” Morales said, adding two people were under arrest. There was confusion regarding the nationalities of the foreigners killed. While the chief of police said two of those killed were from Hungary, several local media organizations reported they were from Romania and Ireland.
In La Paz, Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia told reporters the men were carrying guns and grenades and attacked police as they approached them.
He said that after the shootout, police found documents “about preparations for an assassination, an attempt on the lives of the president and the vice president” and confiscated sniper rifles, high-caliber guns and other explosives from a nearby building.
Heavily armed police cordoned off the hotel where the gunfight occurred.
Morales has announced several plots against him in the past but the results of investigations have never been released, causing some Bolivians to doubt their veracity.
