ASSASSINATION LEGACY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 58
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 25, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 15, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

THE WASHINGTON OBSERVER NEWSLETTER
15 Sept 1972
Approved For Release 2000/09/14.: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000400150001-
r ~'r On April 15, 1972, WO The Soviet KGB and the CIA -both conduct
that "Teddy schools for assassins and frequently. complement "
A &S, fj1 ' predicted
Kennedy would remain each other, as in the instance of Che Guevara
ry ~n # t
onth.e sidelines during where the KGB set up the Argentine-born revolu-
I t
the coming Presidential Election, regardless tonist for the CIA to ambush him.
whether the Democratic Convention in Miami. WO on June ].J, 1968, reporting on the Guevara
will Nvant to draft him or not:' WO continued: assassination, stated: "the killing was done by
"Back in 1963 shortly after President Kennedy's agents of our own Central Intelligence Agency,
assassination, Robert F. Kennedy, while he was sometimes called `Murder Unlimited' ... Guevara
still Attorney General, conducted his own investi- was `fingered' for the CIA by the Soviet police
gation of the death of his brother. That private in- (KGB)"
vestigation, which ran parallel. with the official Theec1u111y murderous Israeli secret political
inquiry into the inagnicide conducted by the War- Police are also specialists in political homicide and
roll Commission, was featured by trips to this frequently Work in cooperation with CIA and KGB.
country by an inspector Hamilton, former Chief The public opinion polls have constantly indi-
Inspeetor of Scotland Yard, Hamilton ... had been eared that Kennedy could defeat Nixon.
retained by .Bobby to help unravel the real truth about the murder of 5'K.... Hamilton zeroed on In the interim between now and 1976 Teddy
the fact that the assassination of John Kennedy intends to ingratiate himself with both Moscow
had occurred very shortly after his brother Bobby and Tel Aviv, and be the anointed Communist-
had made some preliminary moves of taking direct, Zionist successor of Nixon in the White House.
personal control of the U.S. Central Intelligence
J Agency, whose leadership he blamed for the Bay
of Pigs fiasco. Hamilton, following the `ciii pro-
dest' (`whom does it benefit?') reasoning, reached
the conclusion that Bobby's move to seize control
of the CIA had something to do with murder of
,pis elder brother.... Teddy has become convinced;
:of the correctness of Hamilton's conclusion, and,
furthermore, considers it to have been further vin-
dicated by Bobby's own death-which occurred
within.a matter of days after he threw his liat into STATINTL
the presidential. ring and was on the way to putting
himself in the position to. take over the free-
spending, powerful cloak-and-dagger agency."
When in the spring the Presidential campaigns
of Muskie and IIumphrcy faltered, Teddy Ken-
nedy weakened under pressure and permitted his
cohorts to stealthily start his Presidential cam-
paign, but was abruptly stopped by the attempted
assassination of George Wallace. The Wallace as-
sassination plot followed almost exactly the pattern
of the Kennedy assassinations.
Teddy was scared. He told his courtiers to desist
from all efforts to secure his presidential nomi-
nation, but to continue bluffing that he was po-
tentially available in order that he could exercise
more power at the National Convention.
Teddy wanted McGovern nominated because he
was the weakest candidate, most likely to be de-
feated and thus leave the door wide open for Teddy
in 1976. Teddy knew that both Soviet Russia and
Israel are anxious to have Nixon re-elected and
that any candidate who would seriously jeopardize -
Nixon'sA1 4bFicic I laaa+~a~U 1O 9x14: CIA-RDP80-01.601 R000400150001-4
 NATIONAL REVIEW
t 9WL 07%
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA -DP80-01601 R00040
LETTER FROM SANTA CRUZ
Although General Torres and his Communist colleagues
have been overthrown, there's not a chance,
says the author, that Gulf will get back its oil fields.
And lie explains why
( t i
N Vt - 5~ Rightists i 1.0)
SELDEN RODMAN
S AN Old Bolivian Hand who
had visited the West's highest
country three times without ever see-
ing its tropical lowlands, I had more
than one motive for starting my fourth
trip in Santa Cruz. The city is only an
hour's flight across the Gran Chaco
from Asuncion, Paraguay, where I was
staying. And it had been the scene not
only of the military conspiracy under
Colonel Hugo. Banzer Suarez that had
ousted General Juan Jose Torres and
his Communist colleagues last year, but
of the oil and gas installations of the
Gulf Oil Company whose expropriation
on October. 17, 1969 by the Ovando
regime led directly to the Marxists'
takeover under Torres a few months
later. I wanted to find out, before pro-
. ceeding to Cochabamba and La Paz,
what the conservative lowlanders
thought of the takeover and how it had
affected them. I wanted to see the oil
fields and ask the workers whether they
wanted Gulf back. And finally I wanted
for once to avoid. the altitude sickness
that had always laid me low on land-
ing at La Paz's 13,500-foot airport; cv-
eryone assured me that by creeping up
gradually by way of Cochabamba I
would "outwit" the soroche.
Santa Cruz is Bolivia's "frontier"
city. In an undeveloped region as" big
as Texas, it is surrounded by unex-
plored jungles, Amazon-type rivers,
fertile fields for growing year-round
crops-not to mention immense min-
eral and petroleum deposits. Its citizens
-like those of Guayaquil in Ecuador
or San Pedro Sula in Itondur.as--deep-.
ly resent being exploited by the
"drones" of the highland capital, and
pride themselves on an cnterprisin~ in-
dividuality that they never tire of
vincial capital has none of the Hispanic
art treasures of cities like Sucre and
Potosi in the, Andes to the wvest, but its
people are warm and hospitable and
more than once have threi\tened to
make common cause with Brazil or
Argentina unless permitted reasonable
autonomy.
Gulf and the Crrazeios
I spoke first with a leader in the
business community who told me that
things had been really booming in
Santa Cruz when the nationalization of
Gulf was announced. "Everybody was
stunned, and all of us, from land-
owners to taxi-drivers, suffered. Land
values fell 50 per cent. For a year and
a half not a drop of oil was exported.
at, eh., ?i--or cnirit of Dclav in Completing the Pipeline for
STATI NTL
lion in revenue from Argentina. And
of course the termination of any further
exploration-there is no Bolivian cap-
ital to finance this-will have in-
calculable effects once the present wells
are pumped dry. But far worse than the
expropriation of Gulf-which many
Cpplauded for nationalistic reasons and
because the company was unpopular
except with those on its payroll--was
the American acquiescence in the Com-
munist takeover by Torres which fol-
lowed. Your ambassador never opened
his mouth. We felt abandoned. We felt
you had no interest in saving your al-
lies. The Russians, in contrast, were
generously financing the student organ-
izations that burned your buildings.
And they promised Bolivia a $27-mil-
lion loan-which even the Banzer gov-
ernment will no doubt accept, if no
obvious strings are attached to it."
I asked him why* G61f had been so
disliked. "Their public relations were
terrible," he replied. `They staffed their
headquarters with people from the
mountains, ignoring the intense-hostility.
They wrote-a letter to the local dentists
to see who would bid the lowest for
serving Gulf. They never joined the
Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce
though invited to repeatedly. Their
executives were not friendly types, like
your AID officials, for example; at
parties they didn't nlix with the Boliv-
ians. Finally, Gulf was too efficient,
too automated; perhaps it should have
padded its payroll a little to include
more Bolivians. So in spite of the good
 PAM
Approved For Release 2000/0o1DP80-01601 R
A Short History
CIA - Intervention
,of in Sixteen
foreign Countries
In July, 1947, Congress passed one of the most significant
pieces of legislation in the history of America in peacetime. The
National Security Act of 1947 created The National Security
Council, the Department of Defens-._the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the
United States Air Force and, not least of all, the CIA. This act
provided the Agency with five principal duties:
1. To advise the National Security Council on matters concern-
ing intelligence.
2. To make recommendations for the coordination of such intel-
ligence matters.
3. To correlate and evaluate intelligence relating to national
security and disseminate it to other government departments.
4: To per form "such additional services of common concern as
the National Security Council determines can be more efficiently
accomplished centrally."
5. To perform "such other junctions and duties as the NSC
would direct.'.'
In 1949 Congress passed the Central Intelligence Agency.Act,
allowing theagencyto disregard laws that required disclosure
of information concerning the organization, to expend funds
without regard to laws and regulations governing expenditures
.44
with.nq other accounting than the Director's Vouchers, and to F
make contracts and. purchases without advertising.
.With such unprecedented au-
thority, with unlimited access to
money,.witb liberty to act with- 1
out regard to scrutiny or review
by either civilian or governmental
organizations, the CIA'has become a self-
contained state. One observer ranks the CIA as
the fourth world power, after. the U.S., Russia, and
China.
Partly because of the CIA's special "secret"
status and partly because of the laziness of the press,
the total history of CIA intervention in foreign coun-
tries has never been reported. What you read instead f
are fragments-an attempted bribe in Mexico last f
July, an assassination in Africa last November.
b
ut
What emerges here is an atlas of intrigue
not a grand design; on the contrary, the CIA's
record is as erratic and contradictory as that of
any bureaucracy in the Federal stable. But you
.do begin to comprehend the enormous size of the
The rules permit
CIA and its ruthless behavior
.
murder, defoliation, and drug addiction for
Political ends. Look at the record:
0-01601 R000-150001-4+
 Ajproved for Relea
DAILY WORLD -
10 NOV 1971 STATINTL
9nnn/na/1A : IA_R
P80_
n
a
s;nnal_A
"n1R000An
ni
D
~t
l
~
~
~
(D co'] 0 UU-11 UJ F 3 U W
If 0:-, , 00 3 Q7-
the sharp struggles solidarity with the Brazilian.
re- Panama
ANTIAGO DE CHILE-Re
,
p
S
senatives of the Communist par- of the Uruguayan people and, the Paraguayan, Haitian. Argentine,
ties of Argentina, 'Bolivia, Bra- _ formation of the Broad Front. and Dominican patriots suffer-
zil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and the growing mass struggles and ing under outrageous and ter-
Uruguay. meeting jointly last the development of united move- rible regimes. And we express
September on common Latin ments in Argentina, Colombia. our determination to_ intensify
American problems. issued the Ecuador, Venezuela. Costa Rica the campaign for the freedom cf
following declaration: and the other countries of the the outstanding progressive lead-
(1) Latin-America is witness- continent, the resistance of the' ? er of the United States. Angela
ing a new turn in the historic noble Brazilian people to the sin- Davis. CIA plots exposed
struggle of our peoples to free ister fascist-like military die- ~:?
themselves of the yoke of North tatorship -despite the countrys - (3) The, fascist coup in Bolivia
American-imperialism and of the reign of terror. the growing op- has brought out clearly to our
nitude of the
a
backward anti-national oligar
chips_
thro
h
f
ug
eature
me dominant
out the continent is the upsurge cess. exposes. Amer Bolivia. its pots-
of the freedom struggles and the Imperialism and, the oligarch- oned arrows point at the advan-
pronounced turn to the left by ies act together against the peo- ced regime in Peru: against the
the broad masses of the people. ples of Latin America. Faced Andes Pact; against the Salta
New patriotic sectors, feeling with this,, the understanding of Declaration made after the Al-
the national dignity of their noun- the common destiny of the peo- lende-Lanusse talks-which un-
tries wounded by the plunder ple's forces on the continent is dermined the so-called "ideolog-
carried out by imperialism. join spreading. ical 'frontiers- and sharpened
with the struggles to -free the Imperialist counterattack the crisis in the OAS-with the
working class-which give grow- (2) Imperialism is not resign- aim of installing in Argentina
ing evidence of maturity. These ing itself to its defeats, Faced a dictatorship ready to draw up
include peasants. students-. mid- with the rising tide of demo- plans with the rulers of Brazil
die, strata. especially the pro- cratic people's struggles in Latin to serve the designs of the Yan-
gressive intelligentsia. America, especially in the south kee monopolists and, above all.
? The new situation of our con- of the continent. Yankee impe- against the revolutionary process
tinent- is producing important rialism - - with the support of the. in Chile whose victories are al-
changes.in the Church and is de- most reactionary governments, ready reinforcing the confidence
veloping the national and social ? particularly that of Brazil which of the peoples in their own
conscience of various sectors of seeks to tranform its country power.
the Armed Forces. into an 'armed camp against our Neither has Yankee imperial-
Victory in Chile - peoples-tries by every means to ism renounced its aim of assault-
Ten years after the heroic Cu- force a change of direction. as ing Cuba, island of freedom and
ban Revolution, which signaled was. made evident in -Bolivia. -socialism. Finally, its repres-
a profound qualitative change in The fascist coup d'etat was in- sive designs point against the
the continental situation. the pro- spired. financed and carried out uguayan people and against
cess of revolutionary advances by the CIA with the help. of the t/yalrl the peoples advancing in
entered a new stage of develop- gorilla band that governs Bra- struggle for liberation.
ment with the extraordinary vic- zil, the fierce pro-imperialist (5) The Communist Parties of
Cory of Popular Unity in Chile. dictatorship of Paraguay and of Argentina. Boliva. Brazil. Chile,
The Chilean people have fully some sections of the extreme Paraguay. Peru and Uruguay all
recovered their sovereignty, are Right in Argentina. ` urge all patriots. regardless of
making themselves masters of Once more it has been demon- philosophy or belief, to unite _so
their mineral riches which had strated that Yankee imperialism as to fight decisively to ward
been in the hands of foreign mo- is the chief enemy. off . this grave . threat hovering
nopolies, are deepening the Land The Bolivian fascists-though ? over the peoples of Latin Amer-
Reform and improving their liv- they will not be able, in the last ica without the slightest trace
ing conditions. Their victory, instance, to halt the yearnings of defeatism. The depth of the
and achievements, which are lay- of the people-have caused much continental ' process and of the
ing the .foundations for social- ' blood of workers, peasants, stu- crisis of Yankee domination in
Ism, constitute a great encour- dents, democrats and patriots Latin America. and the heighten-
agement for the entire 'conti- to flow, There, persecutions, tor- ed consciousness of our peoples
nent, as' also are the structural... ture and assassinations are the and their combativeness, create
transformations won by the anti- order of the day.. . the conditions for new victories
imperialist, anti-oligarchic, dem- Call for protest and for each people finding its
ocratic movement of Peru and .. We call upon the peoples of own way in the. framework of a
which are expressed in the mea- our countries, the people's organ- Latin America whose dominant
sures adopted by the Peruvian izations, their enlightened lead- 'feature is a process' of change.
government'. ers, the intellectuals to demon- in the correlation of forces fav-
to the -
Apprej, et /14 re ~, al~s4~~ s1 o5 QIAist sectors.nced and anti
Fl S?,lI Cl'1 ^n f nm.
li e
g
position to Stroessner in Para peoples t e m
guay. are all. facts proving the Yankee conspiracy, the sinister
u- r1TA
tween Yankee imperialism and crimes of the Banzers and Se- -From to o,
the people and government of- licks. Once more we" call for - munist daily (Oct. 11.).
 Approved For Release 2000/09/1 4~O WA F .1D O-01601 R000400150001-4
1 `~\?r(r t t~' ' Lt
iT
-Ioroup chose a "fortress-.
Corres!xmden6The orEgonian f'".?_
CORVALLIS --- The Wil-
lamette Valley campus of
Oregon State University is a
'Jong way from--and a peace-
.fui change from --La Paz,
Bolivia, according to Peter
Isaacson, a Ph.D. candidate'
.in ' geology here,
He was in La Paz last Au-
gust: when the revolution
broke out.
"Soldiers started appear-
ing on street corners, carry-
W", machine guns, so we de-
cided to head south and get
away ' from the trouble,"
Isaacson said.
Indians and rebel. army
troops, under Col. Hugo Pan-
zer Suarez, were attempting
to overthrow the pro-Com-
:niunist 'government of Gen.
Juan 'Torres who was sim-
purted by loyal troops, mi-
ners and stuclent~.
Isaacson, 25, and his wife,
an Argentine graduate stu-
dent, were studying fossils of
the Devonian period. With
them Was Belarmino Antelo,
an Argentine.
Miners encountered
After slipping out of La
Paz, the three headed to
Oruro, 120 miles to the south.
`Along the way they kept ern-
countering truckloads o f
miners heading north.
"Big a r gh t -t o n Trucks
.packed with miners. They
had dynamite stuck in their
`belts and were carrying car-
.bines," Isaacson recalls. "We
were slopped by them in one
of the small ruining towns.
They were trying to recruit
people to go with them to La
Paz?and shoot Indians."
At that time Isaacson.and
his .wife, Laurie,-admitted to
being a little frightened.
he revolution started in
ithe province of Santa Cruz,
,on Bolivia's eastern border,
which wanted to secede to
Brazil. Also in Santa Cruz
were several exiled leaders
and the insurrection, quickly
caught fire.
The Nationalist - Popular
.Front, as the rebels called
Sa ~
t. r rti;'t
He explained the emot
something many Americans
aren't aware of.
` I,he people really get in-
volved with politics. They ei
then want to support or over-
throw someone."
Pushing south for another
!1S hours to the provincial
mining town of Potosi, the
like" hotel.
'Students at the university
in Potosi were fighting that.
night and had managed to
blockade the main sections
of town, he lsaacsons and
?Belarrnino Antelo slipped out
lof town early the next morn-
ing.
Students impress .
"In Bolivia the students
are a very powerful political
body and as it tw, x-d out in
this case are also mili1arilj'
powerful. Armed v ith dyna-
mite and tubs they are in-
deed a power to he taken se-,
ciously," Isaacson said.
According to Isaacson the
students were particularly
riled because they thought
the revolution was being fi-
nanced by the United States'
CIA.
All the universities in Bo-
livia are closed until the gov-
ernment irons out what they
consider this student prob-
lem.
While continuing south
from Potosi that day the
group learned that President
Torres had sought asylum in
the Peruvian embassy in La
Paz. .
Under the new regime,
Col. Panzer Suarez has wel-
comed Atner?icans to Bolivia
and the lsaacsons plan to go
hack next summer and con-
tinue their research.
PETER ISAACSON
themselves, started the re-
volt to "keep , the country
from falling to the Commu-
nists."
Just outside Oruro, which
had been the scene of fight-
ing between miners and reb-
el army troops, the
ilsaacsons were s t o pp e d
again.
"They stopped a _bus .ahead
of us," the 25-year-old stu-
dent said. "There must have
been 2,000 of them just mill-
ing around."
But the lsaacsons for some
reason were ignored.
The geologist was glad
they didn't look like typical
American tourists.
"If they would have found
out we were Americans
there would have been trou-
ble, Our Argentine license
plates on our truck ? really
helped."
Although travellin., south
away from the major areas
of the revolution the party
stilt had to avoid the centers
of many towns.
"Each town was trying to
decide whether it would sup-
port the president or not."
Isaacson said. "The people
-would he at the center of
town having a sort of pep
rally
."
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601-R000400150001-4
 DALLAS, TEX.
NEWS Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R00040~ 0 ~~4
E - 242,928
284,097
OU 1 11 1,9 ~J
Fo ^ J it. nta.
t_
10 a
J
Thy? Bolivian peasantry I
blames the CIA for the Au-
gust military junta by right-
Nving Army Col. Hugo Ban-
zer, an expelled Bolivian pas-
tor and district co-ordinator
for the Methodist Church
said this week.
The'Rev. Jaime A. Bravo,
a 29-year-old Aymara Indian
born In Bolivia, told a press
conference in Kirby Hall at
Southern Methodist Universi-
ty that rumors among the
Bolivian masses credit the
CIA with. engineering the
overthrow in August of the
five-month-old government of
Gen. Juan Jose Torres.
The young Methodist min-
ister was arrested, held in-
commi'lnicado and taken be-
i ,) 41
B--lrin? ? limit e
emerging sector of the coun-
try. He said peasants there
are abandoning primitive
ways of existence and siezing
upon educational benefits
and agricultural advances of-
fered by church organiza-
tions.
BECAUSE THE church
has taken an interest in the
peasants and "liberated him
from aleination," Bravo said,
the pastor or priest there
commands influence among
the people.
Bravo said 70 per cent of
Bolivia's population lives in
poverty, and he cliams condi-
tions under Ba.iizer will re-
tain at a status quo because
his right-wing attitudes do
not allow change.
What is actually happening
day-to-day in Bolivia was
called an "impossible task"
to describe by Bravo.
"The only thing this one
can be sure of there is uncer-
tainity," he said.
Bravo said his expulsion
has a one-year time limit,
after which time he plans to
return to the Montero village
and continue his pastoral du-
ties.
fore would-be firing squad
during the coup.
But Bishop Mortimer Aria,
the Bolivian Methodist bish-
op, negotiated Bravo's re-
lease on the condition that he
leave Bolivia. Ile arrived in
Miami in late August, and is
now on a speaking tour of the
U.S.
ALTHOUGH BRAVO
~J would not attack CIA connec-
tions to the new regime, he
said his ? pastoral activities
among impoverished Indian
peasants earned, him a
"Red" label. .
He said the right-wing gov-
ernment pins the title to any
nonconformist who has influ-
ence with the masses,
The influence which he
commanded, Bravo said, was
the result of Chrstianity help-
ing the Bolivian man "liber-
ate himself, from opives-
sion."
Bravo described his area
in Bolivia, Montero, which is
north of Santa Cruz, as an
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 P4IAMI 1DI2ALD - STATINTL
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: Csl4-880j01R0004001-
~, Tr
Compiled by Our Letio Am-,rica Staff
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y.
Cuba has accused the
U. S. Central Intelligence
Agency of engineering the
recent coup in Bolivia that
replaced left-leaning presi-
dent Juan Jose Torres with a
right-of-center re'ime headed
by Col. Hugo Panzer.
Cuban Ambassador Pi=
cardo Alardon claimed t h a t
the coup had been carried
out with the support of Bra-
zil, Argentina and Paraguay..
"Fascism has momentarily
triumphed in Bolivia," Cuba's
U. N. ambassador told the
General Assembly.
He also said that Cuba will
never rejoin the Organization
of American States and reaf.
firmed the Castro govern-
ment's, "solidarity with the
revolutionary combatants
who fight in every corner" of
Latin America. -r,
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 DALLAS, wTAl ved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400151A-IINTL
TIMES llERP.L13
E, _ 214,519
2557.,936
Ilolivans believe their coon "They made a joke in order to
try's Aug. J.')' military coup was frighten us," he said, "and they
engineered by the American did it twice."
Central Intelligence Agency, a.c With the help of an interpret-:
cording to an exiled Methodist cc, the 11ev. Alfred T. Grout,
minister who escaped a firing pastor of the Dallas Emanuel'
squad shortly after the revolu- United Methodist Church, the,
Lion, -htev. Mr. Bravo explained how'.
The Rev. Jaime' A. Bravo, the Methodist church is helping
who served as pastor and die-: the poverty-stricken count y in'.
trict coordinator for Methodist areas where the government.
church work in the tIontcro and has been inactive. '
,
-Santa Cruza urea where the lie said in contrast to thei
coup began, addressed the Per- right-wine adlitary government,
hills School of i'beoiogy'f'uesday the church now has social pro
at Southern Methodist Universi grams ill health, literacy, agrl
ty. culture and community develop-
"The rumor among the people meat,
is that the CIA took part," he "Either you're part of the sta-
said during a press conference. tus quo fnerc,," he said, "or
He said it is also rumored now you're part of those who Want to
in his country "comill ;ity vi ,g.- make a change in society."
The Rev. Mr. Bravo said the.
ultimate hope of Bolivians "is'
that: South American will b--
The diminutive 29-year-old I' conic one country in a. far.iil oi1
minister was jailed less than 10 ~ states."
days after the military ta.,~eo "In Bolivia it's impossible for
'
lante" groups acting there were
tained in Brazil through CIA
support,
; .going to
you to know what
happen," he 'said. "The only:
thing you can be curtain about
iy
is uncertainty."
bons prevailing there."
Rev. M'ir. Bravo spent
The
four and a half days in a Bolivi-
. an jail before a local bishop
helped gain his release on the
condition he leave the country
for one year.
Daring his time behind bars,
he said, a group of armed civil-
inn volunteers marched him and
'several of his friends before a
mock firing squad "to humiliate
us and.ni-ake full of us.'?'
ver, he said, ,be cause I wa.s a
void that spoke for the masses
in their efforts for pi1'oZ 'ess."
He said his work and that of
The church hit a snag when they
,began to itivestigite the "polit-
dcal aspects of the social condi-
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601 R0004001500
NEW YORK, N.Y.
POST
EVENING -- 623,245
WEF 1%D-~ ,797
C
tk C4 u`~'S 5. n , ..
FL''I E3 (a dMcm Cate
Cuba, has 'charged that
the Central Intelligence
Agency executed the re-
cent coup in Bolivia with
the support - of Brazil,
Argentina and Paraguay.
The Ambassadors of
Brazil, Ai gentina, 7'ara-
guay and Bolivia angrily
denied the accusations in
the UN yesterday hind
made cotnitercharges. The
U. S. remained silent.
"Fascism has moment'
arilly triumphed in Boli-
via," Cuban Ambassador
Ricardo Alarcon Quesada
fold the General Assetubly.
Ile said also that his coun-
try will never rejoin the
Organization of American
States.
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 v
TAT PHOENIX) ARIZONA STREET PR S
Approved For Release 2000M/ 4ptCWW bP80-01601 R00040
The Central Intelligence
Agency has a $1.4 million fund
and a specific tlmotable to seize
power in six Latin American
countries where U,S. influence
has been rapidly declining,
according to the San Francisco
Chronicle Foreign Service.
Thayer Waldo of tho Ch oni-
cle's Mexico City news Lureeu,
claims that CIA director /
Richard HeIrns p?rscaally gave r
the Veen light for the project
which calls for the coordinated
use of Loth the ballot box and
military force to achieve the
program's ends.
The CIA; Waldo reports, Is
organizing its drive with the aid
of a Latin American "brain
trust'' that" ranges the gambit
from conservative military
officers and Catholic Church
leaders to a raoderateSocialist.
`l'ife "trust'' is united by the
belief that recent developments
In the six countries are Increas-
ing the sphere of influence of the
Cammunist world.
Despite official denials,
Waldo says that CIA money wl,as'
behind the recent tei eover bu/
a fascist colonel In Bolivia,
who sei ed power last month
from ' a leftist regime there.
Similar action---over the next
18 months-- As ple.nnedfor Peal,
Argentina and Chile,. probably
in that order. In Uruguay and
Columbia, the international
plotter s hope to achieve their
ends through the ballot box,
using force only as a.lastresort,
Waldo reports.
Approved For Release.2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000400150001-4
 Approved For Release 2000/09/14: 6:l f~D -01601 R0004
c
T -Ae" cI Tlirkn Z3v" s. i b11
7'Sii e 3 v
'J
}} J'1a, .PRO/
J. it cCj!1/l i v", ~3
.
by Jack 4rtdersoia
' A former insider has
charged] that the Central Intel-
ligenco Agency has provided
the President with the milili-
tary wherewithal to wage his
ovn private wars around tile'
IMiami-based firm, is also fill-
fight
world and is geared to still new clandestine wars.
in a confidential memo to
tllep. Herman Badillo (D-N.V.)
~iformer CIA official Victor
Marchetti snakes these allega-
tions:
4 The White Mouse has
used "vague phraseology" in
the law to build up a vast mili-
tary arsenal and paramilitary
force. Past presideiits have or-
s dered the CIA to wage secret
t/
wars in Asia, Africa and Latin
America without the tradi-
tional constitutional safe-
guards and congressional over-
sight,
tll'P..CIay
about United Sta tcs suppo e of 0--e rall.it :l'y element
Ir Latin America is not }I ai teni.ng in iiself. It is
less .e -
so i11t..:7 considered in li,,~ilt of reports that
t}I. Central Age is playing a
clandestine role in aicc ,nipts now under way io
oyert.hrow the governments of- several Latin
American countri _ .
A censored tx hltnscript of heal ings conducted by
the 11ouse Appropriations Committee last I`,,s.arch
reveals that, Laird and other high Pentagon of-
ficials portrayed the military as "the only cohesive
group" in many Latin Americana countries. Laird
? denied that. U. S. training programs encourage
ini.lit~ry takeovers, saying that the training "is
a-nned at rnaiintaimng Iiate'rn.al security and
Stability. . ."
The secretary of defense did acknowledge,
however, that "intcrvc:iaticria by the military when it
judges that the ,overircient has failed has becui a
widely accepted reaction in Latin America.
Widely employed, at any rate`; acceptalice" may.
not be quite the apt word to describe situations in
which those who do the judging and the taking over
have most of.th'e firepower.
The judging and t.:l:i.ng over, it seems, also is
helped along by the CIA in some cases. Thayer
Waldo of the Sall }a ralncisco chronicle reports that
,.in the recent Bolivian government upset "CIA
money, training and advice was liberally given to
the rebel strategists who inasterininded'' the
overthrow. -le writes that the CIA also is repor-
tedly engaged in aiding an international group of
Latin Americans bent on similar coups in Peru,
r entillt mid v 1 Chile. This, as well as L, ?t.ird's it
Argentina .~ i-
cliraation to rely on army men for stability in Latin
America, should be the subject of further
congressional inquiry.
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000400150001-4
 Approved For Release 2000/09/14
A,ensa Latina
La Paz, Bolivia
Seven well-preserved World War II tanks have perhaps
decided Bolivia's political destiny-at least for now.
.Gen. Juan Jose Torres, whose government had been
pushed leftward by Bolivian popular forces, was over-
thrown by a rightist military coup Aug. 21. The tanks
may have made the immediate difference.
'During his 10 months in office rightist maneuvers
were a potential threat to his regime, but for months lie
resisted the popular demands for. weapons to create a
people's military force to combat the increasing threat
of fascism. This mattered more than tanks, of course.
The armed forces opposed the creation of a popular
military force. Torres believed his chiefs of staff who
said their loyalty was assured if he didn't give arms to
the people. To the workers who wanted arms he warned
that they should not push him, or the military would be
frightened., Perhaps the mistake of the left was to have
waited on Torres.
When Torres finally decided to give some arms to
people of La Paz at noon Saturday, Aug. 21, it was too
late. The workers and students who gathered in Mira-
flores stadium who received-weapons obtained 10, 20 or
at most 30 cartridges.
24-hour "loyalty
On Saturday morning, the army commander, Gen'
Luis Reque Teran, visited Torres to ask for his resigna-
tion. Only 24 hours earlier the-array commander had
come to the presidential palace to proclaim his absolute
loyalty. On Saturday, Gen. Teran was answered by Maj.
Reuben Sanchez, commander of the "Red" batallion,
who said that it was they who were giving an ultimatum
to the fascists.
But already virtually the entire country had been
taken. The loyal forces of the capital' which had held for
48 hours were beginning to crack.. At that moment only
the "Red" batallion could fight. The people barely had
any arms and blood started to flow in La Paz that
afternoon. The Castrillo regiment and cadets were
holding for the fascists. the small but strategic Lakaicota
hill which was above the Miraflores stadium. But meter
by meter, the popular forces began to recover, the hill,
despite strafing on three or four occasions by the air
force and by 8 p.m, it was held by the revolutionaries
after much blood had been shed.
The Castrillo regiment began to retreat and urgently
requested reinforcements. For a moment it appeared
that the army headquarters would , be gained by the
revolutionaries.. Torres then made a radio broadcast,
saying that a revolutionary victory was near and that it.
would be achieved more certainly with the participation
of all the people.
But a short time later, the Tarapaca regiment which
had remained inactive during the afternoon went over to
the side of the fascists. Seven of their tanks cleared the
way. straight to the presidential palace. Something
strange haAliptV .Fbitlf ela sel2@( O9$lt4:tMIA-RDP
armor had taken everyone by surprise or the revolution-
ary forces had not been prepared to stop the tanks as
they passed through the neighborhoods where the 1952
popular victory had been. won. For reasons still not
known, the roads had not been blown up, there were no
barricades and there had been no Molotov cocktails
thrown against the tanks. Thus they passed unharmed
without firing a single shot directly into the city where
they started using their powerful cannons.
Tanks arrive .
Fifteen minutes before the arrival of the tanks, Torres
had abandoned the presidential palace for an unknown
destination, leaving a lieutenant and six soldiers behind.
When the tanks arrived at 9 p.m. they met with no
resistance. Except for the arrival of the seven tanks, the
dawn might have brought a victory to the revolutionary
forces who had improved their positions .during the
night. ? -
Another element important to the fascist victory was
the taking of Oruro. Naively, a demonstration of miners
was announced there on Aug. 20. But the 2nd division
and the rangers jumped ahead of the miners, occupied
the city and all access roads from the mines. Oruro had
great strategic importance because it prevented the
miners from advancing toward La Paz, 200 miles away.
On Aug. 21 the miners managed to recover a portion of
the city in a bloody battle with the Andean regiment,
but the decisive events were taking place in La Paz and
the miners couldn't reach it.
Col. Hugo Banzer, who led the rightists and assumed
control of the government, has been an adherent of the
policies of Rene Barriontos. When a person of this
outlook announces that it will be no longer possible to
talk about the right or left in Bolivia but only
nationalism, then it is clear that he is placing himself on
a powderkeg:
There is evidence that the hand of the CIA was
involved in Banzer's pusch. Forty-eight hours before the
Santa Cruz uprising, where Banzer's forces began their
coup, the U.S. embassy in La Paz instructed its
personnel and all American citizens residing in Bolivia to
store food and not to leave their homes for the next few
days. The conclusion is obvious unless one is a believer
in clairvoyance.
[Another indication of U.S. involvement was re-
ported in the Aug. 29 Washington Post in a dispatch
from Santa Cruz by Lewis H. Diuguid. According to the
report, a U.S. Air Force Major, Robert J. Lundin,
supplied Banzer's forces with his own radio system after
their communications lines to the capital broke down.
Nominally, Lundin's assignment is that of a pilot trainer,
although he is said to have been in. touch with: the
plotters for the past six months. The report also states
that Banzer, soon after he had been exiled to Argentina,
crossed the border back into Bolivia and met with
Lundin in Santa Cruz.)
The U.S. had already openly threatened Bolivia.
During the last meeting of foreign ministers of the OAS
&Qdi6WROG0490)IMMUCiam P. Rogers told
bontinued
 hi Bolivian ci4i r rovetd E FSh~pso fflq{>Q /l14e: CIA-RD~80-016018000400150001-4
mark. I' must tell you that we intend to overthrow
Torres." The Bolivian minister replied, saying that
Roger's calender was behind the, times, that the Amer-
ican embassy no longer ruled in Bolivia.
CIA maintained apparatus
Unfortunately that was not true, for the CIA had
maintained an apparatus intact within the Bolivian
administration. In May agents of the Interior Ministry
surprised American diplomats involved in a conspiracy.
with top leaders of the National Revolutionary Move-
ment (NRM), but the incident did not go beyond a rude
exchange of letters between Torres and the U.S. ambas-
sador.
The Americans had good friends on the frontier in
Brazil and Paraguay. In July a former Bolivian Interior
minister told Prensa Latina he expected a little Bay of.
Pigs invasion or incursions from Brazil and Paraguay by
adherents of the MNR; the Falange and exiled military
men like Banzer, who would start `a coup possibly in
Santa Cruz. A careful man, the. former minister only
mentioned exiled military officers who were conspiring.
He did not mention those on active duty although he
must have known who they were.
Two plotters are known to have entered Bolivia
several times from Paraguay and Brazil to make contact
with Col. Andres Selich, commander of the'Santa Cruz
rangers and Gen, Jaime-Mcndieta, commander of the
Cochabamba 5th division and other anti-communist
officers. Also, in July Gen. Luis Teran, army com-
mande:?s', met with Victor Paz Estenssoro in Lima. Selich,
Mendictc and Paz all sided with rightists. '
Undoubtedly the Nixon administration and its camp
followers in Brazil and Paraguay felt increasingly discom-
forted by the developing Bolivian revolutionary forces.
Confronted by three independent nations, Chile, Peru
and Bolivia and with Uruguay potentially moving out of
the U.S. orbit, perhaps the Nixon administration felt
that the tide was turning. toward national liberation
which the U.S.'regards as a dangerous virus. On Aug. 21
the U.S. gained a victory in Bolivia comparable to an
earlier one in Guatemala. But Banzer has no support
other than he can obtain by repression and this will be
resisted, by the Bolivian people. .
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 WASHINGTON P08'T
Approved For Release 2000/09/147 c ?R1 'h0-01601 R0004
The Latest Bolivian Coup ,
The embittered, xenophobic - radicalism of the
last decade in Bolivia is a product of the moun-
tains, where poverty is most intense and industry
is largely mining. By its nature, mining originally
meant heavy investments by large foreign corpora-
tions with their labor concentrated in isolated com-
pany towns. The struggle over nationalization
simply substituted the government itself as the
target of the miners' wrath. Recent Bolivan gov-
ermYients, under a succession of generals, had come
increasingly under the influence of the miners'
unions and their allies among the students and the
clergy. La Paz, where one such government recent-
ly fell, lies at an altitude of 13,000 feet within sight
of the central spine of the .Andes. Santa Cruz,
where the coup was organized, is several hundred
miles to the east on the plains. The population is
less dense there, and incomes are substantially
higher.
Bolivia's new regime says that it intends to
reestablish a cordial relationship with the United
States, but beyond that announcement its political
direction is not very clear. The losers, following
tradition, accuse the United States of having initi-
ated the coup. In this case, they point out, a U.S.
Air Force major had been holding conversations
with the exiled Bolivian colonel who is now his
country's new president. (In Washington, the State
Department is currently diluting its blanket denials
with earnest promises to try to find out what
really happened.) On present evidence, the major's
rather vague role did not require La Paz to show
much gratitude to the United States; now that
the incident is public knowledge, the United States
is likely rto get even less.
There is more to Bolivian politics than CIA plots
and palace skirmishes. The revolution of 1.952 was
probably the most profound ever carried out in
South America. For the 12 years that followed,
presidential terms began and ended in orderly
elections. But then the original revolutionary party
fragmented and the succession of generals began.
A coup in 1964, another in 1969, another in 1970,,
preceded the coup two weeks ago. The most inter-_
esting element in the latest government is the
reappearance of the old revolutionary party in the
cabinet. There is clearly an attempt here to return
to the last effective formula for stability.
But stability is going to be a very relative term
in Bolivia, We all like to think that . economic:
growth means civic peace, but the evidence runs
hard to the contrary. While Bolivia is still the
poorest of the South American countries, it is
growing less poor and such a journey upward is
never smooth. It will be particularly difficult for
Bolivia because its economy is also the extreme
example of dependence upon a single product--tin,
the price of which fluctuates wildly--for its for-
eign exchange.
Bolivia remains an embarrassment to all of the
foreign missionaries' competing theories of po-
litical uplift. When the romantic revolutionaries
of the Cuban school landed, they expected the
peasants to pour down out of the hills. In fact,
the peasants drew back suspiciously and the gov-
ernment's troops hunted down Che Guevara. The
Soviets, in their cautious way, have been offering
a smelter here and a factory there for some time
but. at least for the moment, they haven't much
to show for it. As for the United States, since the
early 1950's it has spent hundreds of millions of
dollars in aid for Bolivia. If that money has brought
a somewhat better` life to some of Bolivia's people,
it still has not generated anything approaching
democracy. To build a tradition of responsive gov-
ernment takes a great deal more time than the
United States, with the optimism of the rich, ever
expected two decades ago.
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 TIM ' l~i AI cISCO Cll 0x$1 CI,)!~
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: 4IAiR6P4011601 R0004001.500
R~
~, A Vcicc
C f r'] ,r.7
"
[L)d
~ y
Y t
r
(ffrc
By Thayer IW7aldo
`Chronicle t orcign Service
,..LV y u}, i.L. al, 1l aJt- tLLL;c vl
CIA collaboration was theotlier target republics. It
sought by Peru's ex- is regarded as most probable
president, F e r n a n d o Be-
in Argentina
where the n1an-
,
i
llle ,ico Cit,~ laundc ferry, with the con ners hope to put ex-president
The violent toppling of sent of his colleagues in the Arturo Fronclizi back in of-
still another Bolivian re- movement. Although it re-
gime is seen by knowledge- mains to be clarified whether
able sources here as part President Nixon was consult-
of a far-reaching move- eci personalty, there can be
meat, backed by the U.S. no doubt that CIA Directoi5
Central Intelligence Alen- Richard Helms got the green
cy (CIA), to seize power in light at top administration
a total of six South Ameri- level.
can republics. PARTIES
Although it has been offi- The plotters seek to estab-
cially denied, CIA money, lish denter-left, non-
training a n d Communist: regimes within
advice was the respective countries,
liberally giv- relying chiefly on the leaders
? en to the reb- and programs of Social Dein-
tl strategists ocrat or Christian Democrat
-w h o master- Parties.
minded over- However, since they must
throw of Bolivia's leftist also count on the aid of. niili-
President Juan Jose Torres. tary men who are in many
Similar action is reportedly cases extreme political right-
planned over the next 18 ists, personally ambitious,
months in Peru, Argentina or both, success in attaining
and Chile, probably in that those ends is at best uncer-
order. In Uruguay and Col- .fain.
ombia, it is felt that attempts The Bolivian developments
will be made to achieve the offer a clear case in point.
goal through the ballot box, Former president Victor Paz
with' force reserved as a last Estenssoro of that landlocked
resort. Andean republic, a moderate
Because the Bolivian politi- Socialist, is a "brain trust"
cal situation has been chroni- member; the main purpose
cally chaotic throughout its of the revolt there was to let
history - the latest coup was him return from seven years'
number 187 In 146 years of exile in Lima and take over
independence - that repub- the presidency again,
lie was given top priority on FALANGE
the . international planners' But Colonel Hugo Banzer,
timetable. backed by the f a s c i s t-
EX-PRESIDENTS oriented Bolivian Falange,
The "!brain trust" of this had himself sworn in as chief
sweeping Latin American executive before Paz could
.scheme includes four former set .foot on home soil,
presidents of the countries During Paz's two periods
involved - all 'but one also in office, his Nationalist Rev-
ousted from office - promi.- olutionary Movement (\INR)
nent Catholic church leaders and the Falange were bitter
and ? conservative officers in foes. Although they joined
the armed services' - corn- forces to help topple Torres,
mands of each nation, a voluntary surrender of-pow-
Their common aini is to or by one to the other is now
prevent spread of Soviet and considered most unlikely.
Communist. Chinese penetra_ . Observers believe that sim-
tion in that area, following a ( ilar frustrations are apt to
S h. a r p declincApprbTv &l
States influences there over
the past several years.
fice and keep former dictator
Juan Peron out.
Uruguay a n d Colombia,
iowever, represent the
greatest risks, for prune reli-
ance in both countries is to
be placed on the electoral
process.
ELECTION
The Uruguayan constitu,
tion forbids two consecutive
presidential terms, but sup-
porters of President Jorge
Pacheco Areco are pressing
for an amendment which
would let him run again in
November - with the coun-
try's present "state of-emer-
gency" measures maintained
during the balloting.
They reason that tradition-
ally conservative farmers
and cattlemen will join the
business community in vot-
ing for Pacheco against Lib-
or Sergegni, the fiery ex-
general who .wants to nation-
alize industry and banking.
And police power under the
emergency decree is expect-
ed to keep leftist demonstra-
tors off the streets.
The gamble will be even
greater in Colombia, where a
16-year "co-existence" pact
between the republic's two
major political parties runs'
out in 1974.
There the CIA has taken
the initiative, insisting on
support for independent left-
ist Alfonso Lopez Michelsen
over the objections of many
who wanted to back respect-
ed former president Alberto
Lleras Camargo.
fling t h e presidency last
year.
The CIA view is that the
ex-dictator must be defeated
at all costs, and the CIA
picked Lopez because he:'
would let himself be put in
office via a coup, if neces-
sary, while Lleras would not.
Last but by no means l'east'
is Chile. The Marxist govern-
ment of President Salvador,
Allende was voted into pow
er, whereas the Bolivian, Pe-
ruvian and Argentine re-
gimes are all de facto. For
that reason, Chile is last on
the plotters schedule.
They believe that another
year and a half of Allende's
socialization program w i l l
have alienated enought Chile-
and to make his ouster from
office both practical and pop-
ular.
Allende's immediate prede-
cessor, Christian Democrat
Eduardo Frei, would be the
replacement. He, too,, be-
longs to the international
movement's "brain trust."
Well informed sources re-
port that the CIA has com-
mitted a $14 million fund to
this six-nation project, with
close to a, million' of it al-
ready spent in helping to fi-
nance the Bolivian rebels.
ROJAS
But the nian to beat, every-'
one admits, is aging General
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, who
ruled Colombia with an iron
fist for 41;z years curing the
1950s. Exiled, then tried and
condemned for malfeasance 1
or Release 2000/09/14: CIA'-F 0aO-$iM1RU~(flI?(1;1"1'50001-4
preme court reversa o ns
conviction and made a stun-
nin ; comeback, almost.win-
I.
 Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601 R0004
'_;itana;, 31. Aug 71, p 2
CIA.
t-3oliv.i.ari 3-,c bio_n,
?n.ie erslei~ orchalci tir komrie.n, ',Mister:'.`.
Leichn:vnn;. Schmii,'?
Sir,, th3 first to congratu-L-it hav3 arrived.
Approved For Release 2000/09/14 :,CIA-RDP80-01601 R000400150001-4
 Approved For Release 2000/09/14 pAijjRf)R AT01601800040015000
3 1 AUG 1971 ?STATINTL
CRA gill at work r.~
Few will doubt the reports that the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency had a hand in the overthrow of the
Torres Government- in Bolivia by a reactionary cabal
closely link ;d to U.S. imperialist interests.
It was an operation in keeping with the role of this
U.S. -agency 'which maintains its own 30,000-strong army
in Laos, its own airlines, has intrigued in South Vietnam.'
since the 19570s, organized an invasion of Cuba and other-
wise played the role of hangman of progress, national-
liberation struggles and socialism.
Its role in the hunting down of Ernesto Che Guevara
and his companions in the mountains of Bolivia is well-
attested.
The very same 800-man unit trained by U.S. Special
Forces (Green Berets) which murdered Guevara joined
Col. Hugo panzer in his military putsch to overthrow .the
Torres Goverrhnent. ?
The spider sitting in this web of subversive conspiracy
against the Torres Government was U.S. Air Force Major
Robert J. Lundin, whose private, special-purpose radio
connection to the U.S. Embassy in La Paz is reported to
have been used by the putschists.'U.S. companies in Bol-
ivia are reported to have bankrolled the gang who prom-
ised to undo the reforms the Torres Government had un-
dertaken with the support of students, workers and masses
of the people.
This imperialist-inspired coup is a warning. There is
not letup in* the plotting against socialist Cuba,,
The defeat of U.S. imperialism's efforts to block the
advance of-the people's national independence struggle in
Chile has intensified the subversive activities of the CIA,
there. -
A grave responsibility rests upon the U.S. workers of
hand and brain, white, black and brown, on the masses of
people, because it is the imperialism of our country which
plots against the liberties of other peoples. .
V
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 J
+ ~IIr2N'G`i'.Ol; 1'.OST.
Approved For Release 2000/09/14.: CIA-RDP80-016(]FjMQ01500
t~J c L e t~~7 C VJ k..
If T s1~
are convinced that `Tarr?cs"vrcrsi Franco Suarez, 5S. "There was
leading Bolivia toward a Cow a list of 100 citizens to be cap- I
rruurr St dictator strip, tured," he said. "It included;
Banzer. appears to have' the assistant manager of the
come and gone across the An ,First National City hank and
gentine border with imilunity, a former rector of the univer-
Early on, he met with :,la,j. sity. We were not plotters."
Lundin, according to a re, upon- Many of those arrested were
sible source in .a position to jailed in the crumbling adobe
know.. prefeelorate on the town
? 51a.j., Lundin is said to have plaza, and it was armouncod
been, pessimistic of the plot's that they would be taken to.
chances ht that time and to La Paz.
By Lewis H. Diuguid
Washington Post2'oreivn Sarvice
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia, Aug.
2&---Conversations here make
it clear that a U.S. At For'ce have giver, it no encourage-
major serving as an advisor to ment.
the Bolivian all. training Important Ally
school in Santa Cruz played r
role in last week's coup d'etat, Banner and leaders of the
However, it. was not passible two traditionally antagonistic
to determine whether this role polit]cal parties drew togetiux
and won a most important
was actually important to the ally: the 800-man ranger unit
coup's success. 15 miles north of here in Man-
The U.S. Air Force officer, tero. . r
Maj, Robert J. Lundin, sources This unit was trained by
here said, had been in close U S Special Forces Green Be-
contact with the plotters over rets at the time of the gun
the past six months, rilla insurrection led by Lr-
Further, a local hang radio nesto (Cho) Guevara and sew
operator confirmed Mat when oral other Cubans near here in
the plotters were in military 196&
control here in Santa Cruz, The rangers are an ON
and their lines of c.ommunica- arm of the generally inept Bo-
Lion to the capital, La Paz, ; livian army. '.(mere are no
broke down, they switched to longer- American advisors. with
.a separate radio system of
t1Taj. Lundin's. 1
Maj. Lundin normally uses
,the radio system to report to',
the U.S. embassy, 300 miles
away in La Paz, although now
inally his sole assignment here;
is as a pilot trainer.
In La Paz, left-wing support-:
ers of the ousted president,
Gen. Juan Jose Torres, charge'
that he fell as a result of U.S.
intervention.' They offer no
proof,. but the allegations in-
clude a charge that U.S.. com-
panics? in Bolivia bankrolled
.the coupmakcrs (American in-
vestment in Bolivia is esti-
mated at less than $11 mil-
lion), that the embassy or em-
bassy personnel bribed forces
that could have saved Torres
and, of course, the ever-bloorn-
ing claim that the CIA took
part in the coup.
One means of measuring the
U.S. role,, it any, in the soup
would be to know the content
of May Lundin's talks with
the plotters, but this could not
he detc?mined with certainty.
Planning for the coup began
not long after Col. Hugo Ban-
zer, the new president---said
to he the third chief executive
from Santa Cruz among the
nearly 200 presidents in Boliv-
ia's chaotic 350 years of. inde-
pendence----failed in a January
attempt to overthrow Torres.
Banzer was A MV0gF~fr
tina, where he Man o plot,
with soldiers and civilians who
Their wives turned out, in
force before the prefectorate,
local seat' of the highly dis-
trusted central government.
Churc:hbolls pealed in the ca-
thedral next door, calling out
the protest-
Banzer in La Paz.
. Col. Banzer and a few oth-
ers \vci?e spirited to La Paz iii
a small plane, but in the af-
ternoon the prefect buckled to
the shouts of the women--now
several hundred in the square
from snipers oil the rooftops,
The rangers returned the fire,
and all. witnesses app ce that
for' 10 minutes, a substantial
part of Santa Cruz's upper
class was prostrate on the
plaza with bullets whizzing
overhead.
Figures on the dead and
wounded run to ' extremes.
Torres supporters say that
eight students were lined up
and gunned down in the Iwo
fectorate as planters of the
bomb. -
The new prefect, retired
Capt. Gustavo '\ Ielgar, denied
this in all interview. He said
that four attackers were
killed, including two Cubans.
(This charge that Cubans,
along with Chileans, had re-
cently filtered into the univer-
sity student body is widely re-
pcated here, though no one.
could provide proof.)
--and he released the .prison- Prefect Melgar said that the
ers, Cubans' documents were in
The women haul threatened the custody of military invest,-
to "attack" if he did not turn gat.ors. -
the prisoners loose, though ap- With the bomb blast on Fri-
parently they bast no arms. In day, attributed by all a:tthori-
returri for his freedom, bus,- ties to the leftist opposition
,
appears to be the only U.S. on a truckbed and asked the hero rallied t.o the couhniak-
"
But they, ery
military man in this. vast and crowd to disperse,
lightly populated lowland of chic, not want to," he said later. , On Saturday carne Me crit]-
As the plotters consolidated been fired on the women from
support, rumors thickened in the university building, which
Santa Cruz that a coup was, is also on the square. By then,
afoot.. In the last weeks it was
well known that the fugitive
Ban; er was in the city. Santa
Cruz has about 100,000 people.,
Strangers are always noted,
and few secrets can survive in
its tropic atmosphere.
Among the ? people Banzer
met with at this time was 11aj.
Lunclin. Banzer's Presence in
Santa Cruz was almost cer-
tainly known to Torres, but
inexplicably he did not move
to have him captured until 10
days ago, when the plot was
ready to be sprung.
Santa- Cruz,- itself, played a
role. A demonstration by the
women of this frontier town,
and a bomb blast on the plaza
.injuring many of Santa Cruz'
most prominent citizens hap-
pened. This seems to have pro-
vided the initiative that even-
tually resulted in the over-
throw of Torres.
The subsecretary of justice
was sent to Santa Cruz, and
between 2 and 6 a.m. on Aug.
18, about 30 prominent citi-
zens were arrested. They iw
eluded Lanb
t
l
u
scarce
y
in? the coup, the nom) s ex.
f ail and 111 eri to the cap-
iy other ICOMBAT
~~~~~ t4iot4'el~!rR 0i0~}'650~rF~0IIE~4( O~1~'SdOIIrt #. Church sources say that
bed was businessman and hon-, ately by firing on, the plaza lie---like most major Torres,
cal question of whether troops
in La I'az would rally also.
Ode major unit stayed with
Torres, and street-fighting
broke out. in earnest un-Satur-
troops in minion. 'The rangers
arrived from the north and in- (clay afternoon.,
vaded the university. ' The I An ad - hoe airlift by pro-
town was in the hands of the;(Coop air force personnel was
plotters, backed by the track- 1, assembled here, and the rang-
tional leadership, with only ;,ers were being loaded, aboard
the students and one main I
union and a few Torres I
loyalists in active, apposition.
Troops in other provincial
cities began lining up with!
Santa Cruz on Friday. Short-
wave radio owners listened av- .
idly as the orders went out
from here.according to plan,
A huge crowd gathered in
the plaza and the plotters met
in the prefectorate. Support-
ers were janmaed in an office
outside the prefect's when aj
bomb, apparently planted in a
desk drawer, exploded.
. Among at least 20 people in-
jured was the sister of Mario
Gutierrez, chief of the Boliv-
ian Socialist Falange party
.and now foreign minister. Her K they leave the country.
leg was blown off. Yesterday, Jaime Bravo, a
Bolivian and coordinator in
R
oft
o
op
for the attack on La Paz loyal-
ists when word canto that the
last main unit had swung over,
Banzer had lost his status as
a prisoner, it is not clear just
how, and on Sunday he was
sworn as president.
I1crc in Santa Cruz a purge
Of leftists began. Some allege
that several were killed out-
right, but this is unproven.
Most estimates of overall
casualties run to 50 dead and
three times as tunny wounded.
Two American churchmen ,
Maryknoll priest the Rev.
Frederick Ziertcn and former
priest Richard Ramsay, were.
jailed until Monday and then
released on the condition that I
 Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601 R00040015000l
HujbTON, TEX.
CHRONICLE
E 279,608
S 333 , 807 e
' UB 23 1971
ued by
Bolivia has a new government---the
South American country's 57th in 146
strife-filled years' as a republic. The
oie safe inference to be drawn from
this recent military coup is that nearly
$500 million of U.S. aid pumped in
there since the revolution of 1952 has
failed to accomplish its purpose---to
bring about relative peace and politi-
cal stability in the land-locked coun-
try.
This instability carries over to the
new regime of. Col. Hugo Banzer Suar-
e . It haunted and finally brought
down his predQcessor, Gen. Juan Jose
Torres, a non-Marxist, leftwing nation-
alist, who seized power in October,
1970, from a short-lived rightwing
military junta, which, in turn, had
overthrown President Alfredo Ovando
Candia, another army general. who
had vacillated from the political right
to the political left and back again.
This brief review of recent political
history in Bolivia gives a clue to the
political situation there today--by any
standard, unstable.
A case can be-and will be-made
that- the Banzer coup was engineered
by U.S. Ambassador Ernest Siracusa.
There will be charges from, the left
that the CIA was involved; that the ,/
coup was t`lhe result of pressure from
the military regimes in two neighbor- I
ing countries, Brazil and Argentina;
that the coup was an unnecessary re-
action by rightwing Bolivian national.
ists to the left-leaning governments in
two other neighboring countries, Peru
and Chile.
in Bolivia.
which government cpups are launchedi
leftwing elements within the armed
forces, the powerful trade unions, left-
ist students and various other revolu-
tionary groups, nearly all fiercely
anti-United States, And that's a formi-
dable
power base-the kind fromf
More than anything else, however,
the Banzer government appears to be
just another chapter in Bolivia's tem-
pestuous political life. The plotting of
political mischief is a full-time occupa
tion for many Bolivians. Their politi
cal persuasions vary from Marxist to,
fascist and touch most of the bases in
between.
While Col. Banzer may have the'sup,
port of the majority of the military at
this time, his predecessor, now enjoy-
ing political asylum in the Peruvian
embassy in La Paz, has the support of
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 f7AS-IINGT0 STAR
Approved For Release 2000/09/'1,4 ?A-Rq -01601 RO
Ml! T N WORST.
fill
9
/j,
Before Ilolivias' left-wino
government was. overthrown
in a nasty civil war the other
day, its official radio rri ain-
tained that the right-wing're-
bels were financed and direct-
ed by the CIA.
Unfortunately, the claim --
whether or not it's true ?--- is
inherently plausible. Latins
have no trouble bclieveing it.
They continue to see the Yan-
kee giant to the north as a
power anxious to dominate
them and to exploit them eco-
nomically. -
Yet American influence in
Latin America is rapidly erod-
ing. A decade ago, Washington
snapped its fingers and. the Or-
ganization of American States
responded, That era is over.
Blame Cuba. The United
States showed, at the Lay of
Pigs and during the missile
crisis, that all its power was
not enough to overthrow li'idel
Castro. The outside world -
not only Russia, but our own
allies --- would not permit it.
Since that time, Castro has
shown that, despite Washing
ton's dire warnings, he was
incapable of subverting the
rest of the region. His few
attempts were pitiful failures.
'In. recent years, he has not
even tried.
Now there is a major move
afoot within the OAS to lift the
sanctions imposed on Cuba at
American instigation In the
early ]960s. President Nixon's
overture to China makes such
a move appear all the more
logical.
o- Though the United States,
working hand in hand with the cans abroad. Why doesn't it
notorious right-win dictator- put on some pressure to get
ships in Brazil, Argentina and releases for the lads who are'
Paraguany, has so far man-: rotting in jails allover Europe
aged to thwart the effort, the
Latin monolith which Wash-
ington so 101111 dominated is
clearly, breaking up. Cuba's
return to normal relations
with much of the continent
probably is only a matter of
time.
It is strange that the Nixon
administration fails to see the
meaning of the trend. Far
from trying to replace suspi-
cion with confidence it per-
sists in the sane old strong-
a.rro tactics -- and is now
making them even worse.
For that, we can presuraa-
bly thank Secretary of the
Treasury Connally, chief pro-
tagonist of the "get tough" ap-
proach to policy making, both
foreign and domestic.
Connally is the direct ]heir to
Tom Mann, the fellow Texan
whom President Johnson
named in 196-1 to dismantle the
Alliance for Progress. Johnson
and Mann, both pals of Con-
nally, effectively ended, the
only experiment in goodrela-
tions with Latin America that
we've tried since Franklin D.
Roosevelt.
Now Connally proposed to
turn the United States govern-
ment into a collection agency
for American corporations
that are owed money for prop-
erty nationalized by Latin re-
gimes.
It's touching; that the Nixon
administration feels a duty to
protect the interests of Ameri.-
for minor drug offenses?
The answer Js that old dollar
diplomacy works one way-.-for
the profits of Yankee corpora-
tions. That is what, in its crud-
est form, the Nixon adrminis-
tration is now practicing,
What Connally has done is to
make America's diplomatic in-
terests the hostage of the cor-
porations which represent to
Latins the worst of Yankee ec-
onomic exploitation.
The situation has become
most critical in Chile, where
the elected Marxist, govern-
ment has been slow to offer
compensation for nationzlied
American mines.
The companies are claiming
up to $1 billion. The property
is worth a. fraction of that-or
about what the Nixon adminis-,
tration gave away to Lockheed
last month.
American law gives Chile
six months to begin negotia-
tions before. the invocation of
sanctions. Chile has not-shown
bad faith, and, at worst, the
matter could be taken to inter-
national courts.
But that's not good enough
for Connally.
He has directed the Export-
Import Dank to refuse the Chi-
leans a 1121 million loan to buy
American commercial
jets-which will force them to
buy the planes from the Rus-
sians.
That's not a "tough" policy.
It is a vindictive and self-
defeating one which uses the
' government as an enforcer for
big business. It confirms ev-
erything rotten the Latins say
about us. .
Whether or not we're using
the CIA in .Bolivia, we are still
using bullying tactics in Latin
America--and they're just
hastening the erosion of any
-healthy influence we retain
there.
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 DAII' ( WORLD STATINTL
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
25AUG1971
t ~ rj ~ liil~ u Js f~ ~ ?iu e.' J1 4~ ;:.7c)
LA PAZ - Bolivian troops supported by warplanes and tanks at-
tacked the San Andres U;niver ity in La Paz on Mo day, killing; about
25 students and wounding scores of others, according to informed sour-
ces. The university was the last stronghold of resistance to the fascist
counter-revolutionaries who ousted President Juan Jose Torres on Mon-
day.
Two U.S.-built F-51 Mustang fighters bombed and machine-gunned
students behind barricades at the university. The bombs destroyed the
top story of the 15-floor train university building, then U.S.-built tanks
were brought up and fired into the barricades while Bolivian "special
forces" troops, trained by. the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, tried
to shoot their way into the university grounds. Students were armed
with rifles and sticks of dynamite provided by Bolivian miners. The bat-
tle lasted for more than an hour before the students were. forced to sur-
render. Several Hundred students were seen being marched off by the
troops under guard, but nothing'has been heard of them since. Some
sniping was reportecl still going on in La Paz on Tuesday.
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 Approved For Release 2000/09/ 4 ''IA! Wi 80-01601 8000400150001-
2 4 AUG 1971
o n
Daily World Combined Services
Colonel Hugo Banzer, leader of Bolivia's fascist military revolt, swore himself
in as Preside-1-it of. 'the South American republic yesterday. and said. he would not rule
as part of a junta. Col. Andres Selich, commander
Ousted President Juan Jose Tor
res was reported safely inside of the hangers, led the :Pahvlan
forces which tracked down Cuban
the Peruvian Embassy in La Paz,
the Bolivian capital guerrilla fighter Ernesto "Che"
.
0 7
Gu ara in
. a_. _._
x
The official death toll in the
four-day fascist revolt against the time was hitnse midair the com
Torres government stood at 112 mand of Cuban gusano CIA agents.
yes; relay, 101 of them workers On Monday, enzer appointed Se-
and students who rallied to ? or lick the new-'Minister of the In
res' defense in fighting for the terior, giving him control over
capital.. Hundreds of wounded, Bolivia's - police and intelligence
students and peasants were taken forces.
to La Paz hospitals. Appointed Foreign Minister in
Banzer said in a brief speech the new fascist regime was Mario
from the balcony of the Presiden- Gutierrez, head of the FSh. It
tial Palace: "I am not a man of was Gutierrez who provoked a
speeches. I am a man of action, mob in Santa Cruz last week to
and I will let my actions speak burn down a radio station owned
for The fascist leader told by the miners' trade union, release
the Bolivian people: "I am not go- Banzer from jail, and organize to
ing to offer you anything." march on La Paz. The slogan Gu-
It was Banzer's arrest 10 days tierrez used for the revolt was
ago in Santa Cruz, 330 miles south- Death to Communism.
east of La Paz, that set the stage Torres made target _
for the fascist uprising against The Bolivian fascists and their
Torres' progressive government. U.S. supporters believed that Tor-
Banzer, 45, had been exiled in Ar res was "Communist because he
gentina for plotting against the nationalized mining h terests
regime, but he returned illegally owned by big U:S. firms, ousted the
to Santa Cruz. The city is a notor- U.S. Peace Corps, anc'. depended
ious rightist stronghold and cen- . for support on a loose-knit peo-
ter of strength of the Falange So- ple's alliance" of workers, pea-
.
cialista Bolivians (FSB) Party, sants and students. Torres had
which backed the revolt. also developed normal diplomatic
The fascists got widespread and trade relations with a num-
support from Bolivia's armed her of socialist countries.
forces, including the Air Force, - In its last broadcasts, the La Paz
of which Torres had been the corn- radio under Torres' government
mender: Analysts said that. the control on Sunday attacked the
military was extremcly_dissatis- CIA for stating the revolt.
Led with Torres, who had an- The radio laid the plot against
nounced plans for creating a peo- Torres to U.S. Ambassador Ernest
ple's army based on workers and Siracusa, who is now on leave in
peasants a short time ago. the U.S. Siracusa was mobbed by
CIA's in' ii lead off angry Bolivian students when he
Speculation about involvement: first took up his post in La Paz /
of the U.S. Central Intelligence and was accirsed by them of being
Agency in the fascist revolt was the chief CIA agent in the Andes
general throughout Bolivia and 'region of South America. At an`
the rest of Latin Am rica. on ? 'earlier post Siracusa held,. in
Monday and drew strength from 'Lima, Peru, mass student demon
the fact that the first military strations had been held in protest
unit to go over to the fascists, against Siracusa's presence in the
was the CIA-trained and financed country; for the same reasons.
Bolivian ran.App1O.MQtdi.For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000400150001-4
J
 DAILY WORLD
, M" nM 0 If1I IN I L
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA- C -b %01 R00040015
9 V
In its 10-rnonti tenure of office the governtne~lt of
Gen. Juan Jose Torres Gonzales had nationalized U.S.=
owned mining properties. had ousted t're U.S. Peace.
Corps as subversive of Bolivia's independence, and had
won the enmity of the nation's exploiting classes.
The Torres regime was overthrown because U.S.
monopoly interests wanted it overthrown, organized its
overthrow, and paid for it. No one will doubt that the whole
array of U.S. government agencies was involved, from the
Defense and State Departments to the CIA.
Far more is involved. The main target of U.S. imper
ialism in Latin America - after socialist Cuba --'is the
popular-democratic regime in Chile.
U.S. imperialism sees the continued existence of the
Allende government in Chile as encouragement to the anti-
imperialist forces throughout the continent E. It hopes by
its prolonged blockade of Cuba to cripple the first land of
socialism in this hemisphere.
The certain attempt of U.S. imperialism to impose a
Bolivia pattern of counter-revolution on other parts of
Latin America calls for the immediate and sharpest pro-
test by all U.S. peace, trade union. and 'progressive
forces:
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 STATINTL
Approved For Release 2000/09/1 4: IXUi dP0-01601 R0004001500
lr.l+ 1i f, te. --. u~~s it l., a ,kJl?:_' ~+?~'
~^i~ tw E~64y la 1
-- - - allowed students to s ize United' began, nc1 cut off water sup-
1 tl
l
By JUAN C,. ONTS States cultural centers here-arid
special to The rex' Yook '1'h,:cs
in provincial capitals.
LA PAZ, l Olivia, Aug.. 21 However, G'!nera+1 Torres has
Hundreds of awned. Miners anc]' kept a commitment made by
troops loyal to Gen.. Juan Jose
f his predecessor, Gen. Alfredo
__ __1_ ,._1
o
d
la's left--wing regime, occupie
fill Jon in compensation for
coi;11)9 positions against rebel I Dynamite cxhlosio?t shock
nationalization of the Gulf
(}
ariliv troops in this capital to- this city, as the, loyal forces
'
s petroleum an
Oil Coriipany
zleploycd. One explosion
day-m
S ature,] was 1r o tics in Santa
damaged a - firearms store,
all weapons fire bro::e out: n ? properties .
and dynamite exploded around I Cruz.
the army's general. command As a result, Bolivia has 1--c-
of as troops of the ccntly obtained S40-million in
Coloradma Ba'ttaliorl, loyal to. loans from the World, Bank
General Torres, sought to e. s- and Ti ltsr?Aniericarr hevc l hpruent
sault the, Vwalled Cornpou?ld. The Bank to complete construct .ion
of a gas p}1;,.-}rile from Santa
Castril,o I:e freer., which re- '~cntina,
portedly has joined the army;Cru13Ix. 1IC to ao ArGeneral Torres t~iak
rebels, is the main unit. at the'
over, the Soviet )'.rilba.ssy in
hc.dcltlarfers' J,a Paz has grow n.,rapidly and
Answering repeated appeals various Soviet cis in ]file
broadcast over the official ra }
dio network, thousands; of lug and oil exploration have
workers and students filled t11eibeen NVIii}c approved.
General To:?res met
plaza in front of a soccer sta-'
^id (with his nliilisters and high
Ito New York Times 'l,un.22, 1911
I liners and troops loyal
to Government S1iassed
to d fend T,a 11az (cross).
'stations, which ordered civil-I
.
ir homes
th
i
.
e
n
fans to remain
The only awned conflict re-
ported until early today was `in
Santa Cruz. Many Government
supporters in Santa Cruz,
Cochabamba and Oruro were
/eportedly under arrest and a
curfew was declared in ' those
cities.
In this capital, the 111ar1>et-
places, with colorfully dressed
Indian vendors, and most. shops
along the central streets were
doing ? business normally. At
construction sites, workers
were at their building tasks and
city transportation was norm-al
and active.
oc , 1e
plies, electricity- autu b
airport. -
Eleven persons have report-
cdly been. killed in fighting in
Santa Cruz, where the army
occupied the university and
which was sacked. for pistols
and. shotguns ' after the ex-
plosion. ?
Representatives of the 1'ressl
Workers Union, who said they]
wanted to avoid "distortions"
abroad through press dis-
patches, arrived at cable offices
and demanded that articles be
approved by them before being
transmitteal in a form of un-
official censorship.
The official radio broadcasts
said the army revolt had been
financed by the United States
Central Intelligence Agency and
attacked Ambassador -Ernest
Siracusa.by name:.
(jiunl, whet e announcers ..4
that awns vrould be distribuCed. military commanders at they Oruro Is Strategic
Murillo presidential palace, the
Radio Condor, 15'llicll is n I Mr: Siracusa, who had Lccn
the Gove-rimndot network, said Bolivian Central Workers Union on leave, returned here this
appeared to have taken over; afternoon from the United
ifighting had also broken out in control of radio broadcasts and' States.
;Oruro, where miners reportedly of the resistance movement. '1'hc movement began in
attacked Ranger units occupy- "phis is the fight to the fill- Sallta . Cruz in the eastern
Zing that cit 150 miles south- t tropical slcis and thenlili,
b y ish a., airs. the fascist counter ., a,.v narrisonrisons of Coche"h inba
-
211G. Lvyu, --.y v, ,,u.. vv.., -1111-1-1- - -
- raclos Eatallion were ordered called on peasant organizations gion, jc,uled the rebels.
by their commander, Maj. Rubcn in the dry, high plateau around The key to the military situ- appeared to be Oruro,
Sanchez, to occupy positions this city to march on the capi-? where tlvo army r L intents were
surrounding the general army tal in support of General `Torres. facing armed .nlilitlainen from
staff headquarters in the central The official radio also issued; the state 'tin mines at Catavi,
Miraflores District and to block instructions for peasants' toI )Juanuni, and Colquiri.
access to the city from the march on Santa Cruz in the Enrique Miralles, director of
the newspaper La Patria of
military college on the outskirts. eastern lowlands, where the re 'Oruro sa}d -in a telephone ill-
Troops ill Position : volt against General 'Torres terview that rebel ranger troops
d- entirely occupied the city
Tine army rebels seeking to ha d ,controlled local radio sta-
oust General Torres control all
'il1'mpor.ta.nt cities except the
capital..
--.General Torres took over the
ipresidency last Oct. 7 during
tan -earlier military crisis. -
Since then, under - pressure
from the left-wing student and
union groups, the government -
has nationalized mines owned ?
by interests in the; United;` -
States, has ousted Peace Corps
members from Bolivia, and has -
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 WASI TGT) N POST - PARADE NAGAZfl E
11 JULY 19'(1
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000400150001-4
nL tt Crl _
'Q. Is it true that our Peace Corps has been thrown
out of Bolivia, and if so, for what reason-immor-
ality?-L. Titus, Dallas, Tex.
A. Left-wing Bolivian students insisted that U.S.
Peace Corps members be expelled on the grounds
that they included drug addicts, and spies for the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency.
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000400150001-4
 EMT BERLItN, B3ITLINER ZEITUPIG STATINTL
Approved For Release 2000/09/14 : CIIA-RDP80-01601 R0004001
eue'r.
u d Om [c js I m3
Zum dritton Mal innerhalb ocht
Wochen haben reaktionare Kreise Bo-
liviens versucht, durch einen Putsch die
Regicrunq Torrez zu sturzen. Der lung-
Ste Fptschversuch, in den Vcrtreter
zwei rcaktionarer Parteien sowie rechte
don, to 60 Staaten der Welt mit.113
Millionen Dollar im Riicken leistet das
, Friedenskorps"' Agentenarbeit fur den
USA-Imperialismus, Desondere Aktivi-
taten entwickelt es in Africa, we es
u. a. in dos Schuiwesen cindringt, um
ideoiogische Diversion zu betreiben.
Wdhrend des Durgerkriegcs in Nigeria
tratcn die cis Friedensengel getarnten
USA-Agenten often fur die Separati-
sten' ein. Uber das ?Friedenskorps"
.vurde diesen Wafien geliefert.
Mit derv Rausschntil3 aus Bolivien
hat President Torrez eine gofuhrliche
denten oufyedeckt. Des zeigt, welche Jetzt droht die USA-Presse, dies wurde
Rolle die Gewerkschoften, andere Ar- die Bozichungen der USA zu Bolivien
beiterorgonisationen and die Verbandc welter verschleditern. Die Regierung
der Juaend im heut:nen Bolivien spie-des latoinamerikanischcn Stacles geht
Putschisien fiihren
unmittelbar zur
waiter. Linen notwendi?aen and richtigen
Weq, dorm bislong war Bolivien das
zweitarnute Land in darn von Armut
mehr ols gestraften Siiclamerika.
and die amerika-
nischen Konzerne
sinddie Draht-
zieher. hire konter-
revolutionare
Aktivitet gegen
Bolivien wdchst
President Torrez in dom MafBe, in
dam die Regicrunq
des Landes den antiimperialistischen
fortschrittlichen Kurs schrittweise weiter
verwirkiicht. Die Todfeindschoft eines
der gr63ten amerikanischen Konzerne.
der Unitet States Steel, hatte sich der
President bereits mit der Verstaat-
lichung der Zinkgruben eingchandolt.
Sie gehorten dem USA-Konzern.
Der HaB Washingtons steigerte sich,
als die Regierung einer Forderung der
Arbeiter and Studenten folgend, das
soaenannte Friedenskorps der USA aus
Bolivien hinauswarf. Die Arbeiter and
Jugendlichen hatten darauf hingewie-
sen,, die Leuto des ?Friedenskorps"
seien Rauschgifthandler, Rauschgift-
suchtige and CIA-Spitzel. Vor allem
letztere Anschuldigung ist in Dutzenden
von Landern, wo des ?Friedenskorps"
sein Unwesen treibt, als absolut den
Tatsachen entsprechend bestatigt war-
? E0LP 8EN I-
1APA2 1 .tochasan 5?
?SnnlaCriz
#- ?Su eJ ,,.ems
m . ?P~'osi
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01601R000400150001-4
 CHICAGO, ILL.
PEWS Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-01
E _-456,183
MAY t
V f rl~'a '` ;tvf
r' . -,..I
"W F}I b~ '`'-`I~
An as as e-re a secr'. . J-61.0- .eii anus d.e ; , I
By Georgie Anne Geyer
Daily. News Foreign Service
LA PAZ,- Bolivia Even for Bolivia, a 1-1,000 foot-high
country of rarefied air and even more rarefied shenanigans,
the plot was biz erre.
Since March 14, the story that has' obsessed this little
Andean Indian country is one that has one president killing
another one, both of them involved in a $30 million con-
traband arms deal with Israel, and five remaining unsolved
murders linked to the whole scandal.
As one foreign diplomat says, wearily, "It's James Bond
without James Bond,"
The question of "proof" has hardly hit anyone, so enam-
President Barricntos ~chtzz ?u arouna tau county. ;ii his,.
ua; e, to'
helicopter, speaking Quechua, the native Indian Ian"
the peasants, and generally giving Bolivia a good popular.
government.
Then, on April 27, 1969, Barricntos suddenly plunged to a
burning death in a horrible accident which occurred when
his doughty helicopter fell from the skies immediately after
taking off from a peas nt meeting.
NOW THE 1FIIOLE WEIRD PROGRESSIONS of events
begins. Barricntos' was succeeded by Gen. Alfredo Ovando
Candia. a dried-up, ulcerous little wan totally unlike him.
He had none of Rene's charm and it was hard for him to
keep the naturally fissiparous country, together.
`Moreover, the country was alniost immediately swept by
a series of strange and awful murders. In October,?,1969,
Jorge Soliz. a popular peasant leader, was murdered; In,
Februacv, 19-10, Jaime Otero Calderon, a prominent La Paz
lawyer and journalist, was killed. Then, on March 14, 19-10,
one of the most inexplicably horrible things happened.'..
The Alexander family was long known as one of the most
outstanding families in Bolivia. -sMr. and Mrs. Alfredo Alex-
ander ran Hoy and liltima Hota, two muckraking news-
papers, and their children were doctors, diplomats and edi-
tors in a country where the illiterate, superstitious Indians
still wave palm branches to scare the rain away.
That March' 14, a still unknown messenger delivered a
package to their beautiful home, telling their servant it was
a "gift from the Israeli embassy." When the couple un-
wrapped it in their upstairs bedroom, the bomb inside ex-.
ploded, blowing them both to bits and blowing the roof off.
the house with its enormous force.
oured are the Bolivians by the breathless mysteries of the
In a way, that has become irrelevant. In a Latin sense
there is "proof" - that is, there is the personal "testimony"
that is "legal" under Latin American Roman law. In fact, so
many people are now coming forward to' "testify" in this
Tease that there is danger of a trampling at the gates.
But the original "testifier" complicates the plot, too. For
no one really seems to know much about the German, Gert
Richard Heber,'who started the whole thin,-.
But none of this has stopped unsinkable Bolivia, where
strange things happen with the ease of commonness. Al-
ready the plot has taken on the contours of truth in the cold
.brisk mountain air, and a high-level governmental conimis-
sion has decided that the plot is, in fact, true.
But what is most bizarre is :...?it might just really all
have happened.
In this case, the only thing that. makes it all a little less
`credible in this nationalistic and xenophobic country, is chat EVEN LA PAZ, WHERE THE FI ,ST SIGHT pointed out
no one has blamed the -whole tiring on the CIA yet. to tourists is a lamppost outside the presidential palace
WHAT IS BEHIND IT ALL? Is it just "another' bit of where presidents traditionally have been hung (in anger),
Boliviana," as one shocked but cynical foreign diplomat Put was shocked. Clearly, there was something very strange
it, or a true scandal cyith deep and twisted roots? 'going on in the country, even for Bolivia.
Firsr,,of all, in analyzing this strange saga of Bolivian- In whispers, with glances now thrown cautiously over.
:style regicide,, n,murder, arms deals and Swiss bank accounts.' backs, Bolivians kept insisting to each other that all these.
the analyst must take into. account Bolivia itself. It is a horrors must be, after all, related. %
strikingly beautiful, but'griccdingly poor country of some 3 But nothing came out except rumors until, suddenly, last'
million persons, mostly Indian , where the pristine moon- month a largely unknown young German man named Gert
tains rise in pinnacled whipped cream peaks and where the Richard Heber came forward and offered to put everything
tables. all have three legs. ' together. -
La Paz, at 14,000?feet the highest capital in the world, lies Recently, the Alexander children sat in their Hoy office on
like a reclining gray monster in a great, saucer-like in-. a mountainside in downtown La Paz and recalled the grisly,
dentation of the great altiplano of the Andes - that great,, tale which now has become the obsession of their lives.
shadowy, mysterious high plain where the Incas wove and' r
webbed the great empire. "DURING THE DAYS SINCE our parents' death, we have
It has never been an easy country to.rule. By the time the received many hints as to the motives for the murders -
dashing, Steve Canyoncsque Gen. Rene Barrientos took over from high places, but from poope who did not want to be
44 ~ lv see ui, a black
the country in Ap~tpoiv"vFmbERdVSdis~l2OltrT/?9 A SO
revolutions and its pulse was still going strong. x ' t'r 1 t c , with a black
. - - F 'shawl drapped over her ample shoulders.
~C)rzti! TtLI"
 Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP80-016018000
i'IE;i X0 ?}: !.1'71.15 ~:i /lri: ~. !'.i te I,:]i^=d Sept. 2J, 1953, by i11UI'','_15 on a CIOCL'r:,3i.;,L1 c^.Iid purdiClL_ U[ to
f 1A 113 A '^ ` ?'
by e I,ly ` lie S i 'tli to his t AK at CI'C?CleCl Sunday train an route tG" u
raw for the amusement park of Et }.ucal;to, P11 I ' "e that ^)ly anal
a Sid. , l.. c i i1 have
" 1 ,. ~' I''G *). so t . Can fly ilil ll UL+ L' P7:;21 c" t'+ :O? CI)i rule? At the ],.i: i7
~ murders time this lnvC t tt Cie 1.11
tpurti,rS IlirirJ a j~vi) and made wounded. '14 1~1 r i tcant1 nluru
,. ~' `~ role of the July 2s.
!n h of 105Cl. the LPL crikSical urban gi'errllla appa-_
it to tl: jLl:1 le Mn of VeilC'. lnciC, Lave til CiU?icrI'ill ;lt ti1. Cil:~.ilCC?
.
n
\vhere ''tl-~e CIS. #: c t in the cc'In. )aay r:~.d been \:ai mg for to u,,prlva. L ratus,_ much of which turned against
of I Uli v i':. UiilCc;i'S `Li r to h1'v., 1'?5 'c 2tie COi:IlilI ni"L ,Gi Me CaS`tI'O n the J~'S.
early 19"
t}1'c oval out Of t"in. Dut we-\'i CrC IparlI/ 1iiIi:1Ui11}y t:'i c'.y }l .-1
M1 During the two-you Lt king
t0'
Cotire a W HI su"c`:Tit credentials to 115Cd \711'1e \ aging ?, caiiln ' 1-1
slip i tb ;t \'r \'re bo.is ficic j,- fo_ce caacellakioll of the Inoi~ Clec aga'Ilst F~ictator FL?IgenciO Drlltista,
~` docLliltail`S who dvi;liriatoil Cuban politics for
n list. " vnd \ e 1 ' ? rsd ti st' y to U10-s. I1 ! 1 gu :i.x~.
I, ' . ,' ti7:Iy fi.,i,P 1 Str"":,CC1 rir,_< f1,11 U `.,_,rCI1Li i C on ho' thrl DOW 25 ucalh tI'.i; my 23 t:i;G,..-
struck the Ihlost telling bio'?r5
ground all_l;^.?kl lg 5
to a lh hiOIIL i, and to C b1 Ii . first LrrDC was CC , ! was
news of tiha r,l.errl'i.c Icado.l s C,Ci.7il that t .2.