Bolivian general who caught 'Che' Guevara gets house arrest in alleged plot against president

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Bolivian general who caught 'Che' Guevara gets house arrest in alleged plot against president
CARLOS VALDEZ
Associated Press Writer
8:59 p.m. EDT, May 21, 2010

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — A retired Bolivian general famous for capturing Ernesto "Che" Guevara was ordered held under house arrest Friday in connection with an alleged plot against President Evo Morales.

Prosecutors allege that Gen. Gary Prado exchanged "ultrasecret" encrypted e-mail with Eduardo Rozsa, a Bolivian-born Hungarian who was slain in an April 2009 raid by an elite police unit.

Authorities say Rozsa and two other men killed — an Irishman and an ethnic Hungarian from Romania — were involved in a conspiracy to create a separatist right-wing militia in the eastern, opposition-dominated state of Santa Cruz. Morales said at the time that a plot to assassinate him had been foiled.

During a court appearance Thursday, Prado denied prosecutors' allegations that he was complicit with the group.

It seems laughable to me that a general with my past would put himself under the command of a mercenary," Prado said. He also said documents written by him that were found on Rosza's computer came from a class he teaches at a private university in Santa Cruz.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-lt-bolivia-alleged-plot,0,2840380.story

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http://www2.2space.net.nyud.net:8090/images/upl_newsImage/1191366165.jpg

http://jobbik.net.nyud.net:8090/files/images/Eduardo/bolivia/Gary_Prado_Salmon_tabornok_a_szerzovel.jpg

This is a photo of Prado in his home sitting, with the mercenary assassin Eduardo Rózsa-Flores.
On edit, this is the site where I found his photo with Rozsa:
http://jobbik.net/index.php?q=node/6203

[AlphaCentauri]

1. Are they members of La Fundacion para la Libertad ? n/t

[Judi Lynn]

2. The end of this article misrepresents the truth:

Prado said in his memoir "Como Capture al Che," or "How I Caught Che," that he was not involved in Guevara's subsequent killing on orders of the military command.

"The warrior I knew is not the Che of myth and legend," Prado wrote. "He was a defeated man at the end of his strength."

http://www.argentour.com.nyud.net:8090/images/che_guevara_prisionero.jpg
During his capture, Che Guevara was shot several times in the leg long before they executed him. Persistant research will reveal this. Prado seems to misstate the actual situation. Other people on the scene have commented upon his calmness, courage.

[msongs]

3. che guevara - sociopath and serial killer nt

[proteus_lives]

4. +1

[mynameiswhat]

5. correct

[fascisthunter]

29. nope... not correct

[mitchum]

35. Wrong

[Judi Lynn]

8. Sociopath if you don't approve of executing death squad leaders and members, and Batista torturers,

and pilots who bombed the hell out of helpless Cubans, or assassinated young people, dismembered them, hung their corpses in trees, as did various organizations working for the bloody U.S.-supported butcher, U.S. Mafia connected Fulgencio Batista.

What do you imagine would have happened to people like this working for the British during the American revolution?

You don't need to go any further explaining your politics.

http://www.historyofcuba.com.nyud.net:8090/images/batista3.jpg

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org.nyud.net:8090/cuban-rebels/protest.gif

Mothers of the murdered young men of Santiago de Cuba
as they marched through the streets of Santiago de Cuba
to go implore the U.S. ambassador, Earl Smith to intervene
for them with the piece of filth, torturer Batista, to ask
him to stop murdering their children.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/2563/3802964616_868892d623_o.png

Once they reached the ambassador, the state police turned the fire hoses on them.

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org.nyud.net:8090/cuban-rebels/protest-1.gif
Don't even try to throw that gibberish around sensible people. It only works on idiots.

[CatWoman]

13. thanks, Judi

[Judi Lynn]

32. Hi, CatWoman. Glad to see you. Thanks to you. n/t

[boppers]

17. Way to justify murder!

Gee, I wonder why the violence keeps on continuing...

:eyes:

[troubledamerican]

20. Even if you don't justify Che, it's funny: You never see these DUers against Uribe, Garcia, or

any of the Latin right-wing.

You'll ALWAYS see these same DUers -- the SAME names over and over -- showing up to condemn Chavez, Morales & Correa.

How curious.

[bitchkitty]

23. It makes you wonder. n/t

[naaman fletcher]

28. not curious at all.

We all condemn those people. there is no argument or debate about it. Therefore, there is little discussion about it.

[fascisthunter]

30. and there lies the answer as to "why"

same right wing propaganda, different day

[naaman fletcher]

26. he killed children, too. nt.

[Joe Chi Minh]

10. The School of the Americas would have taught him sweetness and light, if only

he'd not been so bad. I wonder you characters have the gall to post here.

[New Dawn]

15. The real sociopaths and serial killers are in Washington, London, and Tel Aviv.

But our resident Neocons would never speak of such things.

[naaman fletcher]

27. Can't they all be? Why must it be either/or? nt.

[Peace Patriot]

21. A whole lot of people think otherwise.

I may not condone taking up arms in defense of the poor--the victims of official serial killers, torturers, murderers and oppressors--but I can understand why some people have done so. The fact that someone returns fire in such a cause does not make them a "sociopath and serial killer." That rightwing view fails to see and acknowledge the horrors inflicted on the poor majority and their advocates by brutal governments, in service to the rich and the corporate. Horrors such as Che Guevara saw and was reacting to are still on-going in Latin America in countries where the U.S. dictates policy--Colombia and Honduras in particular right now. We, here, in relative safety, have no idea what it's like to discover up to 2,000 bodies of local 'disappeared' community activists in a mass grave, as just occurred in La Macarena, Colombia, nearby to a U.S. military base. Rage and a desire for violent revenge must be very hard to suppress in oneself, given such circumstances. Arming and organizing people against it must be a very great temptation. I don't condone it. But I understand it. And calling a hero of such a fight a "sociopath and serial killer" utterly fails to even try to perceive how other people see it. That, too, is a typical rightwing characteristic--lack of imagination.

Stalin was a "sociopath and serial killer." Che Guevara wasn't. Hitler was a "sociopath and serial killer." FDR wasn't. Killing itself does not make a "sociopath and serial killer." I may not condone what Che did, or what FDR did, say to Dresden, or what Truman did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But I UNDERSTAND it. It is a HUMAN response to vast, murderous injustice, in that narrowing tunnel of war that human beings get into, psychologically, where they are simply unable to see other solutions than more killing. Che was not insane. FDR and Truman were not insane. They were just human--products of their time, unable to see out of the tunnel. You should be careful of judging people without trying to understand them and most especially judging someone who is a hero to the poor, without asking why he is still a hero, after all this time. Calling Che a "sociopath and serial killer" is not going to change that hero worship--it is so obviously the haughty opinion of the privileged few and so ill thought out.

[bitchkitty]

24. How idiotic. n/t

[mitchum]

34. Freedom fighter and revolutionary

[BOG PERSON]

39. God, this place is a pigsty n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. Can figs grow on thorns, Judy? They say what they must say. Slaves of evil.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Well chosen words, Joe Chi Minh. Totally focused. n/t

[DissedByBush]

18. "Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara and worth more to you alive than dead"

What courage.

It took a lot of courage earlier in Cuba to send hundreds to their deaths without trial.

Such a courageous man.

[The abyss]

6. Gen. Gary Prado

"It seems laughable to me that a general with my past would put himself under the command of a mercenary,"

He was under the command of the US government and CIA in 1967. I would say he has always worked under the command of mercenaries.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara

As always – thanks for posting Judi.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Abyss, you are so damned right! The guy in many of the photos, Cuba "exile" CIA guy Felix Rodriguez,

was right there, along with other CIA guys, one of them has, in the last year or two, made a big noise about selling some locks of Che Guevara's hair he took as souvenirs, along with other memorabilia, and Felix Rodriguez, himself, helped himself to the man's watch his own father had given him for graduation from medical school in Argentina.

Feliz Rodriguez made a big deal of boasting of the watch and showing it to anyone who wanted to see a stolen dead man's watch.

http://lajauretsi.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2008/11/felix-rodriguez1.jpg

He's the one in the jaunty little hat on Che's right.

http://truthalliance.net.nyud.net:8090/Portals/0/Archive/Community%20Article%20Images/4815.jpg

Here he is with a CIA team at a nightclub in Mexico City, the one drunk, and lying
on the stage, with Porter Goss directly behind him, and Barry Seal behind him.

http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com.nyud.net:8090/images/bushAndFelix.jpg

Felix Rodriguez visiting with his friend, George H. W. Bush
at his Vice-President's quarters in Washington, D.C. right
before Christmas, 1988.

http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com.nyud.net:8090/images/bushNote.jpg

A little note from the Vice President Felix kept
as another souvenir.

http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com.nyud.net:8090/images/BushFelix2.jpg

Pals.
So glad you made this important observation, Abyss. You are so correct. Thank you.

[The abyss]

19. As always: Fight the fight!

Tip of hat: I wish you well Miss Judi.

Please carry on.

[boppers]

7. House arrest, for the crime of email...

...yeah. This seems more like propaganda than anything else.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Be dignified to take the time to know something about the subject you're attempting to discuss.

It's been deeply, thoroughly discussed here for over a year, time after time, thread after thread.

[boppers]

16. Oh, I don't doubt that.

A latin american leader somehow discovers a secret plot to build a coup and/or an assassination of their leader, which results in arrests and show trials for their political opponents.

Some people keep buying it.

I'm not one of them.

[EFerrari]

22. Good. Mr, Prado, your karma is calling. n/t

[Joanne98]

25. Give him the death penalty!

[fascisthunter]

31. hey righties... a hero of yours has been arrested

the poor sociopath... I think most right wingers are sociopaths.

[Judi Lynn]

33. Absolutely. Takes a fine blend of anal self-interest, hatred of ANYONE different,

lack of depth, inability to identify with, respect actual human beings to become a great right-winger.

[Mika]

36. Every revolution needs a Che. Willing to be the tip of the spear & do the grimy work.

Blood soaked tyrants like Batista and his oligarchs don't give up power easily. True revolutionaries recognize that sometimes flowers and loving thoughts do not defeat brutal henchmen who are systematically murdering your brothers and sisters. For a revolution to succeed the appropriate measures must be used. Che knew this full-well, and was willing to let the historical record speak for his actions.

Proof is in the pudding, as they say. Cuba has no death squads now, corporate or otherwise. Everyone gets a good world class education. Everyone has birth to death world class health care. Everyone has the responsibility to make it all happen. Cubans have taken up the task quite efficiently and very effectively. They honor Che's spirit, gains, and losses in doing so.

Viva Cuba!

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[Judi Lynn]

37. Exclusive: The U.S. Paid Money to Support Hugo Banzer’s 1971 Coup in Bolivia

May 30, 2010
Exclusive: The U.S. Paid Money to Support Hugo Banzer’s 1971 Coup in Bolivia
Robert P. Baird

For nearly four decades, there’s been an open ques­tion about the 1971 coup that brought dic­ta­tor Hugo Banzer Suárez to power in Bolivia: was the U.S. gov­ern­ment involved? Thanks to newly declas­si­fied doc­u­ments, we now have an answer.

Banzer was a dic­ta­tor of Bolivia from 1971-8 and a demo­c­ra­t­i­cally elected pres­i­dent from 1997-2001. His three-​day coup in August 1971 was sig­nif­i­cant not only for the fight­ing that accom­pa­nied it, which left 110 dead and 600 wounded, but for the seven-​year regime that fol­lowed, one of the most repres­sive in Bolivia’s his­tory. Under Banzer’s rule, more than 14,000 Boli­vians were arrested with­out a judi­cial order, more than 8,000 were tortured—with elec­tric­ity, water, beatings—and more than 200 were exe­cuted or dis­ap­peared. (I’m writ­ing a long arti­cle about the legacy of the regime for Nar­ra­tive Mag­a­zine. It will hope­fully be out by the end of the year.)
Amer­i­can sup­port for Banzer before and after the coup was never in doubt. He had trained at the School of the Amer­i­cas in Panama and the Armored Cav­alry School in Texas, and in the late 60s served as mil­i­tary attaché in Wash­ing­ton. In the five months after he ousted left-​wing dic­ta­tor Gen­eral Juan José Torres, Banzer was rewarded with $50 mil­lion in grants and aid from the Nixon Administration.

But while U.S. sup­port for Banzer during the coup has been widely assumed among Boli­vians and Latin Amer­i­can his­to­ri­ans, the only proof (until now) was been a Wash­ing­ton Post report pub­lished a week after the event, which said that U.S. Air Force Major Robert J. Lundin had advised the plot­ters and lent them a long-​range radio. The report was never sub­stan­ti­ated, how­ever, and the State Depart­ment denied it imme­di­ately, assert­ing unequiv­o­cally that the U.S. played no part in the over­throw of Torres.

A col­lec­tion of declas­si­fied doc­u­ments recently released* by the same State Depart­ment proves that this denial was not only incor­rect, but a lie: the Nixon Admin­is­tra­tion, acting with the full knowl­edge of the State Depart­ment, autho­rized nearly half a mil­lion dollars—”coup money,” accord­ing to the ambas­sador in La Paz—for the politi­cians and mil­i­tary offi­cers plot­ting against Torres. The CIA handed at least some of this money over to the coup’s lead­ers in the days lead­ing up to Banzer’s seizure of power.

Min­utes from a July 8, 1971 meet­ing of the 40 Com­mit­tee (an executive-​branch group chaired by Henry Kissinger and tasked with over­sight of covert oper­a­tions) included dis­cus­sion of a CIA pro­posal to give $410,000 to a group of oppo­si­tion politi­cians and mil­i­tary lead­ers, money that they knew would be used to over­throw Torres. (Under Sec­re­tary of State U. Alexis John­son: “what we are actu­ally orga­niz­ing is a coup in itself, isn’t it?”) Though the com­mit­tee decided to wait to hear from Ambas­sador Ernest Sir­a­cusa (he opposed the mea­sure) the plan was ulti­mately approved. The same day that the coup began in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, an NSC staffer reported to Kissinger that the CIA had trans­ferred money to two high-​ranking mem­bers of the opposition.

More:
http://www.digitalemunction.com/2010/05/30/exclusive-the-u-s-paid-money-to-support-hugo-banzers-1971-coup-in-bolivia/

[Vidar]

38. Evo will probably show him far more mercy than I would.