Bolivian ambassador to Argentina calls on ex-President Macri to “admit” sending arms to his country

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bolivia’s ambassador to Argentina, Jorge Ramiro Tapia, confirmed Tuesday (17) that the Commission had “verified” the veracity of evidence accusing the center-right government of Mauricio Macri of sending repressive material to the far-left governed Andean country during the alleged coup against Evo Morales in November 2019.

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“Officials of the previous (Argentine) government should at least acknowledge that something happened in connection with the delivery of weapons. They are covering up a glaring fact with other types of news,” he said in statements to Radio 10.

The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), established under an agreement between the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Plurinational State of Bolivia, will present this Tuesday (17) its final report on the human rights violations committed by the de facto regime of Jeanine Áñez that ousted Morales from power.

Tapia assured that the testimonies of some detainees in Bolivia related to the cases in which this alleged smuggling is being investigated “confirm” the commission of a crime.

“The relevant expert opinions are being prepared to determine the cause of death of the Bolivians killed in the repressions in Sacaba and Senkata,” said the ambassador, who confirmed that the objective is to determine whether the victims of these repressions were hit by weapons and repressive elements sent from Argentina or other countries.

“I believe that at this time, in addition to the expert opinion, we must demand justice. It is unacceptable that they sent weapons so that we can face each other as brothers,” stressed the diplomatic representative.

18 FORMER PRESIDENTS SPEAK OF HYBRID WARFARE

The 18 former presidents who signed a communiqué a couple of weeks ago, entitled “Declaration on the criminalization of democratic leaderships,” assured that “an attempt is being made to manipulate” the Bolivian case in order to persecute Macri.

According to the statement, Argentina’s “anti-democratic leftist adversaries” have targeted the ex-president, which is why legal proceedings have been brought against him “without any real grounds or because of blatantly political differences.”

“Under the leadership of the current Argentine ruler, the hybrid and legal war designed by the anti-democratic far left in the Americas acquires its full significance; therefore, it is imperative to call upon the Administration of Justice, judges and prosecutors not to forget that the fate of democratic freedoms ultimately rests in their hands,” they said.

In the document they expressed their concern about “the process of abduction of the democratic discourse by the radical anti-democratic leftists that persist” throughout the region. According to them, this sector’s goal is “to empty democracy of its essential elements, using them to achieve power and sustain it in opposition to the alternation in its exercise and thus, through constitutional means, dismantle the rule of law and the very democratic human rights guarantees.”