Bolivia accuses students of spying
LA PAZ, Bolivia
Students attending a conflict resolution course in this politically tumultuous Andean nation got some unexpected extracurricular experience when Bolivia's leftist government accused the program's sponsor of being a front for U.S. spies.
The accusations came in a six-page Bolivian intelligence report riddled with grammatical errors. It claimed one of the course's local coordinators is a CIA agent.
The report was sent to reporters by e-mail on Thursday, two days after President Evo Morales claimed U.S. troops were sneaking into Bolivia disguised as students and tourists.
Morales' charges come amid increasingly strained U.S.-Bolivian relations. Morales is getting cozier with Venezuela and Cuba and shunning U.S. diplomats ahead of a July 2 vote to elect an assembly that will rewrite the constitution.
The U.S. Embassy called the government's accusations "unfounded" and the course's sponsor, the Alexandria, Va.-based Alliance for Conflict Transformation, denied claims that it was an office of the State Department with links to the Pentagon.
Alliance co-founder Nike Carstarphen said that all 26 students in the course, which began June 10 and was continuing in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, were civilians. Half of them are Americans and the rest are from Sweden, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico and Bolivia, she said.
"It's sad. It's actually quite ironic," Carstarphen said. "They say we're playing war games when we're actually doing negotiations simulations."
The report named one of the students in the course, 26-year-old former Marine Joseph Humire. The former sergeant was born to Bolivian parents and said his seven years in the U.S. military included a combat tour in Iraq and training of Latin America troops.
Humire, of Vienna, Va., said he had been hounded by a man who had identified himself as an immigration agent when he arrived at the Santa Cruz airport from La Paz, where he said he was visiting his grandmother.
The report named another American, Mark Patrick Palaez, who was not among the course's participants.
It said Palaez identified himself as a sergeant stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., who is visiting his family in Bolivia.
Students attending a conflict resolution course in this politically tumultuous Andean nation got some unexpected extracurricular experience when Bolivia's leftist government accused the program's sponsor of being a front for U.S. spies.
The accusations came in a six-page Bolivian intelligence report riddled with grammatical errors. It claimed one of the course's local coordinators is a CIA agent.
The report was sent to reporters by e-mail on Thursday, two days after President Evo Morales claimed U.S. troops were sneaking into Bolivia disguised as students and tourists.
Morales' charges come amid increasingly strained U.S.-Bolivian relations. Morales is getting cozier with Venezuela and Cuba and shunning U.S. diplomats ahead of a July 2 vote to elect an assembly that will rewrite the constitution.
The U.S. Embassy called the government's accusations "unfounded" and the course's sponsor, the Alexandria, Va.-based Alliance for Conflict Transformation, denied claims that it was an office of the State Department with links to the Pentagon.
Alliance co-founder Nike Carstarphen said that all 26 students in the course, which began June 10 and was continuing in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, were civilians. Half of them are Americans and the rest are from Sweden, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico and Bolivia, she said.
"It's sad. It's actually quite ironic," Carstarphen said. "They say we're playing war games when we're actually doing negotiations simulations."
The report named one of the students in the course, 26-year-old former Marine Joseph Humire. The former sergeant was born to Bolivian parents and said his seven years in the U.S. military included a combat tour in Iraq and training of Latin America troops.
Humire, of Vienna, Va., said he had been hounded by a man who had identified himself as an immigration agent when he arrived at the Santa Cruz airport from La Paz, where he said he was visiting his grandmother.
The report named another American, Mark Patrick Palaez, who was not among the course's participants.
It said Palaez identified himself as a sergeant stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., who is visiting his family in Bolivia.
posted by Alice at
Saturday, June 24, 2006
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