Boliviagate: Argentine documents show far larger post-coup weapons shipment than previously known

[peppertree]

Documents uncovered in Argentina's National Controlled Materials Agency (ANMaC) show that the shipment of munitions and tear gas shipped to Bolivia following that country's 2019 coup was far larger than previously known - and included lethal weaponry.

An ANMaC permit, dated November 12, 2019 - just two days after the coup against Bolivian President Evo Morales - included 70,000 AT-12/70 crowd control (rubber bullet) cartridges; 100 Mk-9 tear gas spray canisters; and 661 CN, CS, and HC gas grenades.

A Bolivian Air Force letter (November 13) presented yesterday by Bolivian Foreign Minister Rogelio Mayta had revealed a shipment of 40,000 rubber bullet cartridges and only one-fifth as much tear gas as detailed in Argentine documents uncovered today.

Another ANMaC permit (November 11) detailed a shipment of semiautomatic pistols, repeating shotguns, automatic carbines, machine guns and rifles - as well as over 8,000 ammunition of different calibers, bulletproof vests, helmets, ballistic shields and night visors.

At least ten Argentine Gendarmerie (militarized police) officials were likewise sent to Bolivia after the coup - which was publicly backed by the right-wing Argentine President at the time, Mauricio Macri.

The documents were uncovered in an internal probe ordered by Argentine Security Minister Sabina Frederic following the complaint made by Bolivia's current President Luis Arce - who was elected in a landslide and took office last November following the year-long Jeanine Áñez regime.

Over 800 protesters were injured and at least 33 were killed by Bolivian security forces in the aftermath of 2019 coup.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&u=https://www.minutouno.com/politica/golpe-estado-bolivia/macri-mando-los-golpistas-bolivianos-armas-automaticas-fusiles-70-mil-cartuchos-antidisturbios-y-8-mil-municiones-n5218819

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales (left) chats with his Argentine counterpart at the time, Mauricio Macri, in 2018.

Morales' 2019 overthrow was publicly backed by Macri - whom Argentine and Bolivian documents now show to have shipped a large cache of lethal and non-lethal weapons, munitions and other matériel to the post-coup Bolivian regime.

Former Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno - who, like Macri, was a close Trump ally - was likewise recently revealed to have shipped munitions to Bolivia following the 2019 coup.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Hideous dirty maneuvers from Macri, and the fascist coup managers.The war materials must be located.

They were going to use it on the indigenous Bolivians, of course!

The violence they did use against the people was despicable enough without dragging out their really big war weapons to use upon the legitimate Bolivian people.

That photo of Macri standing by Evo Morales is as loathesome as you'd expect from someone as nasty as Macri. He has his snotty supercilious racist act going on, pretending Morales is a shrieking illliterate oaf who can't even speak the language well enough to be understood.

Evo is a tower of strength for not having stuck his fist through Macri's face! That racist routine is lower than low.

Hoping Arce will track down ALL the war weaponry Macri bestowed upon the Bolivian fascist elites. It should not be available to them to pick up and use in the future for a return coup, against Arce next time.

So glad the information IS getting around, regardless of their intentions to do this beyond public view.

Best wishes to President Arce, and former President Morales. May they both be protected during these fascists' power hungry machinations.

[peppertree]

2. Well said. This is all illegal six ways to Sunday

You've got arms trafficking, obtaining weapons under false pretense, theft of government property, aid in furtherance of a coup (a crime under both Argentine and international law), and of course the aiding and abetting of capital crimes: assault with a deadly weapon, torture, and murder.

Had Macri limited himself to shipping rubber bullets, tear gas, and protective gear, it might not be such a problem for him.

But he just had to include the deadly weapons and live ammunition (Trump's orders?).

It's only a matter of time before an arrest warrant is issued against him in Bolivia - since no one in Argentina seems to be willing to (tax evasion, warrantless surveillance, extortion, abuse of power, etc.).

Oh, well. Qué será.

Have a great weekend, Judi.

[regnaD kciN]

3. Moreno in Ecuador was no prize, either...

He ran as the progressive candidate and successor of Correa then, once elected, proceeded to prosecute his supposed mentor, embrace neoliberalism and austerity, and, although not choosing to run for a second term, managed to put enough measures in place to suppress progressive candidates that his even-more-conservative opponent in the previous election was given an easy walk to the presidency thereafter. Him backing a military dictatorship in Bolivia is scarcely a surprise for that sellout.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Moreno pulled off one of the slimiest political tricks on the people of Ecuador, ever!

He didn't give off any alarming signals that got into the media, as far as I saw, while acting as the vice President to Rafael Correa, then badda boom, he discards his progressive costume and manifests as a slime-breathing, rotting power-mad, down-and-dirty fascist. No one could have seen that coming.



Enough to make a maggot gag, isn't it?

[Judi Lynn]

4. Macri, Ex-Ministers Charged For Arms Sale to Bolivian Coup Govt

The Argentine government has accused Macri, three of his ministers and other former officials of having sent arms to Bolivia in November 2019 to consolidate the overthrow of Evo Morales. | Photo: Twitter/@AndyVermaut

Published 16 July 2021

The irregular shipment of arms to the de facto government of Jeanine Añez by the Argentinean administration of Mauricio Macri just after the coup d'état will be settled in court, after the former president was indicted this Friday by a prosecutor in Buenos Aires.

It was the prosecutor Claudio Navas Rial who accepted this Friday the investigation of the complaint filed by the Government for the smuggling of weapons to Bolivia in November 2019 and listed as defendants in the case the former president Mauricio Macri and his then ministers Patricia Bullrich (Security) and Oscar Aguad (Defense).

Likewise, the former director of the Civil Guard Gerardo José Otero, the former director of logistics of the Civil Guard Rubén Carlos Yavorski and the former director of operations of that force, Carlos Miguel Recalde, and even the then Argentine ambassador in La Paz, Normando Álvarez García, are implicated in the complaint.

Although the document requests the first measures of evidence, which include requests for reports to the Argentine Government and Bolivia, the prosecutor did not include, however, other measures that the Government had requested in its complaint, such as a report of the calls between the former president and the other accused in order to make a cross-check.

More:
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Macri-Ex-Ministers-Charged-For-Arms-Sale-to-Bolivian-Coup-Govt-20210716-0009.html

[peppertree]

5. Amazing update. Thank you, Judi.

This Macri Boliviagate scandal recalls the Videla regime's support for Bolivia's brutal "Cocaine Coup" in 1980.

Amid news of the coup - and all the brutality and disappearances that followed - Videla denied any Argentine involvement.

But it wasn't long before photos and reports of Argentine weapons, ammunition, army rations, supplies, light tanks - and even torture equipment - began emerging.

Victims also reported hearing Argentine accents among both those leading the quashing of protests, as well as among the torturers.

Before long Videla could no longer deny involvement, so his regime simply hid behind Reagan's tacit approval of Bolivia's García Meza regime.

Galtieri - then head of the Argentine Army - boasted to top Reagan adviser Gen. Vernon Walters (a real Cold-warnik, as you know) in '81 that "I decide who's in power in Bolivia, when, and for how long."

Later investigations in Argentina itself indeed showed that they, all told, spent over $800 million on the Bolivian coup
mostly as financial aid to García Meza (much of which was, of course, pilfered).

A tidy sum in 1980: equal to around 2 months of Bolivian GDP at the time.

Granted, the 2019 Bolivia coup was a more restrained version (if you'll excuse the expression) of their 1980 coup - but it does have involvement by a right-wing Argentine administration in common, as well as the initial denials, the drip-drip of evidence, etc.

Thanks again for finding, and posting, these news Judi. Here's hoping there'll convictions for this - and that Trump's collusion will be revealed, to the extent he (and Ivanka) took part in it.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Reading the information in this post was stunning. It was a recognition I was seeing missing pieces

I needed to see the bigger, clearer, more complex picture of what has happened.

Had an immediate reaction, being overwhelmed! Tried to respond several times, but didn't know where to start!

Have heard, read, over the years, about Argentinian military specialists, after the Dirty War, getting involved in Central America, etc., as US backed new dictators tried to lay waste to the indigenous people.

The comment by Galtieri to Reagan's man sounded similar, in its ego-centric power madness to Nixon's Chilean dictator General Pinochet's boast, "not a blade grows in Chile without my order."

You have no idea how impactful reading your post was! So glad you took the time!

~ ~ ~

In pursuit of Bolivia's secret Nazi

After the second world war many high-ranking Nazis fled to South America. Among them was the head of the Gestapo in the French city of Lyon, a man responsible for the deportation of Jews to the death camp at Auschwitz and the torture of members of the French Resistance. Hiding in Bolivia, Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon, changed his name to Klaus Altmann and made himself helpful to drug lords and dictators alike. Bolivian journalist Gustavo Sanchez explains what happened when he tracked Barbie down in 1983

Wed 10 Sep 2008 04.00 EDT



German SS officer and Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie.
Photograph: Gabriel Hackett/Getty

For decades here in Bolivia we had an infamous tradition of ruthless dictators. In the early 70s General Hugo Banzer siezed power. He turned to the ex-Nazi Klaus Barbie to help him with the repression. It was not the first time that Barbie, a war criminal wanted by the French and German authorities, had mingled with hardliners. Here in Bolivia he used to do big business with the drug lords. He had his own team of assassins, some from Italy and others from Argentina, called the Grooms of Death. He also sold them weapons.

American intelligence officials helped Barbie to become established in Bolivia as part of their crusade against communism. He acted as a sort of counter-intelligence official. Under the alias of Klaus Altmann he worked primarily as an interrogator and torturer. He also helped in the same way in Peru. He did the same things here as in Germany and France. For him the word communist meant "dead". Many Bolivians died during that dictatorship; one that was prolonged for more than 10 years. Barbie was in charge of the murders of many Bolivian citizens, including priests and members of the opposition.

So some of us felt that we had to do something about it. But in 1980, after General Banzer, an even bloodier dictator, Luis García Meza, rose to power in what was called the narco, or cocaine, coup. Barbie was a key aide then. He was the main ideologue of that coup; he organised absolutely everything. He was even given the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Bolivian armed forces, and was then able to move around with total impunity. Today Bolivians know all about Barbie, but for a long time many even doubted that such a criminal could be here.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/10/bolivia-germany

[Judi Lynn]

7. Argentina's Security Minister says her predecessor's buying weapons sent to Bolivia is a "proven" fa

Saturday, July 24th 2021 - 08:58 UTC

Argentina's Security Minister Sabina Frederic Friday said there was proof corroborating that her predecessor Patricia Bullrich was behind the shipment of weapons and ammunition to Bolivia during the revolt that toppled Evo Morales.

Frederic explained that inconsistencies found between the documented information left by the Gendarmería Nacional (GN - Border Guard) and then Defense Minister Oscar Aguad “allow us to ratify this complaint of aggravated smuggling.”

She added that there was no way goods that size “could have left [the country] legally.“

The Minister stressed that ”it is proven“ that the anti-riot weapons found in the warehouses of the Bolivian police were bought by Bullrich.

“We have found a lot of documentation and also inconsistencies between the documented information left by the GN and Aguad. These inconsistencies are data that allow us to ratify this complaint of aggravated smuggling,” Frederic said in a radio interview.

More:
https://en.mercopress.com/2021/07/24/argentina-s-security-minister-says-her-predecessor-s-buying-weapons-sent-to-bolivia-is-a-proven-fact

(My bolding.)

[Judi Lynn]

8. Macri fiercely denies 'Boliviagate' allegations, slams Fernandez

16-07-2021 02:03

Former president says his successor’s word has been “devalued” by allegations his administration sent lethal ammunition to Jeanine Áñez government in Bolivia that was used to repress followers of Evo Morales in 2019.




FILE PHOTO SHOWING FORMER PRESIDENT MAURICIO MACRI (RIGHT), EX-SECURITY MINISTER PATRICIA BULLRICH (LEFT). | NA


Ex-president Mauricio Macri has "roundly” denied the affirmations of the Bolivian government that his administration sent lethal ammunition to repress the followers of Evo Morales in 2019.

The Juntos por el Cambio leader, currently in Switzerland, hit back via social networks after Bolivian Foreign Minister Rogelio Mayta alleged the previous Thursday that Argentina had delivered "lethal ammunition" to the Bolivian military to repress social protests in November, 2019.

Mayta released a copy of a letter sent by then-Bolivian Air Force chief-of-staff Gonzalo Terceros to then-Argentina’s ambassador in La Paz, Normando Álvarez García, thanking him for the reception of "40,000 cartridges AT 12/70 (of rifle ammunition)" plus 100 tear gas canisters.

Terceros and his naval colleague Gonzalo Jarjuri were arrested last weekend and are being investigated for the incidents of 2019.

More:
https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/latin-america/macri-fiercely-denies-boliviagate-allegations-slams-fernandez.phtml