Suit against ex-Bolivian leader moved to Miami

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Suit against ex-Bolivian leader moved to Miami
Posted on Tue, Apr. 15, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY PABLO BACHELET
[e-mail]

WASHINGTON -- A Miami court will hear the case against former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada after a federal judge decided on Tuesday that trying the case in Maryland would unnecessarily duplicate expenses and hassles.

Six law firms and human rights groups sued Sánchez de Lozada in federal court in Maryland, demanding compensation for relatives of the estimated 67 people killed during the 2003 protests that forced him into U.S. exile.

The civil case accuses the former Bolivian leader and stalwart U.S. ally of committing crimes against humanity and extrajudicial killings. The former president says he is the victim of a political witch hunt and that his political foes are responsible for the deaths because they orchestrated a violent uprising against him.

Moving the case to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida means the Sánchez de Lozada case will be heard together with former Bolivian defense minister José Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, who is fighting similar charges.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_dade/story/496752.html

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El Alto residents burn posters of the former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada posters in front of U.S. embassy in La Paz October 17, 2007. The residents were commemorating the fourth anniversary of violent clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces that left at least 60 dead in October 2003. De Lozada was president during that period. REUTERS/Jose Luis Quintana (BOLIVIA)

"Goni's" Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_S%C3%A1nchez_de_Lozada

[Judi Lynn]

1. You may be interested in seeing this documentary which cycles through the Sundance Channel

periodically, or get it from an online source:
Our Brand Is Crisis - DVD (Eng (2005)
Commentary with director Rach Boynton
Original trailer

Synopsis
Documentary filmmaker Rachel Boynton follows the machinations of the political consulting firm Greenberg Carville Shrum as they work on an election campaign in South America that goes terribly awry. The film's title, Our Brand Is Crisis, comes from the consultants' efforts to sell the voters of Bolivia on the idea that the country faced an imminent economic and political crisis, and needed to turn to the experienced hand of their candidate, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, affectionately known as "Goni." Goni had been president in the 1990s, and had overseen a type of privatization of Bolivia's economy (including a large natural gas reserve) known as "Capitalization," through which a large percentage of the national companies were sold to private interests, with some of the money going toward social security and health-care plans. With Goni lagging in the polls, GCS, whose most recognizable public face is James Carville, is shown conducting focus groups and strategy meetings. It becomes clear that Bolivians see his presidency as a failure, because they feel he sold out their interests, and failed to produce the jobs that he promised Capitalization would bring. Goni's campaign eventually "goes negative," trying to draw suspicion to the leading candidate, Manfred Reyes Villa, because of his wealth and his military background. The negative campaigning works, to a degree, but it also makes a more formidable candidate of the left-leaning Evo Morales, a former leader of the coca growers union, whose campaign also gets a shot in the arm from a smear from the U.S. ambassador. Our Brand Is Crisis, Boynton's directorial debut, was shown at New Directors/New Films, presented by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, in 2005. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
(snip)

http://www.amazon.ca/Our-Brand-Crisis-DVD-Eng/dp/B000GDIBSO