Ecuadorian Legislator Demands Investigation Into Supply of Ammunition to Bolivian Coup Regime

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Fausto JarrĂn TerĂĄn has filed a complaint with the State Attorney Generalâs Office to investigate the alleged supply of weapons by Lenin Morenoâs government to Jeanine Ăñezâs coup regime in Bolivia.
Ecuadorian lawyer and legislator Fausto JarrĂn TerĂĄn, on June 14, filed a complaint with the State Attorney Generalâs Office to investigate the alleged supply of weapons by the government of former President LenĂn Moreno to the Bolivian coup regime of Jeanine Ăñez in November 2019. JarrĂn TerĂĄn, along with over a dozen other legislators of the progressive Union for Hope (UNES) alliance, demanded the truth about the accusations from Bolivia and justice for the victims repressed with the supplied weapons.
âWe have come to the State Attorney Generalâs Office to file the complaint corresponding to the fact that they handed over, without any reason or justification, military equipment, tear-gas bombs and pellets to the de-facto government of Jeanine Ăñez in November 2019, with which, obviously and clearly, the de-facto government repressed the citizens in the sister country Bolivia, just like (former government) minister (MarĂa Paula) Romo repressed the citizens in Ecuador in October 2019. We have denounced these facts,â JarrĂn TerĂĄn told the media outside the Attorney Generalâs Office.
JarrĂn TerĂĄn added that they will work jointly with the Bolivian authorities and urged the newly elected government and the state institutions to support the investigation. âWe demand that the Attorney Generalâs Office act with the diligence that this type of situation represents. We hope that the government of President Guillermo Lasso will be inaugurated with the possibility that his new authorities will open the necessary investigations. The police, the government ministry and all other state institutions should open their offices so that the Attorney Generalâs Office can carry out an appropriate investigation required for such a serious case,â stressed the legislator.
Earlier on June 14, in a statement shared on his twitter account, JarrĂn TerĂĄn demanded that former President LenĂn Moreno and former government minister MarĂa Paula Romo be investigated for their âparticipation in the coup dâĂ©tat in the sister Republic of Bolivia.â
JarrĂn TerĂĄnâs complaint came four days after Bolivian government minister Eduardo del Castillo reported that they had received unofficial information that Morenoâs government had sent war ammunition and non-lethal weapons to Ăñezâs de-facto government, and that the Bolivian government had opened an investigation into the case.
According to an official letter from the Ministry of Government of Ecuador, released by the Bolivian government press agency Agencia Boliviana de InformaciĂłn (ABI) last week, Morenoâs administration lent Ăñezâs regime 5,500 grenades and 2,949 projectiles in November 2019. In the letter, dated May 27, 2020, the Ecuadorian police general commander, HernĂĄn Patricio Carrillo Rosero, requested the then defense attache of Bolivian embassy in Ecuador, JosĂ© Luis FrĂas, to coordinate the return of the equipment delivered by Ecuador to Bolivia as a loan in 2019. The letter further added that the Ecuadorian government appointed Fernando Correa Gordillo, the National Director of Logistics, for coordination tasks.
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Tear gas corruption case in Bolivia
The information and the letter surfaced during the investigation of the tear gas corruption case in Bolivia. It is the same case in which Ăñezâs government minister Arturo Murillo was arrested in the United States on charges of bribery and money laundering in the month of May and is a fugitive from Bolivian justice.
In the US, Murillo and his former chief of staff Sergio Méndez are accused of receiving bribes paid by a US company and individuals to secure a Bolivian government contract, and using the US financial system to launder those bribes.
In Bolivia, Murillo, along with former defense minister Fernando LĂłpez, is being investigated for the crime of embezzlement of public funds, related to the purchase of tear gas at a massively inflated price. The coup regime paid 5.6 million USD to acquire the tear gas having a value of 3.3 million USD, from Brazilian company, CĂłndor, through the US-based intermediary company, Bravo Tactical Solutions, and the surcharge of 2.3 million USD was pocketed by the regime officials.
According to the investigation by Bolivian authorities, Murillo, through the defense ministry, got tear gas and different types of projectiles on loan from Ecuador to provide the Bolivian police with supplies to suppress the anti-coup and pro-democracy mobilizations that broke out in the country following the coup dâĂ©tat against former President Evo Morales. The loan was agreed when Murillo was arranging to acquire the tear gas from CĂłndor.
Former President Morales regretted the involvement of his Ecuadorian counterpart in the coup against him as well as in the repressive actions including the unfortunate massacres. âIt is lamentable that the government of LenĂn Moreno, former president of Ecuador, is implicated in the massacres caused by the de-facto government in Sacaba, Senkata and Pedregal. Having lent grenades and projectiles to the coup plotters shows this,â he wrote in a tweet.
The international human rights organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the UN verified that 37 people lost their lives and hundreds were gravely injured in different regions of the country during various violent repression operations by security forces after Ăñez assumed power.
Lenin Moreno's regime killed 11 indigenous people during Ecuador's October 2019 uprising, then one month later, supplied Añez with anti-riot materials to be used to violently repress indigenous Bolivians.https://t.co/wBbkWg2rbI
— Kawsachun News (@KawsachunNews) June 5, 2021
On June 14, the Attorney General of Bolivia Wilfredo ChĂĄvez reported that the country will arrange for Murilloâs extradition. âOnce he is convicted and serves his sentence there, we will be able to activate the extradition procedure that is being prosecuted within our country,â said ChĂĄvez in an interview with Canal Bolivia TV.
RELATED CONTENT: Corrupt Ăñez Functionary Arrested in US Bribes Case
ChĂĄvez also reported that the country is working to begin a civil trial to recover the millions of USD stolen by Murillo. ChĂĄvez informed that for this purpose the authorities are already coordinating with the lawyers who are managing the case in the United States. âIt is a case of recovery of assets for the economic damage due to the tear gas case. We passed the information to the law firm (Greenberg Traurig) to recover the surcharge,â he said.
ChĂĄvez stressed that âwe will quantify the damage caused because it is not like any other damage, since it was negotiated in the COVID-19 pandemic, when the country needed those resources to save lives, so we have to see the additional amount.â
On June 15, Bolivian Justice Minister IvĂĄn Lima called to prosecute Ăñez and Moreno for the crime against humanity for using âthe weapons against the Bolivian people.â
Ăñez is in prison being held in preventive detention. She was arrested on March 13 for her involvement in the coup against Morales. She has been charged with the crimes of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy. The Attorney Generalâs Office is also investigating her for breach of duties and unconstitutional seizure of power, among various others related to corruption cases, massacres, incidents of violence and human right violations committed during her one year in office.
On June 15, the Attorney Generalâs Office called opposition leader and former presidential candidate of the Citizen Community party Carlos Mesa to testify about his role in the coup of 2019. The summon follows the statement given by Ăñez that implicates him in her illegal seizure of power. If he fails to appear for questioning, an arrest order will be issued against him.
Featured image: Ecuadorian parliamentarian Fausto JarrĂn TerĂĄn, along with other legislators of the progressive Union for Hope (UNES) alliance, outside the Attorney Generalâs Office on June 14. Photo: Blasco Luna/Twitter
(Peoples Dispatch) by Tanya Wadhwa