Evo and Peru: conflict over a terrorist

Bolivia’s crpyto-communist leader Evo Morales is risking his relationship with Peru over an accussed terrorist.  Why?

Relations between Bolivia and Peru hit a low point, after the Peruvian Justice demanded the arrest of Walter Chvez Snchez, a Peruvian national, important communications advisor and close friend of President Evo Morales. INTERPOL- Lima issued the petition which was received by the Bolivian police on February 7, 2007 (“Red Uno de Televisin” from La Paz revealed a copy of the document to the public during the program “Que no me pierda” (That I don’t get lost)). [1]  

It all began when ” Panorama”, a Peruvian TV program from Panamericana Televisin in Lima, revealed Walter Chvez’s past and current activities, accusing him of being a terrorist with links to the MRTA. Guillermo Cabala, a Peruvian antiterrorism prosecutor, immediately issued an international arrest warrant against Chvez Snchez after finding out that he had been detained by Peruvian police on October 11, 1990, on charges of trying to extort $15,000 from two businessmen for the Tpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement terrorist group (MRTA), according to records of Peru’s antiterrorist police, DIRCOTE. Chvez Snchez alleges that he had been paid U$100 by someone to collect the cash but had no ties to MRTA. [2]

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One DIRCOTE document identified Chvez in 1990 as “Camarada Enrique,” the pseudonym used by the MRTA member who extorted the businessmen. After his arrest, the police could not find more evidence linking him directly to the MRTA. At the time, Chvez said he was only a student of Philosophy at “Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos” (UNMSM) in Lima. He was under arrest for a month and was released after a judge reduced the charges of terrorism. He says he was tortured. [3]

Walter Chvez Snchez was born in the city of Contumaz, in the department of Cajamarca in Peru and is 40 years old. He says he left Per in 1992 after former President Alberto Fujimori closed the Congress. Peruvian authorities reinstated the terrorism charges and have been seeking to arrest Chvez Snchez in Bolivia since 1998, Cabala said, but Bolivia considers him a political refugee. With the help of Amnesty International, the Red Cross, and ACNUR or UNHCR (The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly ), Chvez was given the status of a political refugee within two weeks of entering Bolivia in 1992. But Judge Cabala affirms that Peruvian records show that happened on July 18, 1998. He was declared “defendant at large” for not presenting himself to Peruvian authorities who demanded his presence due to his links to the MRTA. [4]

After fleeing Per, Chvez Snchez began a career as a Journalist in Bolivia and became editor of Juguete Rabioso , or Angry Toy, a leftist pro-MAS newspaper, and wrote a controversial column. (Chvez founded Juguete Rabioso in 2000 and worked there until last March, when he was hired by Morales). He is also Director of the Bolivian version of the Bolivian version of Le Monde Diplomatique. [5]

When Gonzalo Snchez de Lozada became President of Bolivia in 2002, Chvez was about to be deported. He would have been arrested upon arriving in Peru but Chvez stayed in Bolivia after Filemn Escobar, then a high-ranking senator from Morales Movement Toward Socialism Party (MAS), told the minister of government that he worked for him and that he shouldn’t be bothered. Escobar, who has now turned against Morales, made headlines in Bolivia this January, when he openly demanded President Morales to fire Chvez accusing him of promoting confrontational policies which are driving people apart and that he is pushing Evo to provoke a fight between the people of the cities of La Paz and Santa Cruz. Escobar says Walter Chvez is very dangerous and that he has overtly called for the use of arms to help the so-called Revolution. [6]

Filemn Escobar says that Chvez Snchez is a “llokalla” (ill-mannered in Aymara, a language spoken by Andean natives) and that he controls everything in the Bolivian government and has too much influence over Evo Morales. He is a close ally of the Minister of the Presidency, Juan Ramn Quintana. [7]

Mr. Antonio Franco, member of PODEMOS, an opposition group and President of the “Santa Cruz Parliamentary Brigade” or Brigada Parlamentaria Crucea (in Spanish) has questioned the double standard of Evo Morales regime which illegally detained and expelled Amauris Samartino, an anti-Castrist Cuban national who criticized the Morales-Cuba connection. Mr. Samartino Flores, a doctor, arrived in Bolivia in the year 2000 with the help of the United States, and was deported for telling the truth about the realities of Cuba, according to Franco. While this treatment was given to Samartino, the Bolivian government denies to extradite   Mr. Chvez Snchez, who is wanted by Peruvian authorities on charges of terrorism. [8]   

On February 13, 2007, the Minister of Exterior, David Choquehuanca, publicly declared that the regime of Evo Morales won’t extradite Walter Chvez because he has Political refugee status, which was given to him on July 7, 2003 by the government of Jaime Paz Zamora.

Analysis

Evo Morales must be aware of Walter Chvez Snchezs past and present activities and it is very dangerous that he still keeps him in such a prominent position, managing the office of communications of his regime. Walter Chvez is wanted by Peruvian authorities on terrorism charges and that is very serious. If he is innocent, as he claims, then why doesn’t he face the Peruvian authorities who are handling this case? Interpol issued an arrest warrant against him and the people that surround the Bolivian President must advise him that he must comply with the law not only because Chvez Snchez is still a “defendant at large” and must solve his situation, but also for the benefit of the credibility of the Morales administration.

There is also a series of contradictions that must be cleared. Walter Chvez says that he was arrested and tortured when the police accused him of trying to extort $15,000 from two businessmen for the MRTA, according to records of Peru’s antiterrorist police, DIRCOTE. Chvez Snchez alleges that he had been paid $100 by someone to collect the cash but had no ties to MRTA. It is really peculiar, to say the least, that the terrorist group would trust a non-member to collect the money.

This occurred in 1998 and he says that he was let go because the Police lacked evidence and that he stayed in Per until Ex-President, Alberto Fujimori, closed the Peruvian Congress to enact anti-terrorist laws. He was able to eluded authorities for four years and then in 1992 he fled to Bolivia because he considered himself a political refugee? How did he leave the country? Even Mr. David Choquehuanca, Minister of Exterior, contradicts Chvez when he stated that Evos advisor has Political refugee status, which was given to him on July 7, 2003 by the government of Jaime Paz Zamora. Chavez himself says that after just two weeks after arriving in Bolivia he was granted this position. If he arrived in 1998, then he would have been considered a refugee during that same year, not in 1993.

How did he contact Amnesty International, the Red Cross and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees so fast and how come these organizations didn’t investigate who Walter Chvez Snchez was? With his background, they should have turned him over to Peruvian authorities to face charges. The MRTA and the Shining Path are responsible for the deaths thousands of innocent civilians. They also left the country in shambles causing millions of dollars in damages. It is a very serious irresponsibility to advocate for the protection of an accused terrorist. Why not show the same preoccupation for the people that are the real victims of these terrorist groups?  

Is Mr. Walter Chvez Snchez so important that Evo Morales is willing to compromise his country’s relations with its neighbor, Per? Why are they protecting him so much?