Faurie ordered the Argentine embassy in Peru to prevent the plane taking Evo Morales from landing
The role of Mauricio Macri's government during the coup d'état against Evo Morales continues to take turns that complicate the situation for the former president and his officials.
Bolivia's complaint involves different episodes, including the letter signed by the commander of the Bolivian Air Force, General Jorge Gonzalo Terceros, addressed to the former Argentine ambassador and current Minister of Labor of Jujuy, Normando Alvarez Garcia, in gratitude for the anti-riot material received from Argentina.
Bolivia's current government understands that this was meant to show support for the coup leaders, since the material was sent to fight the protests regarding the overthrowing of Evo Morales. In addition, the courts are investigating whether the shipment of weapons was illegal, which included 10 semi-automatic pistols, 2 automatic shotguns, 5 automatic carbines, 2 machine guns, 2 automatic rifles, 12 bulletproof vests, 12 ballistic helmets, 2 ballistic shields, 2 night visor equipments, and 8,820 ammunition of different calibers.
According to Macri's officials, the transfer of eleven members of the National Gendarmerie, 70,000 anti-riot cartridges, 100 pepper sprays, and 661 gas hand grenades, which are also under investigation, were destined for training.
The chief of the Bolivian Police Force confirmed that some of the material is in the Country's security force warehouses. This led to the charge now being faced by Macri, Patricia Bullrich and Oscar Aguad's for "aggravated smuggling" in the Argentine justice system.
Another important point of the investigation focuses on the role played by Macri's Government in the moments after Evo's forced departure from Bolivia, when his life was at serious risk, and access to other countries in the region was blocked.
Sources consulted by LPO confirmed that former Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie played a leading role in the attempt to prevent the plane carrying Evo Morales from landing in Lima to refuel. "Faurie ordered the Argentine Embassy in Lima to prevent the plane from landing in Peru," diplomatic sources revealed.
The events that took place on November 10 coincided with the political transition in Argentina, when Alberto Fernández won as president-elect and Mauricio Macri was in the last month of his mandate.
Faurie's order to the Argentine embassy in Peru generated tensions with former Ambassador Jorge Yoma, who ignored the request and allowed the leader of MAS to get help. The telephone exchange was hard and Yoma flatly rejected the foreign minister's request. Far from moving to prevent the refueling of the plane that was carrying Evo, Yoma began to coordinate his access with the Peruvian authorities, who, at first, decided to keep the airspace open.
Days after this episode, the representative in Peru posted on social media that he considered the regional attitude against the former Bolivian head of state a "diplomatic embarrassment".
Evo Morales.
Sources with knowledge of what happened, told LPO that Faurie's reason for boycotting Evo's flight was due to "the articulation of the countries in the region." However, Bolivia's current foreign minister, Rogelio Mayta suggested, in an interview with LPO, that the articulation came from the US government.
When Evo sought political asylum, countries in the region refused. That's why Mexico decided to send a plane to rescue him and settle him in the country. During the trip, he was able to make a stop in Paraguay and Ecuador to refuel.
Because of the fact that the Country itself decides on the use of its own airspace, the Peruvian embassy tried to manage the opening so that Evo could leave Bolivia. Faurie ordered to coordinate the blockage so that the plane would not leave but Yoma did not comply. "Evo's presence in Cochabamba could lead to a tragedy," diplomatic sources told this publication.
Faurie publicly declared on November 11 that "there is a lack of power in Bolivia, so there are no elements to describe this as a coup d'état." On the 15th of that month, the Organization of American States, through its 15 members, avoided calling the event a coup. Many of these countries decided to close their airspace at the time of Evo's departure from Cochabamba.
A source close to the Argentine embassy in Peru reconstructed the events of that day and said that "what happened was an embarrassment that is not understood. Had it not been for Lopez Obrador, Evo would have died. It's a matter of humanity, not political affinity."
The Bolivian government wants to dive into the investigation on the accomplices and executors of the coup against the former president, as revealed by LPO. As a matter of fact, they do not rule out that Macri and the officials involved will also have to give explanations to the justice system of that country. From Switzerland, Macri had no qualms about defending his political stance and, in a recent interview, denied that the event was in fact a coup d'état.