Michael Dwyer death: Evo Morales reneges on international investigation offer
The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales has reneged on his initial offer to allow an international panel of investigators to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of Ballinderry man, Michael Dwyer, and two other men in what is claimed to have been a foiled assassination attempt.
Claiming that countries like Ireland, Croatia, Hungary, and Romania, the countries all the dead men came from, had no authority to interfiere with Bolivian investigations, he said that international calls to the defence of these men were “ill-placed” as they “tried to kill the President.”
RTE report can be found here, You will also find a video interview with Michael Dwyer’s parents.
Arrangements are currently underway for the repatriation of Mr. Dwyer’s remains from Bolivia to Ireland, and are due to be returned by the end of the week.
Some more information about Michael Dwyer’s activities prior to his death have emerged in the last day.
After leaving GMIT, he worked full time in security. He was an employee of Integrated Risk Management Services, a Kildare based security company, during the summer of last year, and was assigned at the controversial Shell pipeline. He then went to work for a company called Pretorian, based in Galway. Pretorian went under after it was stripped of it’s licence for tax irregularities.
The Irish Times reports that Dwyer told his family that he was going to Bolivia to do a three month security course. However, he paid for his own flights. He had travelled with a group of 15 other people to Bolivia. His family are now trying to get in contact with members of this group, but it is understood that he broke away from them to find employment himself.
He was then reported to be in the company of a group of men, including a Mr. Eduardo Rosza Flores, in January when their group spent nearly three months living in hotels. They spent 81 days in one hotel.
Journalist, Tom Hennegan of the Irish Times gave an interview with the Last Word show on Today FM, and gave a brief summary of the events of last Thursday based on his own research after arriving in Santa Cruz.
At 0400 hrs elite forces arrived at the hotel, secured the lobby and demanded to know the whereabouts of the men. They did not ask for them by name, but by nationality. They were directed to the fourth floor of the hotel. The men they were looking for were the only ones on that floor.
The police unit secured the hotel’s exits and cut the phones before making their way to the fourth floor.
A night manager worker at the hotel described to the Times reporter how an explosion could be heard which “shook the hotel” before ten to fifteen minutes of rapid gunfire.
The hotel manager, who along with his lawyer are the only civillians allowed onto the fourth floor of the hotel since the raid, described the scene afterwards. He is reported to have seen guns only in Flores’ room.
He also stated that there were only bullet holes within the room and there were no holes near to where police entered.
Today FM broadcast : Shuttle forward roughly one hour