Tuesday, October 18, 2005

The President Who Killed and the Country that Keeps Him Safe

The last time I saw Bolivia's deposed President, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, he was sitting quietly in the Miami airport waiting to board a flight to Washington DC (he flew first class, I flew coach). While "Goni", as he is known, looked a little sad and alone, he did have some major advantages over a number of people whose lives he affected as President.

In contrast to Anna Colque, for example, Goni wasn't dead. Colque was the 24-year-old student nurse assassinated on a rooftop in February 2003, as Goni sent out troops to put down protests against his proposed tax on the poor. Colque's crime was coming to the aid of a handyman, killed by Goni's troops on the same roof. Goni also has an advantage over Luis Colque, the dead nurse's son. Goni was not left motherless at age two by government repression.

The US Harbors an Indicted Criminal

Today marks two years since Goni's penchant for killing his own people led to his ouster, a move backed by a broad swath of Bolivian society. Today he, and a handful of his closest advisors, live happily in places like Washington and Miami.

Sanchez de Lozada has been formally charged by the Bolivian government with murder and the government has formally petitioned the US for his extradition. That would be the same US government that has demanded over the years that Bolivia extradite “drug criminals” to the US for trial, no murder required.