OMG, the AP gets Bolivia RIGHT for a change...
It must be a slow news day for them. Otherwise, I can't imagine how this passed muster.
Thousands of demonstrators marched on the U.S. Embassy Monday to demand that Washington extradite a former Bolivian defense minister who directed a military crackdown on riots that killed at least 60 people in 2003.Former Defense Minister Carlos Sanchez Berzain, now a resident of Key Biscayne, Fla., told La Paz-based Radio Fides last week that the U.S. granted him political asylum more than a year ago.
The revelation sparked outrage in El Alto, a sprawling satellite city outside La Paz where dozens of anti-government rioters were gunned down by soldiers in 2003. On Monday, thousands of residents streamed down the hills into La Paz to demand justice for the killings.
"We've come to the doors of the embassy to say 'Enough with the impunity,'" said Edgar Patana, head of an El Alto labor union leading the protest. "The United States has to prove that they have the justice they're always showing off in their media and movies. Bolivia wants that justice."
Incredibly, it goes on and on practically throughout the piece in this vein--no sympathy for the devil. And they accurately mention that this devil, and the devil who employed him (Goni) sparked the landslide that brought Evo Morales into office. They even give Evo the last word. All that's missing is the part about Bechtel and the privatization of Bolivia's water, right down to rainfall, being part and parcel of what sparked the uprisings. Which is still rather remarkable, considering it's the Dissociated Press we're talking about. Normally, they leave all that out and just throw their sympathy behind the worst of the worst.
This guy must be to Bolivians what Luis Posada Carriles is to Venezuela and Cuba. The difference between him and the CubanaBomber? This guy got legal asylum in the US, whereas BushCo is still trying to pretend they don't know the illicitly sneaked-in CubanaBomber.
One thing where there IS no difference, though: Both are being rewarded with the right to stay. And why not? Both are being repaid for services rendered. Precious few other immigrants and asylum claimants have done so much.
