Bolivia opposition deny links to alleged plot
LA PAZ (Reuters) - Leaders of Bolivia's rightist opposition denied on Tuesday any links to an alleged plot to kill President Evo Morales, and condemned last week's shooting of three suspected mercenaries by police.
Officials in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, an opposition stronghold, called for an international investigation into the killings in the city when police moved to arrest a group they say planned to assassinate leading public figures.
"We deplore the tendentious attitude of government authorities in trying to link Santa Cruz leaders with these acts of violence," said Santa Cruz Gov. Ruben Costas, reading a statement by regional business and political leaders.
Morales, who accused rivals in Santa Cruz of organizing violent protests last year, has linked the suspected plot to right-wing opponents he says are seeking to destabilize his government.
Costas, a fierce critic of Morales, has questioned the government's version of events, describing the alleged assassination plot as a "show."
Morales' leftist government says members of the gang were "famous mercenaries" with Irish, Romanian, Hungarian and Croatian nationalities.
Officials named the ringleader as Eduardo Rozsa, a Bolivian who may have also held Hungarian and Croatian passports, and who fought in separatist movements during the Balkan wars.
The Santa Cruz leaders condemned the police raid in which Rozsa, an Irish man and a Romanian were killed, saying the operation "showed disregard for the right to life and violated civilian rights established by the constitution."
In Bucharest, Romania's Foreign Ministry said it had received confirmation that one of the men shot last week was a Romanian citizen. It declined to name him.
Police arrested two others in the Santa Cruz raid, whom local media identified as a Bolivian-Croatian and a Hungarian. Authorities said police confiscated sniper's rifles, high-caliber guns and other explosives from a nearby building.
(With additional reporting by Radu Marinas in Bucharest; writing by Helen Popper; editing by Todd Eastham)
