Translation mine.Yep, Peru now has Goni-rhea in addition to a bad case of Burusas.And of course, the biggest crook-harborer of all is still…drumroll please…THE UNITED STATES. How many national disgraces from Latin America are hiding out there now, some of them with close ties to Washington? I’ve lost count. For a country that supposedly values democracy and swears it will prosecute terrorists, it’s sure not doing much to keep its own house in order.UPDATE: Mirtha Quevedo has just piped up to confirm that she is in Peru, and wants a “fair trial”. Why is she acting like she won’t get one? Answer: Because she will, and that’s just what she doesn’t want.UPDATE #2: Bolivia’s ambassador to Peru denies that there are any political persecutions going on in Bolivia. Unfortunately, the same is true not only there but in Venezuela–and the truth hasn’t stopped El Gordo from providing asylum to the scum de la scum from there, has it now?UPDATE #3: Evo has finally weighed in, basically asking the Fat One to stop harboring crooks. Evo, stop being so damn polite and just kick his ass all over the soccer pitch, already!The government of Peru granted asylum to a minister of the former president of Bolivia, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, who was facing trial by the Bolivian supreme court, according to Agence France-Presse. Two other functionaries of the Sánchez de Lozada regime are also seeking asylum in Peru.[…]The concession on the part of Lima takes place at a time when legal proceedings have opened against Sánchez de Lozada, who is accused of the killing of 67 Bolivians in the repression of a popular insurrection in the cities of El Alto and La Paz, which preceded his removal from office in October 2003.The charges, pressed by the victims’ families, will be heard by the Supreme Court on May 18. Along with Sánchez de Lozada, currently a fugitive in the United States, they involve several of his ministers: Carlos Sánchez Berzaín (Defence), Jorge Torres Obleas (Haciendas), Yerko Kukoc (Interior), Mirtha Quevedo (Popular Participation), Jorge Berindoage (Hydrocarbons) and Guido Añez (Agriculture). Sánchez Berzain is a fugitive in the United States, as are Añez and Berindoage.Kukoc is seeking asylum in Peru, and according to sources, Quevedo is also trying for asylum.The Bolivian Minister of Legal Defence, Héctor Arce, called upon the Peruvian government to reject the asylum bids of Quevedo, Torres and Kukoc, reports AFP.[…]Kukoc, who fled to Buenos Aires on the night of October 17, 2003, and returned to Bolivia a month later, when Sánchez de Lozada’s successor, vice-president Carlos Mesa, was in power, was tried for the illegal possession of nearly two million bolivianos withdrawn irregularly from the Central Bank a few days before the fall of the deposed leader.Unable to convert it to dollars, Kukoc gave the money to a friend in Santa Cruz, at the Santa Cruz airport where Sánchez de Lozada embarked, along with his family and Sánchez Berzaín, on a flight bound for the United States. […]Christian Zanabria, an activist of the Human Rights Assembly of Chuquisaca, denounced several magistrates of the Supreme Court on Friday for trying to halt the trial of Sánchez de Losada, who was also cited for inflicting economic damage on the state during his first administration, between 1993 and 1997, when he privatized most of the Bolivian state industries, including the strategic ones. Zanabria also denounced Quevedo’s defence attorney for trying to halt her trial.“We have been informed of two incidents on the part of Quevedo, who asked for annulment of responsibilities, with the justification that there were procedural flaws and that there was no meeting between the parties,” reported the activist.Zanabria warned that, with such a pretext the Supreme Court could “give the green light” to halting the trial of Sánchez de Lozada.
