Caroline Dwyer, the mother of Michael Dwyer who was shot dead by Bolivian police in April 2009, has spoken of the fear and intimidation she felt on her recent visit to the eastern city of Santa Cruz.
Speaking today on her return from a five-day trip to Bolivia with her eldest daughter Aisling, Ms Dwyer explained how she travelled to South America for personal reasons but also to make a formal complaint to the Bolivian government.
Ms Dwyer is calling for an international investigation into her son’s death, saying her life has been a “living nightmare” over the past five years.
“It’s clear Bolivia has no intention of being capable of an impartial investigation, therefore we believe we need an independent investigation consisting of an international panel.”
She decided to travel after meeting with Marcelo Soza, the public prosecutor in charge of the case for four years, who has fled to Brazil. His declaration, accompanied by that of Boris Villegas, a senior interior ministry official now in jail in Bolivia, revealed evidence of a conspiracy orchestrated form the top of the Bolivian state.
During the visit, Ms Dwyer and her daughter visited the hotel where Michael was killed in Santa Cruz.
“When I got to the door of the hotel it was like I knew exactly where we were because I’ve seen so much video footage and photos,” she said. “I didn’t need to porter to find the room.”
When the women returned to the hotel the following day the manager told them that the police had been asking questions about their visit.
“They wanted to know where I was, when I was coming back. That put a different complexion on the rest of my visit. I really felt intimidated, I felt scared.”
While in Bolivia, the Dwyers travelled to the capital La Paz, where they met representatives of the Bolivian government. Ms Dwyer said her meeting with the government ministers was "cordial" but she left without answers.
“I talked about there being no armed confrontation... no proper gathering of evidence, no proper ballistic review done, no interviews with the police, I asked if that was normal procedures. They didn’t answer that question.”
The only response given what that “other processes could be considered” once the trial was complete.
Ms Dwyer also visited the Santa Cruz court room where she met former ministry official Boris Villegas. She was approached by Mr Villegas who began to ask for forgiveness for her son’s death.
“He shouted out to the media he was looking for my forgiveness for his part in the murder of my son, that he was part of a government that murdered my son.”
Ms Dwyer will travel to Washington in the coming weeks to visit the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and present the information that she gathered in Bolivia and on an earlier trip to Brazil last June.
“We will never as a family get over this,” she said. “I thought the trip to Bolivia might help to put some closure on it but actually it became clear that we’re not going to get any closure.”
