The public prosecutor who led the investigation into events surrounding the killing of Michael Dwyer has fled Bolivia, claiming political persecution by the government of President Evo Morales.
Marcelo Soza requested exile in Brazil earlier this week after crossing into the country from Peru. He is believed to be in the capital Brasília after being granted refuge for 180 days while his asylum request is considered by authorities.
In a letter explaining his flight, Mr Soza admitted that he had worked with the Bolivian government to use the police raid on the hotel in Santa Cruz that left Dwyer and two other men dead to frame the country's political opposition.
“Government authorities asked me to collaborate with their political ends, for certain results,” he wrote. “They asked me to include in the investigation Santa Cruz leaders, even if there was no proof, and to go easy with other opposition leaders with whom they had an accord.”
'Imminent risk'
He said he had fled now that the government sought to prosecute him for actions he carried out on its behalf fearing his life would be in "imminent risk" in a Bolivian jail.
For four years, Mr Soza headed the investigation into events surrounding the police raid on the Las Americas hotel in April 2009.
The Bolivian government claims Dwyer was part of a group plotting to assassinate Bolivia’s President Evo Morales and foment secessionist violence in the anti-government stronghold of Santa Cruz. Two men arrested during the raid and 37 others are on trial for terrorism offences.
Mr Soza abandoned the trial a year ago, claiming he had received death threats after secret recordings emerged linking him to an extortion ring within the Bolivian government carrying out evidence tampering and blackmail.
Planting evidence
In an audio recording obtained by the Bolivian opposition, Mr Soza can allegedly be heard discussing the planting and "disappearing" of evidence in the case.
Though nominally an independent prosecutor, Mr Soza had in the four years he was in charge of the case carefully steered the investigation towards the political opposition to president Morales and ruled out evidence that questioned the government’s version of the police raid on the hotel.
A spokesperson for the Dwyer family said it will call of the Department of Foreign Affairs to seek assistance in contacting Mr Soza “with a view to securing critical information that could contribute to an international investigation into Michael’s case”, adding: “This is a key development which the family is keen to leverage in order to secure answers.”
The Dwyer family has assembled evidence that it says shows their son was summarily executed. One of the men who was with him in Bolivia told his trial Dwyer survived the police raid and was executed shortly afterwards at a Santa Cruz military airport.
