Bolivia gang linked to drugs trade, race killings
Irishman drawn in after becoming Facebook 'friend' of group's leader
SHOT DEAD: Michael Dwyer
The bizarre gang of violent right-wing extremists that Tipperary man Michael Dwyer was with when they were shot dead in Bolivia were linked to atrocities during the war in former Yugoslavia and were, by their own admission, planning insurrection against the left-wing government of Bolivia, it is now understood.
Mr Dwyer's body arrived back in Dublin last Thursday and has now been forwarded by the Dublin coroner to the State Pathologist. It is expected that a postmortem will be carried out on Monday and the body released to the family early next week.
"Obviously the family are very upset -- but they want to see this done properly rather than quickly, they want to find out the truth" said a spokesman.
It has now emerged that Michael Dwyer's associates in the Nacion Gamba group were responsible for racist murders and attacks on native American Bolivians and are also involved in the drugs trade. They openly flaunted their Nazi tendencies despite the fact that their leader, who was killed with Dwyer, was of part-Jewish extraction.
Information about the group's activities has been relayed to the Government where Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin is seeking information about the circumstances surrounding Dwyer's death. Department officials have been in contact with the Bolivian authorities and sources said that some of the information reaching Dublin about the activities of Mr Dwyer's associates is "troubling".
While his family are seeking an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the 24-year-old Tipperary man's death, it appears that he was drawn to the group after becoming one of the gang leader Eduardo Rozca-Flores' Facebook "friends".
The gang, led by Rozca-Flores, who was openly anti-Semitic, is believed to have been backed by right-wing elements in the wealthy Santa Cruz area of Bolivia where he and Mr Dwyer and another member of the gang were shot dead by state forces 10 days ago.
Bolivia was used as a haven by members of the notorious Croatian Ustachi who sided with the Nazis in the Second World War and committed genocide against the Serbian population during the war. The ex-Ustachis built strong links with the white ruling classes of the country. The Ustachi Croatians had extreme right-wing Catholic views and many were helped to escape to South America with the assistance of supporters in Rome.
The neo-Nazis that Mr Dwyer was associating with are responsible for attacks on the indigenous South American population and were plotting the assassination of the country's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, who is a socialist.
- JIM CUSACK
