Dwyer didn't leave room on day of attack -- hotel manager
SLAIN Irishman Michael Dwyer never left his room the day Bolivian security forces claim he was behind a bomb attack targeting a top cleric, the hotel manager has said.
The alleged involvement of Dwyer and associates in the attack on the home of Cardinal Julio Terrazas, head of the Catholic Church in Bolivia, prompted a police swoop on his hotel last month which led to the deaths of the Tipperary man and two others.
A Bolivian prosecutor claims Dwyer was involved in a plot to kill Bolivian President Evo Morales.
Prosecutor Marcelo Sosa has also claimed Dwyer (24) and alleged plot leader Eduardo Rozsa Flores (49) were also involved in a botched dynamite attack on the cardinal's home on April 15, the day before the fatal police operation. No one was injured and the house was unoccupied at the time.
However, the manager of the hotel where Dwyer, Flores and another man were gunned down now says the Irishman could not have carried out the dynamite attack.
"They didn't leave their rooms all day, even to eat," said Hernan Rossell, manager of the Hotel Las Americas in the eastern Bolivian city of Santa Cruz.
"They had food in there, bread and sandwiches," Mr Rossell told the Irish Independent last night.
Working
"They were up there working on their computers," said Mr Rossell. The hotel manager has stood over his claim that Dwyer could not have been involved on the attack on the cardinal's home in the face of questioning from authorities, giving a statement to that effect to Mr Sosa.
Mr Sosa has claimed Dwyer, Flores, and three other suspected terrorists had been planning a bomb attack on President Morales. The state prosecutor has also said leading opposition figures in Santa Cruz were aiding the suspected armed group that Dwyer was allegedly involved with.
The prosecutor's claims have led to a political row in Bolivia, with opponents claiming President Morales is trying to disparage prominent figures in the eastern opposition stronghold where he is unpopular.
Mr Rossell said CCTV footage from the hotel from the day Dwyer and alleged co-plotters checked in to the hotel on April 13 until the April 16 police raid was deleted from his computer's hard drive.
- Jeff Farrell in Santa Cruz
