LatinNews Daily Report - 01 August 2013

Bolivia: On 29 July a judge in the department of Santa Cruz ordered the confiscation of seven plots of land belonging to the US businessman, Jacob Ostreicher, who was placed under house arrest in December 2012 having been jailed for 18 months without charge for alleged money laundering. Ostreicher’s defence lawyer, Jimmy Montaño, told the Spanish-language newswire, Efe, that the decision was an “abuse of power” and added that Ostreicher had lost around US$30m in Bolivia so far through lost investments and seized assets. Ostreicher caused major embarrassment for the government led by President Evo Morales after he claimed that he was being extorted by corrupt government officials. His continued detention in Bolivia has been another point of contention in Bolivia-US relations, attracting attention from the US government and celebrity activists like US actor, Sean Penn, who has visited him. Further likely to inflame tensions a local daily, La Razón, reported that the same day as Ostreicher’s land was seized, the Santa Cruz district attorney announced it was opening an investigation into an alleged false marriage between Ostreicher – who has a wife and grandchildren in the US – and a Bolivian woman. According to La Razón, Ostreicher denies these latest charges.

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