LatinNews Daily - 19 May 2011

Bolivia: Several thousand protestors surrounded the US embassy in La Paz on 9 June, demanding that the US extradite former President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and his defence minister, Carlos Sánchez Berzaí­n. The protest, one of the biggest in recent months, signals further tensions in US-Bolivia relations and follow comments made by Sánchez Berzaí­n last week who told a local radio station that a US court had granted him political asylum over a year ago. The protesters blame the former defence minister and ex president, who also lives in the US, for ordering an army clampdown on anti-government protests in 2003 which resulted in 65 dead and more than 400 injured. The US has yet to officially confirm whether Sánchez Berzaí­n has been granted political asylum. The US envoy to Bolivia Philip Goldberg declared that it was a “judicial" rather than a political matter". Following Sánchez Berzaí­n's comments, foreign minister David Choquehuanca announced on 6 June that he would be presenting a formal complaint before the US government which he accused of protecting human rights violators.