Bolivian Senator arrives in Brazil after being granted political asylum

Monday, August 26th 2013 - 07:30 UTC

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Roger Pinto is accused of various corruption crimes, but for Brazil he was persecuted for denouncing drug trafficking

Bolivian Senator Roger Pinto, who had taken refuge in the Brazilian Embassy in La Paz, left the country in an official Brazilian vehicle escorted by soldiers, Brazilian Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Ricardo Ferraço said on Sunday.

Ferraço denied that - as La Paz claims - Pinto is a fugitive from Bolivian justice, although he stands accused of various crimes of corruption, for which he was sentenced last June to a year in prison.

”He was taken in by Brazil as a (person who was being) politically persecuted,“ Ferraço - of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, the most influential force in the government coalition of President Dilma Rousseff - told Globo.

Pinto had taken refuge in the Brazilian Embassy May 28, 2012, and 10 days later the Rousseff administration granted him the status of political asylum.

”He was persecuted in Bolivia for denouncing drug trafficking,“ Ferraço said, adding that the refusal of the Evo Morales administration to provide him safe conduct to travel to Brazil was like the ”attitude ... of an arbitrary dictatorship“.

Upon his arrival in Brasilia, Pinto made no political statement, but he thanked Brazil and its ”authorities“ for their ”efforts” in allowing him to leave Bolivia.

Categories: Politics, Brazil, Latin America.

Tags: Bolivia, Brazielan embassy La Paz, Brazil, Evo Morales, Ricardo Ferraço, Senator Roger Pinto.

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golfcronie
Jesus Christ are they all criminals or corrupt in Latam?
Aug 26th, 2013 - 12:45 pm 0
ChrisR
But don't forget that the Cowpat was / is a coca leaf farmer but denies it's a drug!

And the Cowpat has the whole of the SA “presidents” backing him over Spain telling him to piss off and take his airplane with him.

Yoe really couldn't make this shit up.
Aug 26th, 2013 - 01:11 pm 0
Mr Ed
If Dilma has sympathy for him wrt Morales, Bolivia is truly in dire straits.
Aug 26th, 2013 - 04:53 pm 0

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