EU set to help family get answers over police killing of Irishman in Bolivia

THE European Union has told the mother of the 25-year-old Irish man shot dead by police in Bolivia a year ago that they are willing to get involved in the search for answers regarding his death.

The mother of Michael Dwyer brought her case to Brussels because, she said, the Bolivian authorities have ignored repeated requests for an independent inquiry.

Irish members of the European Parliament, after hearing Caroline Dwyer’s plea, said they will organise a petition of their colleagues to increase pressure on the South American country.

Ms Dwyer, who works with Elan in Athlone, choked back tears as she told attending media how she heard of her son’s death through an anonymous phone call.

Ms Dwyer revealed how the family then searched the internet and discovered that Michael was being referred to as a terrorist and that he was part of a gang planning to kill the president.

“That he knowingly was part of a plot to kill the President of Bolivia astounds me. Our family has never taken but a passing interest in politics. Our kitchen table talk centred more on football and hurling and family,” she said.

Ms Dwyer described her appearance before a group of MEPs and EU officials in Brussels as “daunting”, but said she and her family were desperate to learn the truth.

She revealed how her family have been haunted by the photographs of Michael’s body, lying in a pool of blood on the floor of his hotel room in his underpants with a single bullet shot to his chest.

The postmortem carried out by the Bolivian authorities said they found proof he had used guns. Local police said there was a shootout in which Michael and two of those they claim were co-conspirators were shot dead. Irish experts say that given the length of time the body was kept at the scene and protected by police it could have been contaminated.

An honours bachelor of science in construction, Michael went to Bolivia with some friends to take a course in personnel security.

He got a job as a bodyguard and joked with friends on his Facebook site that his employer had “more money than sense”.

Ms Dwyer, a mother of four, praised the work and personal interest Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin has taken in the case and appealed for others to lend support to the Government’s demand for an independent inquiry.

Dr Maria Del Carmen Marques Ruiz of the European Commission’s Bolivia desk said she remembered the killing very well as she was in the country at the time. “It was very striking on TV and the country was shaken – it came at a particularly sensitive time for the new government.”

Ireland could ask the EU to become involved and the issue would be discussed and a decision taken by foreign ministers from the member states, she said, under the terms of the new Lisbon Treaty.

Tipperary MEP Alan Kelly, who organised the Dwyer family’s visit to the European Parliament, said only an independent international investigation will help resolve the conflicting accounts surrounding the death.

The MEPs will contact the EU’s foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, to ask for her help and all the Irish MEPs agreed they will begin a petition to have a declaration passed by the Parliament.