Bolivia charges US helped American flee prison

LA PAZ, Bolivia – Bolivia charged Wednesday, December 18, that the United States helped one of its citizens jailed for money laundering here, break out of jail in what it called an “elite operation.”

US national Jacob “Ostreicher has left our country illegally, in an operation designed by an elite forces unit, with the knowledge and participation of US government officials,” Interior Minister Carlos Romero told a briefing.

Romero said the last person to whom Ostreicher spoke in Bolivia was an interpreter provided by the US embassy in La Paz.

He did not immediately offer more details on the purported US government involvement in breaking Ostreicher out of jail.

On Tuesday Justice Minister Cecilia Ayllon had said Bolivia had learned from neighboring Peru that Ostreicher, 54, fled there and then to the United States.

In Washington, a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Agence France-Presse Ostreicher arrived in the United States on Monday morning, December 16.

Ostreicher, who was overseeing a rice growing project in Bolivia, was arrested on suspicion of money laundering in June 2011 and jailed for 18 months.

His case uncovered an extortion ring in 2012 that led to the arrests of 12 people, including the judge who originally had him arrested.

Ostreicher, however, was placed under house arrest a year ago despite an appeal for his release by actor Sean Penn and US complaints about the handling of his case.

Ayllon said Ostreicher “secretly fled Bolivia to Peru and from this country to the United States on the airline Lan Chile.”

She said Bolivia would seek his extradition.

“He is a person who is being tried for common crimes, who has no immunity and obviously this will give our country greater standing to seek extradition,” she said. – Rappler.com