Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 October 2014
402. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has had any formal contact with the Bolivian Government over the case of a person (details supplied) who was killed in Bolivia in 2009; and if he will detail the level of discussions. [37703/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe case of the individual mentioned by the Deputy has been raised regularly with the Bolivian authorities at Ministerial and senior official levels, since he was killed by Bolivian security forces in April 2009. Indeed, I discussed the case as recently as 25 September directly with the vice-Foreign Minister of Bolivia, on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. My two predecessors as Minister, Deputies Eamonn Gilmore and Micheál Martin, also raised the case on a number of occasions with the Foreign Minister of Bolivia, by letter and by way of bilateral meetings at international fora.
The family of the individual has called for an independent international investigation into his killing and my Department has informed the Bolivian authorities that the Irish Government fully supports this position. In addition, my Department has raised the case at EU and UN level, with High Representative Catherine Ashton of the European External Action Service, and with the UN Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions and at the Human Rights Council.
I wish to assure the Deputy that all possible consular assistance continues to be provided to the family of the deceased individual and that officials from the Consular Assistance and Latin America Caribbean Sections of my Department are in regular contact with his family. I personally met with the individual’s mother on 27 August 2014 to discuss the continuing assistance and support that my Department can provide.
