Barrientos Exposed Over Dibray Case From David Robinson

The worldwide protests against the imprisonment of Regis Debray have nettled the Barrientos dictatorship in Bolivia and rendered more difficult its plans to frame the young French journalist. Debray, Professor of Philosophy at Havana University and author of the recently published Revolucion en la Revolucion, was seized on April 20 with seven others by the Bolivian police, accused of leading a guerilla band, held incomminicado for weeks and only after international agitation has been promised a “legal” trial, Francois Maspero, Debray's French publisher, was expelled from Bolivia after being questioned for four hours about alleged connections between Debray and Che Guevara, The police pressed Maspero to admit that he knew Che was in Bolivia and had instructed Debray to join him, The publisher insisted that he had simply commissioned Debray to write some books on Latin America. The British journalist George Andrew Roth, who was arrested with Debray, was suddenly released on July 8 and authorised to leave the country after giving depositions that the prosecution intends to use in the trial. The absence of so important a witness will deprive the defence of the possibility of verifying the truth of his statements while giving the prosecution every chance to exploit them, Bolivian President Barrientos, who had cynically declared that Debray is "an adventurer” whose "adventures will end in Bolivia," replied to his defenders by announcing that "any new interferance in our affairs can only intensify our determination to defend our sovereignty." He said that outside pressure only complicated the situation and repeated the false accusation that Debray had been captured in the course of an armed action. Le Monde (July 13) pointed out that this assertion was unconvincing because, according to the Bolivian authorities themselves, Debray, when apprehended, was unarmed, in civillian dress and with two other journa-~ lists, It said that the Bolivian military has not yet come up with a single concrete peice of evidence confirming Debray's guilt. On July 28 Barrientos admitted that Debray was being held because of his political views and not because of his involvement in any military action: "Debray is the principal, he is working with ideas, he is the one who motivates others", the President said. Barrientos has been driven to state that Debray faces a lifetime in a Bolivian cell because of his ideas. Agitation must continue until the full facts of the case are freely available and Debray and. the other political prisoners in Bolivia are released,