By Adriana Garcia WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - Bolivia's leftist government asked Washington to disclose whether it granted political asylum to a former defense minister accused of ordering violent crackdowns against protesters five years ago. Ambassador Gustavo Guzman, Bolivia's envoy in Washington, told Reuters on Tuesday he sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. State Department seeking explanation after former Defense Minister Carlos Sanchez Berzain said last week he had been granted political asylum. "This type of incident obviously complicates relations between Bolivia and the U.S., it darkens them. It's not what we seek," Guzman said. The two-year-old government of President Evo Morales has differed repeatedly with the United States over drug-fighting policy and has accused U.S. officials of spying on Cubans and Venezuelans in Bolivia and funding the opposition. Sanchez Berzain and ex-President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada are accused in Bolivia of ordering a military crackdown on anti-government protests in October 2003, when 60 people died and hundreds were injured. Sanchez de Lozada stepped down as president soon after, and both men fled to the United States. Sanchez Berzain lives in Miami. His declarations to Bolivian radio that he had received political asylum sparked a protest on Monday where thousands of people threw rocks at the U.S. Embassy in La Paz, demanding he be sent home for trial. U.S. officials have neither confirmed nor denied if Sanchez Berzain has been granted asylum, saying immigration status is protected by privacy laws. Bolivia plans to soon formally seek extradition of Sanchez de Lozada, Sanchez Berzain and another former official accused of crimes from the same government, Guzman said. Sanchez Berzain said he argued in his petition that he would not get a fair trial if sent home to Bolivia, accusing Morales of being in league with cocaine traffickers. "If those are the reasons he's been given asylum, that means that the U.S. agrees with him, and that's serious. The United States is obstructing Bolivian justice with asylum for the accused," said Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca in La Paz. "In the U.S. Sanchez Berzain has complete freedom to bad-mouth Bolivia ... saying democracy has not been reestablished, that our president protects drug traffickers and that deteriorates relations," said Choquehuanca, who met on Tuesday morning with U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg. The foreign minister said he was unsatisfied with the ambassador's explanation that he was surprised by Sanchez Berzain's comments and that he has no more information. (Additional reporting by Carlos Quiroga in La Paz; Writing by Fiona Ortiz; editing by Hilary Burke and Cynthia Osterman)
Relatives mourn over the coffin of former Major League baseball player Geremi Gonzalez in Maracaibo, May 27, 2008. Gonzalez was struck by lightning and killed over the weekend at a lake ...
