SWITZERLAND AGAINST BARRIENTOS?
Maria Esther Selene Antelo Colin, a 23-year-old student, was arrested at the airport in Rio de Janeiro January 8 after she arrived by plane from Europe. She was charged with participating in an alleged plot to assassinate General René Barrientos, the Bolivian dictator, during his recent visit to Switzerland.
The only evidence for this, however, was a machine gun and twenty-six cartridges which were found in her baggage. Miss Antelo denied knowing anything about a "plot." She said that a person whose identity she did not know paid her $3,000 to bring the arm to Rio where it would be picked up by someone else.
The Brazilian police claimed that the machine gun belonged to a group which had failed in an attempt to assassinate Barrientos in Switzerland.
Believing that Barrientos would return to Bolivia via Rio, they wanted to ship the gun on ahead for another try, according to the police.
The truth of the affair was difficult to make out. Barrientos is notorious for his cock-and-bull stories and the Brazilian police run him a close second.
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