By Maira Magro
Bolivia's presidential spokesman, Iván Canelas, accused the editor of the Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color, Aldo Zuccolillo, and a Paraguayan senator of helping the ex-governor of Tarija, Mario Cossío Cortez, flee the country, reported the newspapers Los Tiempos and Opinión.
Cossio was removed from office following allegations of corruption, which he says are politically motivated.
Canelas said in an interview for the site Paraguay.com that Paraguayan senator Alfredo Jaeggli, of the Liberal Party, had done "the impossible" so that Cossío could take refuge in Paraguay.
According to ABC Color, the Paraguayan government denied any political influence in the decision of the National Refugee Commission to grant asylum to Cossío.
The spokesman for the Bolivian government also said he conducted a "media investigation" of the case, including an analysis of Paraguayan newspapers like Última Hora, La Nación and ABC Color.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
