Editing Klaus Barbie (section)

==Bolivia==
Barbie immigrated to Bolivia in 1951,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Klaus Barbie {{!}} Nazi leader|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Klaus-Barbie|access-date=24 January 2021|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> where he lived well for 30 years in [[Cochabamba]], under the alias Klaus Altmann. It was easier and less embarrassing for him to find employment there than in Europe; he enjoyed excellent relations with high-ranking Bolivian officials, including Bolivian dictators [[Hugo Banzer]] and [[Luis García Meza]]. "Altmann" was known for his [[German nationalism|German nationalist]] and [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] stances.<ref>Hammerschmidt, Peter: [http://www.peterhammerschmidt.de/forschungen/publikationen "Die Tatsache allein, daß V-43 118 SS-Hauptsturmführer war, schließt nicht aus, ihn als Quelle zu verwenden". Der Bundesnachrichtendienst und sein Agent Klaus Barbie], ''Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft'' (ZfG), 59. Jahrgang, 4/2011. METROPOL Verlag. Berlin 2011, S. 333–349. {{in lang|de}}</ref> While engaged in arms-trade operations in Bolivia, he was appointed to the rank of lieutenant colonel within the [[Armed Forces of Bolivia|Bolivian Armed Forces]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/10/bolivia-germany|title=In pursuit of Bolivia's secret Nazi|date=10 September 2008|work=The Guardian|location=London}}</ref>

Barbie collaborated with [[René Barrientos]]'s regime, including teaching the general's private paramilitaries named "Furmont" how torture can best be used. The regime's political repression against leftist groups was helped by Barbie's knowledge about intelligence work, torture and interrogations. In 1972 under General Banzer (with whom Barbie collaborated even more openly), he assisted in illegal arrests, interrogations and murders of opposition and progressive groups. Journalists and activists who wrote or spoke about the regime's crimes against human rights were arrested and many fell victim to so-called "[[Enforced disappearance|disappearances]]", the state's secret murders and abductions of leftists. Barbie actively participated in the regime's oppression of opponents.<ref name="Bild">{{Cite news |url=https://www.bild.de/news/inland/drogen-boss/der-schlaechter-und-drogenbaron-41960328.bild.html |title=Ex-Gestapo-Chef von Lyon: Nazi-Verbrecher Barbie in Drogenhandel verstrickt? |date=27 July 2015 |work=[[Bild]] |access-date=16 January 2020 |language=de }}</ref><ref name="SZ">{{Cite news |url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/medien/arte-doku-ueber-klaus-barbie-warum-der-schlaechter-von-lyon-unbehelligt-blieb-1.2385463 |title=Doku über Klaus Barbie: Zeit für die ganze Geschichte |last=Winkler |first=Willi |date=10 March 2015 |work=[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]] |access-date=16 January 2020 |language=de }}</ref><ref name="Zeit">{{Cite news |url=https://www.zeit.de/1982/45/den-diktatoren-stets-zu-diensten/seite-2 |title=Der Fall Klaus Barbie: Den Diktatoren stets zu Diensten |last=Strothmann |first=Dietrich |date=5 November 1982 |work=[[Die Zeit]] |access-date=16 January 2020 |issn=0044-2070}}</ref><ref name="Latinamerika.nu">{{Cite web |url=http://www.latinamerika.nu/fordjupning/nazistjakt-i-bolivia |title=Nazistjakt i Bolivia |date=5 December 2008 |website=Latinamerika.nu |access-date=16 January 2020 }}</ref>

Barbie was strongly linked to the neo-Nazi paramilitary member Álvaro de Castro, who was his personally hired bodyguard and the two participated in criminal actions and businesses together. De Castro had connections with powerful drug barons and the illegal drug trade and, together with Barbie (under the name Altmann) and an Austrian company, sold weapons to the drug cartels. When De Castro was arrested he admitted in interviews that he had earlier worked for drug lords in the country. Other sources say Barbie most likely also had connections with these organizations.<ref name="Observer">{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/dec/23/world.secondworldwar |title=Barbie 'boasted of hunting down Che' |last=Smith |first=David |date=23 December 2007 |work=The Observer |access-date=16 January 2020 |issn=0029-7712}}</ref> Initially, he worked for [[Roberto Suárez Gómez]] who eventually introduced him to Colombian traffickers. Barbie met with [[Pablo Escobar]] and several other high ranking members of the [[Medellín Cartel|Medellín cartel]] in the late 1970s, and agreed to arrange for security of Escobar's [[Coca|raw coca]] supply, from its cultivation until it reached processing plants in Colombia. In exchange, Escobar agreed to fund Barbie's anti-communist activities.<ref>{{cite web |title=La increíble historia del "carnicero nazi" que ayudó a Pablo Escobar a forjar su imperio narco |url=https://www.infobae.com/america/colombia/2018/09/30/la-increible-historia-del-carnicero-nazi-que-ayudo-a-pablo-escobar-a-forjar-su-imperio-narco/ |website=Infobae|date=30 September 2018 }}</ref> De Castro continued to correspond with Barbie when Barbie was later under arrest.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/en-espanol/sdhoy-letters-that-nazi-war-criminal-barbie-sent-to-2015jan05-story.html |title=Letters that Nazi war criminal Barbie sent to Bolivia from prison revealed |date=5 January 2015 |work=[[San Diego Tribune]] |access-date=16 January 2020 |language=es-US}}</ref><ref name="Bild" /><ref name="SZ" /><ref name="Zeit" /><ref name="Latinamerika.nu" /><ref name="Observer" /> Their connections also provided intelligence information to U.S. authorities at the U.S. Embassy. A group called "The Fiancés of Death", which included German Nazis and Fascists, had links to some of Barbie's actions in Bolivia. 
Barbie earlier also carried out a large arms purchase of tanks from Austria to the Bolivian army. These were then used in a coup d'état.<ref name="Bild" /><ref name="SZ" /><ref name="Zeit" /><ref name="Observer" />

According to various reports, after the emergence of [[Che Guevara]] in Bolivia in 1966, Barbie's anti-partisan skills were in demand again, and he worked for the Bolivian Interior Ministry with the rank of Lieutenant as an instructor and adviser to the security forces.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011 |title=Interview mit Peter Hammerschmidt zum Thema Klaus Barbie |url=http://www.egoisten.de/pdf/Fragen_Hammerschmidt.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005222739if_/http://www.egoisten.de/pdf/Fragen_Hammerschmidt.pdf |archive-date=5 October 2011 }}</ref> During an interview for the 2007 documentary film ''[[My Enemy's Enemy]]'', journalist Kai Hermann told the film-makers that Barbie constantly "boasted that it was he who devised the strategy for murdering Che Guevara".<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 December 2007 |title=Barbie 'boasted of hunting down Che' |url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/dec/23/world.secondworldwar |access-date=15 July 2022 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

People who met Barbie during his time in Bolivia have said that he was a firm and fanatical believer in the [[Nazism|Nazi ideology]] and an [[Antisemitism|anti-Semite]]. Barbie and De Castro reportedly talked about the cases and searches for [[Josef Mengele]] and [[Adolf Eichmann]], whom Barbie supported and wanted to assist in remaining on the run.<ref name="Bild" /><ref name="SZ" /><ref name="Zeit" /><ref name="Latinamerika.nu" /><ref name="Observer" />