American Man Held After Deadly Blasts in Bolivia

Bomb blasts tore through two budget hotels and killed two people in La Paz, and Bolivian police said a 27-year-old American admitted Wednesday that he had carried out the attacks.

Police identified the suspects as Lestat Claudius de Orleans y Montevideo of California and Alda Ribeiro Acosta, 45, of Uruguay. Local media reported that the American man had mental health problems, and police said he had been using a number of different names.

“The U.S. citizen admitted that he was the author of both crimes,” police Cmdr. Isaac Pimentel said.

At a news conference, the American suspect stood motionless under heavy guard alongside the Uruguayan woman, his girlfriend. Both refused to comment, but as the woman was taken from the police station to the news conference, she shouted, “Kill my man, he’s crazy!”

The blasts devastated the two hotels in downtown La Paz, blowing out windows in neighboring buildings and showering debris on surrounding streets.

The first explosion occurred at 9:50 p.m. Tuesday, killing two people and injuring four others, firefighters said. The second blast came four hours later.

Police said two Bolivian doctors were killed in the first blast, but did not give their names. A young American woman and a Colombian were among those injured in that explosion, a medical worker said.

Soon after the second explosion, police arrested the two suspects in the city of El Alto, which borders La Paz, the administrative capital.

“Both were carrying cartridges of dynamite and detonators,” La Paz prosecutor Jorge Gutierrez told reporters.

Pimentel said the two were also suspected of planning a bombing March 25 at the Chilean Consulate in La Paz.

The U.S. Embassy in La Paz and State Department officials in Washington confirmed that an American man had been arrested in connection with the blasts but declined to comment.