The public prosecutor leading the investigation into the shooting dead by Bolivian police of Co Tipperary man Michael Dwyer and two others in a hotel last Thursday has said he has found no evidence to date that the group was planning to assassinate Bolivia’s left-wing president and other senior government leaders.

Mr Dwyer’s body still lay in room 457 of the Hotel Las Americas in the eastern city of Santa Cruz when Alvaro Garcia Linera, Bolivia’s vice-president, told a press conference in the capital, La Paz, last Thursday that he, the two other dead men and two others arrested at the scene, were “mercenary terrorists” with plans to kill Evo Morales, himself and other leading public figures.

But public prosecutor Marcelo Sosa has told The Irish Times he had yet to find evidence to support the claim. “They are speculating. There is still much evidence to examine and we cannot prove or deny such claims yet.”

Mr Morales seems to have ruled out an international investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killings.

Speaking of the request by Ireland, along with Croatia and Hungary - the nationalities of the two other dead men, Mr Morales said: “They have no authority to ask for an investigation.”

Visibly irritated he went on to say: “It is very serious, I could think that they [the European countries] are the ones who sent them here to attack democracy.”

But apparently contradicting himself, he also said: “if it is important, the presence of the international community, then, welcome.”

Mr Morales’ deputy, Mr Garcia Linera, has become the most prominent proponent within Bolivia’s government of the theory that Mr Dwyer was part of an extremist right-wing group, linked to the opposition in Santa Cruz and with plans to destabilise the country’s government.

Asked on what basis the vice-president was making his claims, Mr Sosa said he must be receiving information from the intelligence services.

Mr Sosa also denied accusations within Santa Cruz that police acted illegally. “In this case the presence of a prosecutor was not necessary. The police just went to the hotel to see if the men were there. There was a confrontation and they defended themselves.”

But hotel staff have told The Irish Times police raided the hotel during the night in a military-style operation involving more than 30 men.

Civic leaders in Santa Cruz say the law clearly states such police actions require the presence of a prosecutor and are demanding to know why a Santa Cruz prosecutor who arrived shortly after the incident was denied access to the scene.