Bolivia: Jacob Ostreicher a Fugitive

Bolivia’s government says it considers Orthodox Jewish businessman Jacob Ostreicher a fugitive after unknown groups helped him flee across the border into Peru.

Justice Minister Cecilia Allyon said in a press conference Tuesday she doesn’t know whether the U.S. government played a role in Ostreicher’s escape. She said Bolivia is alerting Interpol.

Allyon said Ostreicher entered Peru illegally and then boarded a U.S.-bound plane on Monday.

Ostreicher has yet to appear in public since arriving in the U.S. Family members initially feared he had been kidnapped.

Ostreicher spent 18 months in a Bolivian jail without charges on suspicion of money laundering while trying to salvage a rice-growing venture. He was released a year ago and put under house arrest after actor Sean Penn asked President Evo Morales to free him.