Among the most notorious Croatian terrorists in the 1970s for his part in the brutal murder of Yugoslav Ambassador to Sweden Vladimir Rolovic and a romantic escape from jail. Born in Sibenik on the Dalmatian Coast, emigrating from Yugoslavia in the late 1960s. Received training at an unknown destination from militants of the
Hrvatski Drzavotvorni Pokret, the Croatian Statehood Movement, an outgrowth of
Jasenovac creator
Maks Luburic's Croatian National Resistance (also called
Odpor and Otpor). In 1971, with co-conspirators Andjelko Brajkovic and Ante Stojanov, conspired to seize the Yugoslav Ambassador to Sweden and - they claimed - hold him as a bargaining chip to free Ustase held in prison on terrorism charges. During the stand-off with police, Brajkovic shoved his gun in the ambassador's mouth and pulled the trigger. The three served barely a year of their 18 year sentence when Ustase terrorists hijacked a Swedish airliner and demanded Baresic and five other Ustase terrorists' release from jail, along with a large sum of money. All demands were granted to win the hostages' release.
After a short stay in Spain, was recruited as an army officer in Paraguay, training Military Academy commando units characterized as "death squads" dispatched to hunt down opponents of dictator Alfredo Stroessner. Was arrested in Washington, DC while serving as personal bodyguard and driver to the Paraguayan Ambassador to the US Mario Lopez Escobar - a part of his salary, the ambassador told the FBI, came from "Croatian emigres in Chicago."
Named an "unindicted co-racketeer" in the groundbreaking Otpor Racketeering Trials in New York City, as he had kept in close contact with several of the Otpor terrorists accused of attempting to kill rival Croat-American leaders and commit various acts of terror in the United States. Among other crimes, Baresic was implicated with thinking up the idea of killing a Croatian Catholic priest in Milwaukee, Father Timothy Majic. When the conspirators attempted to extort moderate, pro-independence Croats, Baresic operated the post office box in Paraguay where the blackmail money was to be sent.
Extradited from the United States back to Sweden in 1980, where he served seven more years on his prison sentence before being paroled in 1987.
Returned to Paraguay, then rushed to Croatia in time to join the paramilitary forces of the newly-independent state fighting in Bosnia and the Krajina. Brajkovic and Stojanov also emerged from hiding and were granted positions in the Croatian army despite valid Interpol warrants for their arrest. Was killed in combat in the Krajina in 1992. Posthumously decorated as a "Knight" by Franjo Tudjman, and reputedly memorialized with a statue blessed at a ceremony by the Archbishop of Zadar.
