Lack of accountability for rights abuses
remains a serious problem in Bolivia. The fate of scores who
"disappeared" before democracy was re-established in 1982 has still not
been clarified, and most perpetrators of disappearances and
extrajudicial executions have escaped justice. In 2010 officials of
President Evo Morales's government backed the military when it failed to
comply with court orders to provide access to information. During the
same year the Bolivian Legislative Assembly passed anti-corruption laws
that do not fully adhere to the rights to a fair trial and due process.
Due Process and Judicial Independence
Laws enacted in 2010 that are intended to strengthen accountability
for past human rights abuses and corruption by government officials
include provisions that contravene international standards of due
process and fair trial, including the prohibition on the retroactive
application of criminal law and the right to be present during trial.
An anti-corruption law establishing new crimes and harsher penalties
passed in March 2010. It allows for individuals to be prosecuted for
actions and behavior that was not criminalized before the law was
adopted, a breach of the international law principle that criminal
provisions may not be applied retroactively. The anti-corruption law
also makes it possible to try former heads of state in absentia
, a provision incompatible with the right to be present during trial in order to exercise a proper defense.
In February 2010, responding to the crisis provoked by the
legislature's inability to agree on judicial appointments, President
Morales obtained legislative approval to appoint five temporary justices
to the Supreme Court, as well as temporary magistrates to the
Constitutional Court, in a process that lacked the usual safeguards for
selecting judges. The judges are to be replaced by permanent judges to
be elected by universal suffrage in December 2010.
Accountability for Past Abuses
Efforts in 2010 by prosecutors to reopen investigation into serious
abuses committed under previous governments, particularly the military
dictatorships of Hugo Banzer (1971-1978) and Luis García Meza
(1980-1981), met with resistance from Bolivian armed forces. Instead of
guaranteeing full military cooperation with such investigations, the
government backed the armed forces in conflicts with prosecutors and
judges.
In February 2010 an investigating judge ordered the army to turn over
information that could help clarify "disappearances" that occurred in
1980. The defense minister assured that access would be granted.
However, when the public prosecutor, Milton Mendoza, visited army
headquarters to request a view of the files, he was turned away on the
grounds that the army first needed to put the documents in order.
Another prosecutor was allowed into the building a week later, but was
allowed only to view the contents of a filing cabinet, and not to remove
or photocopy documents. The armed forces eventually provided only a
photocopied register of personnel on active service in 1980. In April
2010 the Supreme Court issued a further ruling ordering the
declassification of files covering the first year of the García Meza
dictatorship. However, at this writing the army continued to defy the
order and has provided no information to help clarify the fate of the
"disappeared." Mendoza, whom Vice-President Alvaro García Linera
publicly criticized for overstepping his mandate, was taken off the
case.
In October 2010 the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of 11 former
police and military officers for their role in the murder in 1980 of
socialist leader Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz. It sentenced three of them
in absentia to 30 years in prison on charges including terrorism and
murder, and the others to shorter prison terms for covering up the
crime. Quiroga's remains have still not been found.
In November 2008 Bolivia's government requested the extradition of
former president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and two of his ministers to
stand trial for killing at least 60 people in anti-government protests
in September and October 2003, when the army used lethal force to quell
violent demonstrations in the highland city of El Alto. As of November
2010 it has received no response from the United States government.
Sánchez de Lozada resigned and fled to the US after the events, known
in Bolivia as "Black October." The three men, as well as other
ministers who were given asylum in Peru, have been declared fugitives
from justice. In August 2010 the prosecutor filed charges against three
senior military officials, including a former commander-in-chief of the
armed forces, for destroying military documents, including a log
believed to have recorded details of the events and the personnel who
participated.
Military Jurisdiction
The determination of Bolivia's military courts to assert jurisdiction
over human rights abuses has been a major obstacle to accountability
for many years. The military has often refused to allow members of the
armed forces to testify before civilian courts, instead insisting on
trying the cases in military court, which invariably ends in acquittals.
However, in an important precedent in September 2010, the army
commander-in-chief-at President Morales's insistence-ordered four
officers accused of subjecting a conscript to water torture in September
2009 to appear before a civilian court.
Political Violence and Impunity
Impunity continued to be a problem in 2010. Investigations into
deaths and injuries that occurred during violent protests in 2008 and
2009 over Bolivia's new constitution and demands for autonomy by five
regional departments were ineffective and subject to long delays.
In June 2010, after long delays due to conflicts over jurisdiction, a
court in La Paz began to hear a case against 26 defendants in
connection with the killing of at least nine pro-Morales demonstrators
in Porvenir, Pando department, in September 2008. The accused included
the former prefect of Pando department, Leopoldo Fernández, who was
indicted in October 2009 on charges of homicide, terrorism, and
conspiracy. He was still in preventive detention in September 2010.
The Attorney General's Office also failed in 2010 to conduct a
thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances in which
three Europeans were shot dead in April 2009 when an elite police unit
broke into their rooms in a Santa Cruz hotel. The public prosecutor
accused the men of being mercenaries engaged in a plot to kill President
Morales, and named several government opponents alleged to have hired
them. However, the evidence he offered to support the official version
that the three men were involved in a firefight when they were killed
was widely questioned. The government rejected calls from European
governments for an independent investigation.
Media Freedom
Bolivia enjoys vibrant public debate, with a variety of critical and
pro-government media outlets. However, in what remains a politically
polarized atmosphere, President Morales sometimes aggressively
criticizes the press, accusing journalists of distorting facts and
seeking to discredit him. In January 2010, he warned journalists that he
would establish norms "so that the media don't lie." However, at this
writing the government has presented no proposals for legislation on the
media.
Under a law against racism and other forms of discrimination, passed
in October 2010, media that "authorize or publish racist or
discriminatory ideas" can be fined and have their broadcasting licenses
suspended. Media outlets protested these provisions, claiming they were
so broad that they could be used against media critical of the
government.
Human Rights Defenders
In August 2010, police searched and removed computers from the office
and home of Jorge Quiroz and Claudia Lecoña, lawyers for the parents of
two students killed when police broke up a protest in May in Caranavi,
in the department of La Paz. Quiroz, who worked as a volunteer for the
La Paz Permanent Assembly of Human Rights, reportedly accused police of
using excessive force. Government officials accused Quiroz of a string
of offenses, including drug-trafficking, immigration irregularities,
acting as an "infiltrator" for the US embassy in the Caranavi protests,
and trafficking prostitutes. However, no proof was provided or charges
leveled, raising concern that the government aimed to discredit Quiroz
because of his accusations against the police.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
The new constitution explicitly bans discrimination based on sexual
orientation and gender identity. The anti-racism law under debate in
Congress provides a penalty of up to five years imprisonment for anyone
who discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity,
and an even higher penalty of up to seven-and-a-half years if the
offender is a public official.
Key International Actors
In October 2010 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found
Bolivia responsible for multiple violations of human rights in relation
to the enforced disappearance of Rainer Ibsen Cárdenas, a student, and
his father, José Luis Ibsen Peña, during the military dictatorship of
Hugo Banzer in the early 1970s.
