Hundreds of trade unionists were detained without charge for short periods after a state of siege was imposed across the whole country. The use of torture and ill-treatment by the police was reported. At least two people were shot dead by police in circumstances suggesting possible extrajudicial executions. Conflict between trade unions and the government of President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada continued throughout the year. There were widespread protests, some violent, against government economic policies. The Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), Bolivian Labour Confederation, called a general strike in March in support of teachers campaigning against a law to reform the education system. A 90-day state of siege was imposed on 18 April, giving the security forces powers of arrest without warrant and imposing a curfew. Hundreds of people were arrested in the days around 18 April and held in military bases and police installations. The state of siege was extended for a further 90 days in July and was lifted in October. Hundreds of peasants who subsist by growing coca-leaf, and community leaders, were detained briefly in the area of El Chapare, Cochabamba Department, after the declaration of the state of siege. The arrests were carried out during a government drive to eradicate coca-leaf crops, in accordance with agreements made with the USA. In March former President Luis García Meza was extradited from Brazil to serve a 30-year prison sentence imposed by the Supreme Court in November 1993. He was held in the high-security prison of Chonchocoro, near the capital, La Paz. Luis García Meza and 46 of his collaborators had been convicted of various crimes including human rights violations committed at the beginning of the 1980s (see previous Amnesty International Reports). In July the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies made public its report on human rights violations committed between 1989 and 1993 against people accused of armed uprising (see Amnesty International Report 1993). The report documented formal complaints of torture and extrajudicial executions by members of the security forces and cases in which defendants had been denied a fair trial. In its recommendations, the Commission asked for those found responsible for human rights violations to be brought to justice, and called for a judicial review of cases where the right to defence and due process had been violated. In March over 20 teachers' union leaders were violently arrested. Around 100 armed members of the national police and security services, some hooded and dressed in civilian clothes, raided the Casa Social del Maestro, the premises of the Urban Teachers' Union, in La Paz. The trade union leaders were arrested without warrant and were held in the custody of the judicial police. Most were released after short periods, but two – Wilma Plata and Gonzalo Soruco – were charged with several crimes including sedition and conspiracy. Wilma Plata publicly stated that she and other detainees had been ill-treated at the Women's Prison of Obrajes in May by police who entered the prison to forcibly end her hunger-strike. She said she was taken out of her cell in her underwear, beaten and dragged down the stairs. Wilma Plata and Gonzalo Soruco were released on 26 May. Subsequently the charges against them were dropped. On 18 April scores of Bolivian trade unionists were arrested without warrant by police in La Paz and Copacabana, La Paz Department. Also detained were a number of foreign nationals attending a conference of coca-leaf growers from the Andean countries. A few hours later the state of siege was declared. All the foreign nationals were released within 48 hours and expelled from the country. However, some Bolivian trade unionists were held incommunicado for up to seven days and allegedly tortured and ill-treated shortly after arrest. Many were transferred into internal exile in isolated and unhealthy locations around the country. At least four of them were suffering from ill-health. They were all subsequently released without charge. Two leaders of the coca-leaf growers, Crisólogo Mendoza and Modesto Condori Cuisa, told the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies that while in detention they had been beaten by hooded individuals who pierced their testicles and buttocks with pins and subjected them to death threats to force them to give evidence against another leader. There were other allegations of torture and ill-treatment by the security forces. Aída Añez was arrested in Cochabamba in April by members of the Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico (FELCN), Drug Control Special Unit, together with eight other people, on suspicion of drug offences. According to her testimony, they were beaten, blindfolded and taken to an unidentified location where they were tortured for two days. Aída Añez said she was raped several times and beaten until she lost consciousness. She had a miscarriage a few days later. At least two people were shot dead by police in circumstances suggesting possible extrajudicial executions during protest demonstrations, some of them violent, staged by coca-leaf growers. In August members of the Unidad Móvil de Patrullaje Rural (UMOPAR), Mobile Rural Patrol Unit, shot dead Juan Ortíz Díaz, a member of the Peasants' Union of Ayopaya, Ichoa Central, in Cochabamba Department, during an operation to counter drug-trafficking. Also in August, in the locality of San Gabriel, in the Isiboro Sécure National Reserve Park, one peasant was shot dead and at least five were wounded by UMOPAR. José Mejía Pizo, a 68-year-old coca-leaf grower, was reported to have been deliberately killed by UMOPAR members while lying wounded and defenceless on the ground. He had been wounded by UMOPAR after firing a shot at them with a rifle. Amnesty International called in June and August for thorough and independent investigations into the reported human rights violations and for the findings to be made public. Replies from the Ministry of Justice in September and October stated that the Ministry was committed to monitoring investigations into human rights violations. Amnesty International remained concerned that the government did not provide any information on the progress of such investigations.

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.