Covering events from January - December 2004

Torture and ill-treatment of detainees continued to be reported and prison conditions remained harsh. There was concern at delays in the investigations of confrontations between protesters and the security forces in 2003 which left over 100 people dead and hundreds more injured.

Background

2004 was dominated by political instability and social unrest.

  • In July, a referendum was held on the future of Bolivia's natural gas resources, the second largest in South America. The referendum, which was seen as a vote of confidence in the current administration, took place amid discontent, calls for a boycott and threats to burn ballot boxes. The government won the referendum.
  • A number of judicial complaints were filed against former President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and members of his administration in connection with the killings of scores of demonstrators by members of the security forces in October 2003. Congress gave its authorization for legal proceedings to go ahead in October 2004.

Impunity

In May the Senate approved a bilateral agreement with the USA granting absolute immunity from international prosecution to US nationals accused by the International Criminal Court of committing genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. The agreement was awaiting ratification by the Chamber of Deputies by the end of the year.

Ill-treatment in detention

Conditions in many prisons amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Overcrowding and a lack of recreation, medical and rehabilitation facilities were commonplace. There were reports of ill-treatment of detainees.

  • In April, Francisco Javier Villanueva, a Spanish national, was detained in Santa Cruz, by plain-clothes police officers. He alleged that the officers, who failed to produce an arrest warrant, took him to an unidentified location where they beat him and threatened to kill him; put his head under water until he nearly drowned; and gave him electric shocks in an attempt to make him confess to involvement in the killing of a provincial prosecutor in the city of Santa Cruz in February.

Investigations into killings of demonstrators in 2003

Investigations into the killings of more than 100 people by the security forces in February and October 2003 made slow progress. Concerns intensified during the year about the impartiality, independence and thoroughness of the investigations. In February the Military Court acquitted four members of the armed forces accused of killing two civilians during a demonstration in February 2003 in La Paz.

In July prosecutors in charge of the investigations into the October killings announced that they intended to close the investigations because it was "technically" impossible to identify those responsible for the deaths. However, in May, the Constitutional Court ruled that the four armed forces members should be tried by the ordinary courts and investigations were continuing under the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts at the end of the year.

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