Amnesty International Report 1999 - Bolivia

:BOLIVIA

Scores of trade unionists and peasant leaders were detained for short periods and reportedly ill-treated. At least 13 deaths were reported, possibly caused by excessive use of force by the security forces. Military conscripts were reportedly ill-treated and at least two died in disputed circumstances. Human rights defenders continued to be threatened and attacked.

The government's decision to mobilize the army to assist the Unidad Móvil de Patrullaje Rural (UMOPAR), Mobile Rural Patrol Unit, in eradicating coca-leaf crops in El Chapare, Cochabamba Department, intensified the long-running conflict in the area. At least 15 people were killed, including two policemen, and dozens were injured during confrontations between the security forces and peasants. The army closed off some areas of El Chapare, preventing journalists and non-governmental human rights organizations from gaining access to the area.

In December the Ombudsman announced the publication of her report on human rights violations in El Chapare.

In April coca-leaf growers joined the general strike called by the Central Obrera Boliviana, Confederation of Bolivian Workers. Strike demands included a call for the authorities to abide by the agreement they had signed with coca-leaf producers in October 1997. Mass demonstrations and roadblocks staged by coca-leaf growers in the towns of Shinahota, Entre Ríos and Villa Tunari in El Chapare area, were broken up by members of UMOPAR and the army. Scores of peasants were arrested and several were allegedly beaten. At least five civilians died and over 60 people required hospital treatment for their injuries.

According to reports, members of UMOPAR and the army fired indiscriminately into crowds in the town of Shinahota and threw tear-gas canisters into a local school. At least five people were treated for bullet wounds. Among those reportedly killed in Shinahota were Bernardo Huancara, who died of bullet wounds to the head, and Agapito Checa, who was reportedly beaten to death. In a separate incident in the Entre Ríos-Ichoa area, the security forces were accused of causing the death of Remigildo Cori, who died from a bullet wound in the thorax, and one-year-old Raúl Díaz Camacho, who died from tear-gas inhalation.

Members of the security forces reportedly raided houses searching for trade union leaders and ill-treated several women in the town of Villa 14 de Septiembre. For example, 17-year-old Verónica Daza Lafuente, leader of the Alto Mariscal Union, needed medical treatment for facial wounds and Dominga Marín Sandoval and Elena Ortíz, both members of a peasant union, were beaten about the head with gun butts. No independent investigation was known to have been initiated into the deaths or into the complaints of ill-treatment by the security forces.

Among those arrested in the town of Ivirgarzama were Marcelo Portillo, Modesto Condori and David Herrera, all trade union leaders, and Felix Sánchez, a national deputy for the United Left. The four men had been trying to initiate a dialogue with the security forces. Felix Sánchez was released shortly after his arrest. The trade union leaders were on provisional liberty at the end of the year.

According to reports, conscripts were ill-treated and at least two died in disputed circumstances. Luis Quispe Balderrama, who was performing his military service at the iv Army Division in Charagua, Camiri District, died in February. Initially his family was informed that he had died of sunstroke. However, the autopsy report indicated that his death was the result of a severe beating on the head. In July Marcelo Rubén Flores, who was serving with the Padilla 20 Infantry Battalion in Tarija, was paralysed after allegedly being beaten about the neck by a superior officer. Investigations initiated into these incidents had not been concluded by the end of the year.

Human rights defenders continued to be harassed, threatened and assaulted. In April Verónica Ramos and José Luis Mamani, both members of the non-governmental Asamblea Permanente de Derechos Humanos (APDH), Permanent Human Rights Assembly, in Cochabamba came under attack from the authorities for documenting and publicizing human rights violations in El Chapare. According to reports, the Minister of Government accused them of "instigating violence" in the area.

In July Father Hugo Ortíz, a Catholic priest and President of the APDH in Caranavi, La Paz Department, was beaten by members of UMOPAR as he was travelling to attend a diocesan meeting. Later the same month Father Gines Mateo Rocamora, chaplain of the Chonchocoro prison in La Paz, had his identity documents confiscated by prison guards and was taken to see Luis Garcia Meza, a former President and former general, who was serving a 30-year prison sentence for several offences, including human rights violations. The prison guards stood by while Luis Garcia Meza threatened and insulted the priest. No investigation was initiated into the attack on Father Hugo Ortíz. A police investigation into the complaint of Father Rocamora had not been completed by the end of the year.

Investigations into the killings in the north of Potosí Department in 1996 (see Amnesty International Reports 1997 and 1998) made no progress and no information was forthcoming on the review of the rules for the use of force by the security forces, which had been recommended in a 1997 report on the killings by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States. The Commission had also recommended, inter alia, an appropriate investigation to determine the responsibility of individual officers for the killings and sanctions for the military and police agents involved.

Amnesty International appealed to the authorities to investigate all reports of human rights violations in El Chapare and to bring those responsible to justice. The organization asked the authorities to issue clear instructions to members of the security forces to respect relevant codes of conduct and international standards and to grant assistance to non-governmental organizations in the gathering of information on the human rights situation in the country. Amnesty International expressed concern about attacks and threats against human rights defenders and about the failure of the authorities to bring to justice those involved in the abduction and torture of Waldo Albarracín in 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1998). The authorities replied denying the accusations of human rights violations in El Chapare and claiming that investigations had been initiated into reported incidents. However, local non-governmental human rights organizations claimed that investigations were stalled.