Freedom in the World 1998 - Bolivia

1998 Scores

Status: Free
Freedom Rating: 2.0
Civil Liberties: 3
Political Rights: 1

Overview

Hugo Banzer Suarez, a former dictator turned democrat, spent his first year as an elected president by implementing a series of major institutional reforms passed during his predecessor's administration. These include the creation of an independent council in charge of judicial appointments, a public ombudsman, and a constitutional tribunal chosen by Congress.

After achieving independence from Spain in 1825, the Republic of Bolivia endured recurrent instability and military rule. The armed forces, responsible for more than 180 coups in 157 years, have remained in their barracks since 1982.

As a result of recent reforms, presidential terms are for five years, and Congress consists of a 130-member House of Representatives and a 27-member Senate. The principal parties are Banzer's conservative National Democratic Action (ADN); its governing coalition partner, the social-democratic Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR); and the center-right National Revolutionary Movement (MNR). Banzer finished first in elections in 1985, but a parliamentary coalition instead selected octogenarian former President Victor Paz Estenssoro, the founder of the MNR, to lead the country. In 1989. the MIR's Jaime Paz Zamora, who had run third in the polls, became president through an alliance with the ADN. In 1993, the MIR-ADN candidate was retired general Banzer, who finished second to the MNR's Gonzalo Sanchez de Losada, who oversaw the privatization of Bolivia's state-owned enterprises and, under U.S. pressure, increased coca eradication. After a series of strikes and protests in 1995, Sanchez de Losada imposed a six-month state of siege. Throughout 1996, the government privatization program brought regular street protests. As Sanchez de Losada's term ended, a government otherwise hailed for democratic reforms had become mired in increasingly bitter labor disputes. Banzer's government, which came to power in August 1997, has promised to eradicate all illegal coca plantations by the year 2002. It has faced strong opposition from coca growers, as well as protests over economic policies from organized labor.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Citizens can change their government through elections. National elections in 1997 were free and fair. The judiciary, headed by the Supreme Court, remains the weakest branch of government. Like Bolivia's mayoral, customs, and revenue offices, it is rife with corruption and manipulated by drug traffickers. The governments of Sanchez de Losada and Banzer have made serious efforts to improve the administration of justice, including by making it more accessible.

Government-sponsored and independent human rights organizations operate and frequently report of police brutality, including torture. Activists and their families are subject to intimidation. Prison conditions are poor, and nearly three-quarters of prisoners have not been formally sentenced.

Bolivia is the world's second largest producer of cocaine, after Peru. Evidence abounds that drug money has been used to finance political campaigns and influence police, military, and government officials.

A U.S.-sponsored coca eradication program has angered peasant unions representing Bolivia's 50,000 coca farmers. Critics say that the 1988 law that regulates coca is excessively harsh, restricts suspects' constitutional rights, and violates international norms and standards of due process. In their efforts to eradicate coca in the tropial lowland region of Chapare, government forces, particularly the troops of the Mobile Rural Patrol Unit, continue to commit serious human rights abuses, including murder, arbitrary detentions, and the suppression of peaceful demonstrations.

The constitution guarantees free expression, freedom of religion, and the right to organize political parties, civic groups, and labor unions. Unions have the right to strike. The languages of the indigenous population are officially recognized, but the 40 percent Spanish-speaking minority still dominates the political process. More than 520 indigenous communities have been granted legal recognition under the 1994 popular participation law, which guarantees respect for the integrity of native peoples.

The press, radio, and television are mostly private. Journalists covering corruption stories are occasionally subject to verbal intimidation by government officials, arbitrary detention by police, and violent attacks. In 1997, a Santa Cruz court sentenced an investigative journalist to two and a half years in prison for his exposes on alleged white collar crime. The procedure moved jurisdiction to common courts from press courts established by law.

In 1998, the Banzer government repeatedly asked Congress to condemn alleged corruption and human rights abuses during the Sanchez de Losada government. Following the detention of former Chilean dictator Capt. Gen. Augusto Pinochet in Britain, Sanchez de Losada's MNR called for former ally Banzer to be tried for alleged crimes against humanity committed during his seven-year reign in the 1970s.