Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Bolivia.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Bolivia. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Bolivia U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/bolivia/
[accessed 5 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT Nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) charged that the Ministry of Justice’s Service to
Prevent Torture failed to denounce consistently torture by police and
military personnel, who employed it frequently. NGOs reported that police
investigations relied heavily on torture to procure information and extract
confessions. The majority of abuses reportedly occurred while officials were
transferring detainees to police facilities or holding them in detention.
According to reports from NGOs engaged with prison populations, the most
common forms of torture for detainees included rape, gang rape by guards,
sensory deprivation, use of improvised tear gas chambers and Tasers,
asphyxiation, verbal abuse, and threats of violence. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prisons were
overcrowded, underfunded, and in poor condition, resulting in harsh and
life-threatening conditions. Violence was pervasive due to inadequate
internal security. Physical Conditions:
According to the government’s Penitentiary Regime Directorate, prison
facilities had a combined capacity for 6,765 persons, but in March the prison
population was 18,260 inmates, representing a 270
percent overpopulation. The problem was most acute in the 20 urban prisons,
which had a combined capacity of 5,436 persons but held 15,581 inmates Female inmates
experienced sexual harassment and assault on a regular basis, and some were
forced to pay antirape extortion fees. While
observers noted violence against women, such as rape, was rampant, they
reported a culture of silence that suppressed reporting of gender-based
violence due to fear of reprisal. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Despite the legal
limits on pretrial detention, prolonged pretrial detention remained a
problem. Complex legal procedures, large numbers of detainees, judicial
inefficiency, executive interference, corruption, a shortage of public
defenders, and inadequate case-tracking mechanisms contributed to trial delays
that lengthened pretrial detention and kept many suspects detained beyond the
legal limits for the completion of a trial or the presentation of formal
charges. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/bolivia/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 11 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Several pardon programs
enacted in recent years, as well as fast-track trial procedures, have eased
severe prison overcrowding, though some critics contend that fast-track
trials push innocent people to plead guilty in exchange for reduced sentences
and less time spent in court. Assaults in prisons continue to pose a
significant problem. Impunity for crimes
has prompted some to engage in vigilante justice against alleged criminals,
including lynchings. Torture
in Bolivia International
Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (irct) Developed in
collaboration with Institute for Research and Therapy of Torture Sequels and
State Violence (ITEI), October 2014 www.irct.org/Admin/Public/DWSDownload.aspx?File=%2fFiles%2fFiler%2fpublications%2fCountry+factsheets%2fCF+Bolivia+-+public.pdf [accessed 23 June
2015] www.itei.org.bo/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Torture-in-Bolivia-Factsheet.pdf [accessed 19 July
2017] Torture continues
to be used as a means of conducting investigations and as a form of intimidation
against civil society by the police and armed forces in Bolivia. There is no
state policy for the eradication of torture and no state official has been
convicted for committing torture. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] BOLIVIA DUE PROCESS AND
PRISON CONDITIONS
- Judges’ broad discretion to order pretrial detention and lack of access to
public defenders have undermined defendants’ due process rights, particularly
among Bolivia’s poor. Bolivia has one of
the highest rates of unconvicted prisoners in the region (more than 80
percent, as of December 2013). Extended pretrial detention and trial delays
have led to increased overcrowding and poor conditions in prisons, where food
and medical attention are inadequate and internal control is often left to
prisoners. As of February 2014, there were 14,700 inmates in prisons with a
maximum capacity of 4,884, according to the Ombudsman’s Office. Human Rights
Overview Human Rights Watch [accessed 21 January
2013] Bolivian courts
have made some progress in prosecuting human rights abuses, even convicting
seven high-ranking military officers and politicians for deaths in the 2003
street protests. However, lack of accountability remains a problem. The fate
of scores who "disappeared" before democracy was re-established in
1982 remain a mystery, and trials for those who allegedly killed
demonstrators in recent years have seen long delays. Military courts still
insist on trying military personnel accused of abuses. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE
AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT - In February, Gróver Beto Poma Guanto
died in hospital two days after being beaten by training instructors at the
Condors of Bolivia Military Training School in Sanandita,
Tarija Department. Three military personnel remained under investigation in
connection with the case at the end of the year. However, despite repeated
calls for the case to be transferred to civilian jurisdiction, it remained
under investigation in the military justice system, which lacked independence
and impartiality. IMPUNITY
-
Those responsible for serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearance
and extrajudicial executions, carried out before democracy was re-established
in 1982, continued to evade justice.
By the end of the year, the armed forces had not handed over to prosecutors information relating to past human rights
violations, despite Supreme Court orders in April 2010 requiring them to
declassify the information. The government did not press for the information
to be disclosed. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=bolivia+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 25 December
2018] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61717.htm [accessed 21 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61717.htm [accessed 3 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices, and while the government generally respected these
prohibitions, there were a number of allegations of beatings and abuse by
members of the security forces. The Human Rights Ombudsman released a report
on December 30 which stated that of all government institutions, police were
the most frequent violators of human rights. The Chimore Center for Justice and Human Rights (CCJHR),
which was converted into an Integrated Justice Center, received 16 complaints
from citizens in the Chapare during the year that
security forces either had abused them or stolen their property. Cases were
not formally filed with the public ministry but instead were referred for
action to the police office of professional responsibility. There also were
credible allegations that military commissioned officers and noncommissioned
officers beat and otherwise mistreated military conscripts. On December 21, La
Paz police officers Rene de Rio Rosales, Mario Vaca,
and Edgar Choque reportedly arrested and beat
Alvaro Guzman, Director of Human Rights for the Vice-Ministry of Justice, and
refused to allow him access to an attorney. An investigation was pending at
year's end. The public ministry
investigation continued into allegations that Santa Cruz police tortured
Spanish citizen Francisco Javier Villanueva in April 2004 in connection with
the February 2004 car bombing of State Prosecutor Monica Von Borries (see
section 1.a.). No significant
progress was made in the 2003 case involving two coca growers injured during
a protest at Cruce Vueltadero
or in the 2003 beating cases of Gabina Contreras
and her husband Crecencio Espinosa near Santa Rosa,
allegedly by army soldiers. The latter case remained under investigation at
year's end. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/bolivia [accessed 21 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 11 May
2020] Both the human
rights ombudsman and independent human rights organizations are able to
report on brutality by the security forces. In some cases, such as that of
the 2008 deaths in Pando, security forces were accused of passivity in the
face of violence; they responded by claiming that the rules of engagement
were unclear. U.S.
Library of Congress - Country Study 1991 Library of Congress
Call Number F3308 .B685 1991 www.loc.gov/collections/country-studies/?q=F3308+.B685+ [accessed 21 January
2013] POLITICAL FORCES AND
INTEREST GROUPS - THE MILITARY – Officers such as Banzer
and García Meza represented the last vestiges of
the prerevolutionary armed forces that sought unsuccessfully to eradicate
populism in Bolivia. In the process, however, they discredited the military
and, at least in the short run, eliminated the institution as a power option
in Bolivian politics. The older generation retired in disgrace, accused of
narcotics trafficking, corruption, and violations of human rights. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
Bolivia", http://gvnet.com/torture/Bolivia.htm, [accessed <date>] |
