Support the Petition Calling on the US Government to Serve Former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada

As many of you know, the government of Bolivia made a formal request last June, to the US government, that it serve former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada with a subpoena demanding his return to Bolivia. Mr, Sanchez de Lozada has been living comfortably in the US sicne his ousting from office in October 2003. The Bolivian government wants the former President to give testimony in its legal investigation related to the dozens of government killings that took place in Bolivia during Sanchez de Lozada's time in office from 2002-2003.

With the clock ticking on the deadline for presenting those papers, the US government has failed to act. It is safe to presume that they could locate and serve the former President if they chose to. Our US allies managed to accomplish that task just a few weeks ago at a Washington, DC event where Sanchez de Lozada spoke. If a group of activists can accomplish that, one would expect that the US government could as well.

Today the coalition of organizations working in international solidarity with the Bolivian Assembly on Human Rights and the families of Sanchez de Lozada's victims has launched an on-line petition that you can sign to join the call on the US to act. That petition will be delivered to the US Embassy and other US officials next week. You can join the petition here. I encourage you to do so.

For those interested in more information on Bolivia's efforts to try Mr. Sanchez de Lozada, you can find that here.

The Democracy Center will have another announcement on this next week. Watch for it.