Protests and Tear Gas at the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia

Readers:

Political tensions between the U.S. and Bolivia are not a new thing. Especially since Evo Morales became President two and a half years ago, those tensions have erupted over and over again, with barbs traded in counter directions from the mouths of Morales, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush, Bolivia's Foreign Minister, and U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia Phillip Goldberg, among others. Up until now, however, those tensions have just been diplomatic.

On Monday the political tug of war between Bolivia and Washington exploded into the streets, near the entrance to the U.S.'s white fortress-like embassy in La Paz. News reports revealed the long-held secret that a former Bolivian official charged with ordering a civilian massacre, Carlos Sánchez Berzaín (picured above), had been granted political asylum by the Bush Administration. Families of those killed, joined by thousands of others, descended into La Paz, setting off a melee of protest and repression.

In the U.S., Sánchez Berzaín and his long-time boss, former President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada launched a public relations campaign to accompany their legal motion to dismiss a high-profile civil suit against them. The 'hook' that the indicted pair used to try to diminish the charges against them – newly reclassified cables from the U.S. Embassy to Washington sent in the midst of the February and October 2003 massacres, which claim that the pair didn't violate human rights.

The whimsical thing of course about those U.S. cables, is that support from Bush administration officials was the only thing that kept Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín in office an extra bloody week after even Sánchez de Lozada's own Vice President, Carlos Mesa, broke with him over the killings. I'm guessing they aren't planning to call Mesa as a witness.

For those who want to see the two men's respect for human rights in action, have a look at chapter three from this video footage. The army tank raining bullets across a La Paz hillside was an especially nice touch, and again, not likely to be brought forward by the pair as evidence in their demand for a legal dismissal.

In effect what Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín are arguing is that they can't be tried in Bolivia because they won't get a fair trial and they can't be tried anywhere else, including the U.S., because the massacres (including the death of children) took place in Bolivia. This translates of course into a word, 'impunity'. And it is that impunity, backed and boosted by the Bush Administration, which sent tens of thousands of angry Bolivians into the streets on Monday.

Here is our report from Aldo Orellana and Leny Olivera (translated by Lily Whitesell).

Jim Shultz

Protests and Tear Gas at the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia

On Monday, thousands of citizens of El Alto descended into La Paz and surrounded the U.S. embassy building. They were protesting the decision made by the U.S. government to grant political asylum to ex-defense minister Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, who is accused in Bolivia of grave violations of human rights and economic damage to the Bolivian nation.

Last Thursday, June 5, Sánchez Berzaín, from the United States, told a Bolivian radio station that he had been given political asylum a year ago and will not return to defend himself in Bolivian courts. In the interview, which was given from the United States, Berzaín claimed to be “politically persecuted” by the current administration and accused President Evo Morales of being responsible for the massacre of October 2003. For more about the case, see this article.

Carlos Sánchez Berzaín and ex-President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, classified as “fugitives” by the Bolivian courts, have been formally accused for being responsible for the events of September and October 2003, in which 67 people were killed and approximately 400 were injured in the city of El Alto during popular protests demanding the nationalization of the country’s oil and gas.

An estimated 80,000 people participated in the demonstrations in front of the U.S. embassy yesterday, which was guarded by police forces from early in the day. The demonstration began in El Alto at 8:00 in the morning, and after descending 12 kilometers into the city of La Paz, the protests reached their destination at around 10:30. The embassy was guarded by metal gates, which kept protesters three blocks away from the building. The anti-protestor police force was equipped with dogs, and “Neptune” cars, which carry fire hoses specifically to disperse crowds.

At approximately 1PM, after a series of confrontations between the protesters and the police, the latter began to shoot tear gas, forcing the protesters to disperse. Fortunately, there were no other incidents, although the force used by the police was called unnecessary by a government minister. The head of police was replaced shortly afterwards. In a news release, however, the U.S. embassy publicly thanked the police guard and stated its hope to improve the relationship between the United States and Bolivia.

Diplomacy in Bolivia and the United States

The government chancellor David Choquehuanca, who met with ambassador Philip Goldberg in a meeting on Tuesday morning, called Goldberg’s explanations regarding Sánchez Berzaín’s asylum status unsatisfactory, and that the Bolivian government would make the necessary efforts to reverse the decision. On Tuesday, local press reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a letter dated May 1, stated that Sánchez Berzaín’s status could be revoked at any time, particularly if he is formally accused of certain criminal activities.

Ambassador Goldberg, on the other hand, avoided referring specifically to Sánchez Berzaín’s case in a press conference, saying only that “political asylum” and “extradition” in general, are legal, judicial, and administrative matters. Because they are not political issues, he told the press, he could say nothing on the subject. In the meeting with Choquehuanca, he also stated that he was surprised by the news of the political asylum status himself.

Meanwhile in the United States, the Bolivian embassy announced that Sánchez Berzaín had not only obtained political asylum by claiming political persecution on the part of the Morales government, but that he had also accused Evo Morales of supporting narcotrafficking.

In a press release from the Bolivian embassy in the United States, the implications of the decision are put in the following light:

“If the Department of Homeland Security grants Carlos Sánchez Berzaín’s political asylum application [it implies that] the government of the United States takes as truth not only the arguments of the ex-minister, but also his accusations. The government of Mr. Bush has granted political asylum to an individual that accuses the government of President Morales of supporting and promoting narcotrafficking and ‘criminal cocaine organizations.’ This is something that the administration of President Bush needs to clarify.”

Reactions to the “Political Asylum”

Pamela Ledezma, member of the Human Rights Assembly and one of the proponents of the cases against these ex-authorities, said of the asylum and U.S. efforts to block the case:

“It is truly a lack of respect to the Bolivian people who know about the events that have occurred, and who are shocked because a person who is accused of crimes against human rights cannot be granted political refugee status. Simply put, the events by which Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and his collaborators are being judged have nothing to do with politics. They have to do with their crimes.”

On Sunday, the Vice Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Wilfredo Chávez, stated while that the current situation severely damages the possibility of extraditing Berzaín to Bolivia, all is not necessarily lost. The Vice Minister explained that it is still possible for Berzaín’s political refugee status to be revoked because political asylum is only possible when political persecution is in place. Sánchez de Lozada, Sánchez Berzaín, and their collaborators, he noted, would not be tried for political crimes, but rather for “common” crimes like the violation of human rights and for economic crimes – most notably, the disappearance of approximately $USD 300,000 from the Central Bank of Bolivia, which shortly afterwards reappeared in the possession of ex-minister of government Yerko Kukoc in Santa Cruz.

“They are crimes not only against humanity but also crimes of an economic nature that have turned these gentlemen into ‘common’ fugitives from justice. There is therefore substantial foundation for the case that because these types of crimes [are included in the case against him], Mr. Berzaín should not enjoy the privilege of political refugee status,” said the Vice Minister.

Written by Aldo Orellana and Leny Olivera (translated by Lily Whitesell).