Bolivia

57th General Assembly Washington, DC October 12 – 16, 2001 BOLIVIA The media were able to report, without government restriction, on the social conflicts that occurred as a result of the harsh economic crisis, although there were isolated attacks on journalists by farmers who blocked roads in the highlands and soldiers and police officers who were trying to clear the highways. There were also attacks on journalists in the tropical part of Cochabamba, a military operations zone where illegal coca is being eradicated, and a journalist was killed during a conflict between rival gangs of farmers. Following are the main violations of press freedom during this period. Bolivian and foreign journalists were attacked by farmers, police officers and military troops during the social conflicts that shook the country in April and May. It was also established that plainclothes police pretended to be journalists to infiltrate groups of farmers marching on the capital, La Paz, from several parts of the country. The Bolivian Defense Ministry officially apologized for the incidents and promised to investigate the journalists’ complaints. The Association of International Press Correspondents protested formally to the executive branch about an army officer who prevented reporters from covering the march on a highway in the highlands. On July 29 journalist Juan Carlos Encinas was killed during a conflict between two groups fighting for control of a mining cooperative in Catavi, 30 miles north of La Paz. He was wounded at 7 a.m., but could not be evacuated until several hours later because the warring groups refused to allow wounded people to leave. Encinas died at 3 p.m. after his transfer to a hospital was authorized. According to reports by the police and the El Alto Press Union, Encinas had been out of work for several months at the time of the incident. The case is stalled in the Superior Court of Alto and the suspects have been released. According to police investigations, two groups of farm workers – Cooperativa Miltiactiva Ltda. and Marmolera Comunitaria Ltd. – had been fighting for three years to occupy the limestone quarry of Catavi. Encinas, who had been participating in the conflict along with his wife, was attacked twice before by the same farm workers. On July 1 there was a report from Achacachi, 55 miles north of La Paz, that Radio Tahuantinsuyo was attacked without serious consequences. Leaders of farmers’ groups blamed the government for the attack because they said the radio station was reporting impartially on the farmers’ roadblocks. The executive branch promised to investigate the incident. On September 7, Walter Guiteras, a ruling party senator and former cabinet minister in the government of President Hugo Banzer, and Banzer’s wife, Yolanda Prada, were accused of being responsible for the attempted murder of journalist Ronald Méndez Alpire. Capt. Emilio Patzi, a former commander of the border police in San Borja in the eastern province of Beni, said Guiteras was the mastermind behind the murder attempt in June of last year. Patzi said the Suárez Guagama brothers, who are very well known in Beni, were the ones who had actually shot Méndez in the leg. Patzi was dismissed for alleged wrongdoing in his job, but he says Guiteras ordered his expulsion from active duty because he refused to release relatives of Guiteras who were implicated in drug trafficking. Guiteras, who is a senator of the Nationalist Democratic Action Party (ADN) declined to respond to the former policeman’s charges. Meanwhile, Méndez repeated his accusations that Guiteras and former first lady Prada were responsible for the attack on him. Méndez called the evidence provided by the former policeman “golden,” and asked President Jorge Quiroga to act openly and responsibly to begin an investigation of the case to punish those responsible. Méndez was wounded in the leg on the night of June 11, 2000, when he left the home of legislator Roberto Landivar, who witnessed the attack. The assailant fired from three feet away, which made Landivar think it was intended as a warning to the journalist. Méndez did investigative reporting on corruption, drug trafficking and other issues that are sensitive in Bolivia, and it is believed that the attack against him could be related to his writing. Guiteras and Prada opened a criminal case against him and Patzi. On September 27, warning shots were fired on a group of reporters covering farmers who had surrounded a military camp in the jungle region of Loma Alta, 140 miles from Cochabamba, in an attempt to make them leave the area. Along with a journalist, a coca farmer was wounded. He died while being transported by helicopter to a military post. The Interior Ministry said the journalists were in a “high conflict” military zone. In every case of incidents against journalists, the government has said emphatically that it would begin the necessary investigations. Unfortunately, these seem to be empty promises, because until now there have been no results or punishment of those responsible.