November 21, 2001
Narco News 2001
Congress Members Write...
"We
are Disturbed"
by Bolivia
Policy
U.S. Reps Tell
Ambassador Rocha that
Military Violence
is Unsatisfactory:
But Rocha Reiterates
"Sacrificial" Policy
Against Farmers
& Social Movements
Blockades to Escalate
Thanksgiving Day
Bolivian
Soldiers Go Into Battle vs. a Farmer's Tractor
Press
Briefing from Bolivian News Sources...
Congress
to
Ambassador:
Narco
News
Publishes The Letter...
Ambassador Manuel Rocha
United States Embassy
La Paz, Bolivia
By fax: 011-591-22-433900
November 16, 2001
Dear Ambassador Rocha:
We are writing to you to express our continued
concern regarding the social conflict sparked by U.S. sponsored
eradication efforts in the Chapare region of Bolivia. Reports
indicate that the Bolivian government has sent in over two thousand
additional police and military, and that several coca growers'
union leaders have indicated that they may respond with violence
if fired upon by security forces. We encourage you to urge all
parties to the conflict to seek a peaceful resolution to the
situation through dialogue to avoid further violence.
In Bolivia where anti-drug efforts are
being heralded as a success, we recognize that the human costs
are significant. We are alarmed by ongoing reports of excessive
use of force by the national police and the military, arbitrary
detentions, and ill treatment of detainees. It is particularly
disturbing that in the past week as members of the Joint Task
Force have entered communities, they have arbitrarily firing
tear gas, and have beaten individuals who are briefly detained
and then released. Bolivian government and non-governmental
human rights monitors have gathered significant evidence in the
killings of Ramon Perez and Nilda Escobar and the shootings of
Rosalia Merida de Mejia, Claudio Llave Piña, and have
identified the security force units involved.
We understand that you have publicly announced
that U.S. funding is contingent on continued implementation of
the Bolivian government's "Dignity Plan". We also urge
you to make it clear publicly that by law U.S. funding for Bolivian
security forces is also conditioned on their human rights record.
Given that investigations into previous cases have been extremely
slow, we ask that you inform us whether the Bolivian government
carries out prompt, thorough, impartial investigations into these
cases and all other credible allegations of human rights violations
in the Chapare region, and to make the results of the investigations
public. We are disturbed by reports that high-level Bolivian
officials have pressured staff from the Attorney General's office
responsible for carrying out legal investigations of the Merida
and Llave shootings that occurred on October 4th, 2001.
We would also like to be informed when
and how the Embassy makes its determination in these cases regarding
whether the United States should withhold funding for the unit
of the security forces responsible for gross human rights violations
when there is no evidence that sufficient steps are being taken
to bring the individuals responsible to justice. As you are
aware, neither internal disciplinary measures by the security
forces, nor economic compensation for the victims' families will
satisfy U.S. law. It is also our assessment that military jurisdiction
in such cases is not satisfactory, as the U.N. Commission on
Human Rights and the OAS InterAmerican Commision on Human Rights
have both concluded repeatedly that military justice in human
rights cases is not compatible with a country's obligations under
international human rights law.
As the United States has increased funding
for alternative development programs in Bolivia, we believe the
United States should evaluate the efficacy of these programs.
Bolivian government and U.S. officials admit that alternative
development has not kept pace with eradication in Bolivia, and
the economic hardships in the region have fueled existing social
conflict. The U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention
reports that only one-quarter to one-half of families in the
Chapare region have received alternative crop assistance, leaving
thousands of families with no livelihood once their coca has
been eradicated. Those who have received assistance often claim
that they are unable to sell the crops that they have been told
to grow because in some cases the prices for crops involved in
the programs have fallen because of overproduction, and fluctuating
market conditions. We understand that implementing such programs
is not simple, but believe that it is critical that the U.S.
improve efforts to assist national governments in addressing
the widespread rural poverty that is at the root of illicit cultivation.
We thank you for taking the time to consider
our concerns, and await your response.
Sincerely,
Maurice D. Hinchey (D-New York)
Howard L. Berman (D-California)
Joseph Crowley (D-New York)
James McGovern (D-Massachusetts)
Lanes Evans (D-Illinois)
Janice D. Schakowsky (D-Illinois)
John Conyers (D-Michigan)
Members of the United States Congress
From the daily Opinión,
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Translated by The Narco
News Bulletin
November 19, 2001
Interview:
Ambassador
Manuel Rocha
"BOLIVIA
CONDUCTS A HEROIC AND SACRIFICIAL
BATTLE
AGAINST NARCO-TRAFFICKING"
"Bolivia is conducting
a heroic and tremendously sacrificial battle against narco-trafficking,
changing its image in the entire world, beginning with the United
States,"said the US Ambassador in Bolivia, Manuel Rocha.
The North American diplomat, interviewed yesterday by OPINION
while he participated in the demonstrations of the Aeromodelisma
airfield of Laguna Alalay.
Ambassador Rocha, who informally has stayed
in our city since last Friday, responded to questions in a serious
manner, in the informal context of the lagoon, where he was accompanied
by his family, although he did not rise to make commentaries
about the national political situation saying it was outside
of his area of competence. He referred to the situation of the
country after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the problem
that Bolivia confronts currently with the mobilization of coca
producers and the help that the US loans to the Bolivian government
in to combat drugs.
Opinión: The country is in the middle of a convulsion that
has various fronts. What is your opinion of this and how can
it be solved?
Rocha: I
believe that the world is living through a very difficult moment.
Bolivia is not the only country in these circumstances. In the
United States we live, perhaps, in the most difficult moment
of our history because of the terrorist attacks suffered in New
York and Washington. Thus, Bolivia is not alone. To the South
of Bolivia is the brother country of Argentina that suffers a
very deep crisis. In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez must lead
while oil prices fall. The important thing for the Bolivianos
is to understand that the crisis doesn't only affect them. It
is also shared by others, including the crisis that challenges
the United States and the beginning of an economic recession
that will affect the world economy. I am and tend to be an optimistic
person. However, the moment lived by Bolivia - which, it must
be said, that the nation has advanced much, consolidated its
democracy, made economic reforms that are an example for the
rest of Latin America and conducts a heroic and tremendously
sacrificial battle against narco-trafficking - has changed its
image throughout the world, beginning with the United States.
In the middle of the recession and crisis that affects Bolivia
I see, in the mid and long term, a sufficiently positive panorama.
In the short term, obviously, the situation is difficult. But,
for example, we have seen the change of President Banzer to his
Vice President Jorge Quiroga without any political crisis, giving
an example of democracy, institutionalism and strengthening of
the same. In the second place, it must be understood that Bolivia
currently has a potential to export gas and that President Quiroga,
with admirable ability, is make gestures so that future generations
have all the benefits of its exportation.
Opinión: Will violence solve the problem in the Chapare?
Rocha:
I don't want to involve myself too much in internal affairs but
I know that in a democracy and a state of law the government
has to respect the law and defend those who engage in legal activity
such as alternative development and all those who choose to stop
growing coca and working in those types of crops. The government
must protect the 18,000 families that participate in alternative
development. It must be understood that the violence has its
origin in persons who violate the law and want to create social
conflicts. A little while ago, the situation of confrontations
created by the hostility of groups that put the forces of eradication
who continue their work of getting Bolivia out of the coca-cocaine
circuit, under siege was the first stone cast in this sense.
Opinión: What support is given to those who work in alternative
development?
Rocha: The
Bolivian government has asked for collaboration in the "Dignity
Plan." We have decided to support three parts of the plan:
eradication, interdiction and alternative development. For me,
the last point is a human and respectful manner, in terms of
human rights, to get people who grow coca illegally out of that
line of work as an alternative to jail and repression. This behavior,
that permits one to gain a living in a licit job that also makes
possible the taking of loans, technical assistance, community
roads and the betterment of schools and towns, as has happened
with the 18,000 families that participate in the plan. The commitment
of the US and Bolivian governments on the issue of Alternative
Development is going to be maintained because it is the best
option that can be offered to all the people who grow coca.
"Hero"
Who "Sacrifices" Bolivian Lives,
And
Blames Bin Laden for His Failures, Too
U.S.
Ambassador to Bolivia Manuel Rocha
Opinión: Beyond Alternative Development, in what other
ways can the aid be amplified?
Rocha: Beyond
alternative development, the Bolivian people should know that
we work with the government exploring the possibilities of exportation
of gas, which would bring many benefits to the economy and to
the Bolivians in the future. In the mid-term, we will work very
closely with the Minister of Foreign Investment, Claudio Mansilla,
with President Jorge Quiroga and the members of the Bolivian
textile industry for the opening of markets in this sense. It
has been very advanced and the last word still has not been spoken
on this issue. In a parallel manner, the Embassy has joined in
this call because it causes no damage to the US textile industry.
The approval of this opening depends on the agenda of Congress,
distracted now by Osama Bin Laden and the terrorist attacks of
September 11th. Now, the Congressmen and Senators are obliged
to attend to the laws that have to do with the security of the
United States. If this Mr. (Bin Laden) had not been involved
on the North American scene, the opening for Bolivian textiles
would already be guaranteed.
From Bolivia.com, November
19, 2001
Translated by The Narco
News Bulletin
Growers
Say the
Government
Lied
Three
of the nine coca growers wounded during
the confrontations on Thursday have denied the government stories
that state that the coca producers had surrounded a military
truck to steal weapons.
The three coca growers, Benito Maida,
Carlos Merino and Filiberto Castro, told the same story from
separate locations in the Viedma hospital in the state capital.
They said that the incidents occurred in the middle of a confrontation
when the coca growers began to blockade the Cochabamba-Santa
Cruz highway…
"First, a thousand compañeros
joined together and we went to block the highway. Then the army
arrived and began to disperse us with teargas and rubber bullets,
but while we fled, they some compañeros began to fall
dead," said Benito Maida, one of the most affected after
receiving a high-caliber bullet in his left shoulder.
"Thank God I am alive… but this
will not soften the struggle or the movement until we obtain
our goals," said Carlos Merino.
Among them, Filiberto Castro Fernández,
who lost the fingers on his left hand, explained that after the
gases and rubber bullets, the coca growers threw stones and that's
when the shooting of bullets by the government began "recklessly
and without measure."
"I was running and felt a pain. I
fell, while other compañeros tried to help me, but when
I turned around I saw the others fallen on the ground. It was
a massacre. I was twenty meters from where it happened,"
he said.
Public Defender: The Military Solution
Doesn't Work
The increased violence in the Chapare
is an example of how the "military solution" used by
the government to control the region doesn't work and this is
the moment to choose other paths.
This reflection came from the Public Defender,
Ana María Romero de Campero, worried about the escalation
of violence in the Chapare region that took the lives of three
coca farmers during the confrontations in Senda Seis, 200 kilometers
from Cochabamba.
As she interviewed the Defense Minister
and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Oscar Guilarte
and Alvin Anaya, they explained that the Armed Forces follow
orders: "The Army doesn't deliberate."
She explained that the solution belongs
to the high politicians of the country, that is to say, the current
government. "It is hoped that this solution will come,"
she said…
"So many troops in such a small place,
with the people in a state of despair, is very grave problem,"
she said, anguished.
"The shadows of the night belong
to everyone, including those who shoot, and it will be very difficult
to determine guilt," she said upon nightfall, hoping for
good news from the Chapare.
From the daily Opinión,
Cochabamba, Bolivia
November 19, 2001
Translated by The Narco
News Bulletin
Morales
Speaks
of a
Revolution
The
coca growers leader and congressman,
Evo Morales Ayma, said that the conditions for a revolution or
a social change exist in the country. "If they want to accuse
me of sedition, let them," said the top representative of
the board of the six federations of coca producers in the Cochabamba
Tropic. Led by coca growers wearing green shirts and chewing
coca, Morales Ayma assured that last weekend the Army of the
People entered an epoch last weekend of defending the poor of
the Chapare and the rest of the country. "At these heights,
when abuse becomes the institutionalized norm, and the country
is subjected to a grave economic crisis that is hardening the
poverty, we must seek methods to end the neoliberal system and
the empire," he said in Lauca Eñe.
After the three deaths last Thursday,
he coca growers decided to declare "war" on the government,
demanding a concession of one cato of coca (40 square meters)
per family. Last week, the coca grower's coordinating body headed
by Evo Morales decided to radicalize its pressure tactics, reforming
self-defense committees and an "ant-style" blockade
of the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz highway, that is today strongly
guarded by police and the military. The unionized coca growers
accused the government of drowning the dialogue and forcing a
confrontation by sending military police and even foreign forces
into the Chapare to stop social protest by using violence.
"The error has been made by the government
and the armed forces to continue massacring and humiliating the
Bolivian people, directly serving interests outside of the State,"
he said. In his judgment, it was the military that began to shoot
against the farmer's movement. "Now I can see why many people
organize themselves, prepare themselves and are planning armed
movements against injustice and abuse," said the Congressman
Morales.
From the daily La Razon,
La Paz, Bolivia
November 19, 2001
Translated by The Narco
News Bulletin
2 More
Sectors
Join
the Protest
The
Water Board of Cochabamba and the Union
of Peasant Workers of Bolivia (SCUTCB) decided yesterday to begin
mobilizations in support of the coca growers of the Chapare.
The peasant farmers have called for a
blockade of highways and protest marches in the entire country
beginning on Thursday.
The regions of Chuquisaca and Beni will
begin the mobilizations with a blockade and other federations
will decide whether to join the blockade or a hunger strike after
the Thursday marches. On this day, the peasant farmers of La
Paz will enter the capital city.
The Water Board has called for a blockade
of undefined length beginning tomorrow. The local Water Committees
and Neighborhood Councils of Cochabamba will participate.
They demand an end to the "massacre
of farmers and indigenous in the tropic."
From the ANF news service,
November 19, 2001
Translated by The Narco
News Bulletin
Farmers
will March On La Paz
and
Block Highways on Thursday
"It
will be a strike of undefined length, and a radical march, until
the government responds to the demands of the farmers and demilitarizes
the Chapare," warns El Mallku
This
Thursday, thousands of peasant farmers
will begin a grand protest march to the government capital in
support of the coca growers of the Chapare and the Movement of
Farmers Without Land, and will also demand the presidency comply
with the treaty signed with the people of Pucarani. The Executive
Secretary of CSUTCB, Felipe Quispe Huanca ("El Mallku,"
or, "The Great Condor") reported that this position
was adopted by his national board in an emergency meeting that
the union held. Quispe Huanca indicated that the State Federation
of Farmers known as Tupac Katari will lead this mobilization
which will encompass the entire country in a step-by-step escalated
campaign, resulting in a blockade of highways and of economic
products.
Indefinite
Strike
"It will be an indefinite strike
and a radical march until the government responds to the demands
of the farmers and demilitarizes the Chapare," warned El
Mallku, saying that the CSUTCB will not leave its sectors unprotected
in the conflict. El Mallku also lamented that the government
of Jorge Quiroga is not keeping its work nor the treaty signed
last August 23rd, and reminded of the speech by the commander
in chief in which he promised to work extra hours to surpass
the economic and social crisis the country lives.
Government
has not Complied
"The government has not complied.
It has promised not to make war and to be in peace. However,
it continues generating confrontations, violence and blood and
the farmers movement will not permit more of these acts,"
said the farmer leader. In the same form, he reported that in
the treaty of Pucarani the President promised to deliver 1,000
tractors to technologize the agriculture industry, but, in the
receipt of their purchase only 500 are mentioned. "This
is a mamada," said the leader. (Loosely translated:
"This sucks.")
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