Update on Human Rights and Antinarcotics Efforts in the Bolivian Chapare

Update on Human Rights and Antinarcotics Efforts in the Bolivian Chapare
Lee Cridland and Veronica Ramos, Andean Information Network (AIN)
Coletta Youngers and Amy Nahley, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
Memorandum, 30 April 1997

Since the beginning of 1997, violence has escalated in the Chapare region of Bolivia. To date, we have received reports of at least six deaths and many more wounded in confrontations surrounding antinarcotics operations. This memo provides background on this most recent wave of violence in the Chapare. It is based on the ongoing monitoring of the situation by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Andean Information Network (AIN), which conducted a delegation to the Chapare from April 10 to 14, 1997. The recent conflict underscores the need for objective investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for the killings and other abuses committed in the name of the drug war in the Bolivian Chapare. Until local forces are held accountable for their actions, such abuses will continue unabated.

While the human, social and political costs of coca eradication efforts in the Bolivian Chapare are high, drug control results to date are meager. In 1996 the Bolivian government eradicated more coca than ever before: 7,512 hectares. However, as a result of new plantings the net coca eradicated was a mere 312 hectares - a drop in the bucket of the approximately 48,000 hectares estimated by the US State Department to be in production.

Conflict Escalates in 1997

After a series of violent confrontations in 1995, the seeming calm in the Chapare region of Bolivia for much of 1996 took a dramatic turn for the worse at the end of the year, and the situation
remains very tense. Since the beginning of 1997, we have received reports of deaths, people wounded, arbitrary detentions, physical abuse, and illegal search and seizure. This violence stems from conflict generated by coca eradication in the Chapare region of the country and especially from the increase in forced eradication. Presently, more than 3,000 security agents (both police and military) are operating in the area. In response to the increased police presence and stepped up eradication activities, the coca growers have in the last months organized themselves into self defense committees to defend their fields - their primary form of income generation. The committees have resisted forced eradication efforts with sticks, rocks and sometimes machetes.

In February, tensions mounted as police - UMOPAR (an elite paramilitary police force) and the Ecological Police- and army units stepped up eradication efforts. Unions complained that an estimated 500 individuals had not been reimbursed for coca voluntarily eradicated, and of ongoing abuses and the increased presence of law enforcement personnel. Coca leaders have been going into hiding sporadically in the face of the increased police presence. The first major confrontation occurred February 14, when 34 coca grower leaders were detained in the Eterazama region. Thirty were eventually released. Approximately 15 local residents were also detained in sweeps related to eradication efforts in the region, including two children ages two and five.

In a separate incident on February 24, more than 500 policemen from different units entered the Senda 5 and Senda 6 communities in Ivirgarzama to carry out forced eradication. The confrontation that ensued left dozens arrested (including prominent coca grower leaders) and several people wounded. The Bolivian police confiscated and burned bicycles (the main form of transportation in the Chapare), entered people's homes without warrants and without identifying themselves (with their faces covered), stole people's belongings and destroyed legitimate crops in addition to legal and illegal coca plants. In retaliation, local residents attacked the office of DIRECO, the Bolivian organization that oversees coca eradication efforts, burning four DIRECO vehicles and computers inside the office. That led to further violence, as the police responded with tear gas and rubber pellets to disburse the crowd. Nine
individuals were reportedly detained in connection with the attack on the DIRECO office.

According to the Inter-Institutional Commission, a coalition of nine NGOs in Cochabamba, preliminary investigations indicate that at least five people were wounded in the incident and more than one hundred arrested. The local press quoted coca grower leader Luis Cutipa who stated that at least 8 confrontations took place between the peasant self-defense groups and the Bolivian police. He was
later arrested by 40 well-armed agents, accompanied by the Bolivian Minister of Social Defense, Victor Hugo Canelas.

At the time of this writing, twelve people are still being held for incidents related to these confrontations. Arrested on the 25th of February, they were held in the Unidad of UMOPAR in Chimore, Chapare, for the first 45 days. There were 16 people or more being held in a 2x3 meter cell during the day, with 8 people sleeping in the same space at night. The prisoners were not let out for exercise or air.
They had no ventilation in the cell despite the tropical weather. The authorities restricted visiting rights and many families were turned away even on visiting days.

On the 15th of April, the 12 prisoners were moved to Totora, the official seat of the province of Carrasco. Totora is located 120 km from the city of Cochabamba and is situated at 3000 meters above sea level. The distance from Chapare makes it a two day trip as there is only one bus a day to Totora. This drastically impedes the prisoners ability to have contact with their families, legal counsel
and the other entities that provide support services to them. The holding cells are inadequate in size and
infrastructure with the prisoners sleeping on the floor. Standard procedure is to lock the cells door at 7pm, and no one is allowed to leave even to use the bathroom.

The 12 prisoners have just started their third hunger strike which has been joined by at least 30 members of their community who have travel to Totora and entered into a hunger strike in solidarity with their imprisoned friends. To date they have been held for over 70 days without being officially charged and without having seen a judge. When human rights workers saw the prisoners on April 12th their health was poor, they were not being let out to exercise, and they are almost yellow in color due to lack of sun.

More Violence in Eterazama

On April 17, 1996, approximately 30 vehicles of UMOPAR, the Ecological Police, DIRECO and DINACO entered the area of Eterazama (Mariscal B which is located 190-200 kilometers from the city of Cochabamba) in the Chapare. The stated nature of the operation was to eradicate new coca plants and seedlings which are prohibited by Law 1008. Law 1008 gives the Bolivian Government sweeping powers to control coca production and drug trafficking.

According to a commission of journalists who traveled to the region, all the coca in the area is old (15-20 years) and they observed no new coca or seedlings. Moreover, the police agents were forcibly eradicating coca plants without permission of the land owners. In this zone the coca is
considered "excess coca" under the Law 1008 and should be eradicated voluntarily and with compensation of $2,500 for each hectare that is eradicated.

According to eyewitness reports, a woman named Albertina Orellana Garcia, 45 years of age, tried to prevent the eradication of her coca by begging on her knees to the police agents when she was shot in front of her oldest son, Fernando. She died, leaving seven children including a two year old and a four year old.

The killing of the woman angered local residents, who went to the town of Eterazama and destroyed the offices of DIRECO. The government retaliated by sending in helicopters and ground troops who indiscriminately shot at the crowd and tear gassed the population. Representative Juan del Granado, head of the Congressional Committee on Human Rights, who went to Eterazama on April 18 to investigate the violence, stated that the antinarcotics operation had the appearance of an act of war.

Deaths: To date there are six people confirmed dead: five local residents and one UMOPAR agent who was killed during the operation. The dead include Albertina Orellana, two men, Marco Herbas and Felix Amira both 30 years old, Ernesto Quispe Villas who died on April 19 in the hospital in Chipiri from a gunshot wound to the head and a baby of 22 months, Freddy Rojas, died of tear gas inhalation. Jose Laura, an UMOPAR police agent, was also killed.

Wounded: In total, twenty to thirty persons were wounded by gunshots - the majority shot in their feet - and they are being treated in area hospitals.

Detained: There were 163 detentions during the operation. The 20 wounded people were released within 48 hours due to the intervention of Rep. Juan del Granado. The remaining 143 people at the UMOPAR base in Chimore were released on April 21, 1996. The majority of these detentions were random and indiscriminate. Many people were physically beaten during their detention and bruises can be observed on their bodies. In their attempt to detain people, the police forces entered a clinic, breaking windows
and screens, and hit one of the doctors in the clinic. Among the people detained are religious ministers, union leaders and many other residents of the area.

In addition, reliable reports indicate that security agents entered private homes, robbing personal belongings. In an act witnessed by many people, an election notary was entering the local telephone office when he was grabbed by police, kicked, carried out to the street, beaten and then released.

Coca Federation Leaders Targeted

Coca federation leaders have been singled out for detention and abuse. For example, union leader Avelino Espinosa was arrested and detained in his union office in Villa 14 with German Felizes, a government official in Villa Tunari. They were transferred to the UMOPAR base where Espinosa's hands were tied and he was brutally beaten by UMOPAR agents. Eventually they were both released due to intervention on the part of journalists. When these journalists asked police agent Capitan Guerrero, whom Espinosa had accused of beating him, to respond to the accusations, Capitan Guerrero answered that he was under orders to keep silent.

On April 9, 1997, Evo Morales, President of the "Federació del Trópico", was shot in his calf and suffered injuries from a machete when he and other campesinos were attacked by the UMOPAR as they were trying to keep the Ecological Police from forcibly eradicating hectares of mature coca, which according to the law should be subject to compensation. According to eyewitness accounts, Evo Morales
was dragged by his hair and beaten. The government has tried to prove that Evo Morales was the instigator in this case but there is no information to support this and Evo Morales was never arrested or formally charged with any crimes.

Conclusion

The coca eradication continues in the Chapare region. There are approximately 3,000 security agents in the area controlling movement especially in the area of Etrezama. Union leaders are sporadically going into hiding to avoid arbitrary detentions. The situation remains tense and as we see no change in the official policies of the Bolivian government or the United States, which has insisted on
eradication, we are very concerned that the violence will increase. Although Victor Hugo Caneles has stated that those arrested, killed and wounded in the Chapare are narcotraffickers, he has offered no proof to justify his claims. The international human rights community responded to the most recent events with a call an end to the violence and to the militarization of the tropics of Cochabamba and for a complete investigation into the recent events.

In previous reports and memos, both WOLA and AIN have highlighted the pervasive problem of impunity for human rights abuses committed in the Bolivian Chapare by antinarcotics police. As noted in WOLA's report, "Waging the War on Drugs in Bolivia": "Impunity for abuses committed by antinarcotics police is the norm. If investigations are initiated, they are cursory and incomplete; sanctions are rarely imposed." While some important steps have been taken by the US and Bolivian governments to address human rights concerns in the Bolivian Chapare, progress has yet to be made in ensuring that individuals and units are held accountable for their actions. Until such progress is made, such abuses will continue unabated.