Executive summary
Human rights report on the death of a Bolivian citizen and other violations of fundamental rights on the first day of the indefinite civic strike
Bolivia – Santa Cruz, October 22, 2022
Hate speech and incitement to violence as tools of subjugation and negotiation
The death of a municipal official in Puerto Quijarro yesterday, October 21, is the result of a worrying wave of intolerance manifested in the hate speech and confrontational rhetoric coming from officials of the Autonomous Municipal Government, all of whom are affiliated with the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS).
Social media and other forms of communication are being exploited as platforms for fanaticism against protest and roadblocks. The public discourse of municipal authorities uses inflammatory rhetoric that stigmatizes legitimate protest and the right to demonstrate, and dehumanizes those they call “los pititas.”
The deputy mayor of Puerto Quijarro, in an audio recording leaked on social media, states:
…“let's beat the pititas to a pulp, damn it… bring more rockets. Bring more rockets, remember that last time we had more people, but we lost because they had more rockets than us; we need more rockets, damn it, let's destroy the right.”
Hate speech is a threat to democratic values, social stability, and peace. It must be confronted and prosecuted at all times, especially when accompanied by the forced transport of people to towns that come under attack from Brazilians and violent groups who live neither in Puerto Quijarro nor in the Department of Santa Cruz. To prevent armed conflict, atrocity crimes, and terrorism, an end must be put to violence against citizens who disagree with the current government's policies and against the constant human rights violations.
The growing restrictions on freedom of expression, thought, and association, together with the criminalization of the right to protest, affect not only citizens but also use the justice system as an instrument of domination. The police, on the pretext of safeguarding social peace, openly show their commitment to protecting union leaders or officials aligned with the ruling party, who are in fact the true promoters of hatred and violence.
The incidents that took place last night, October 21, in Puerto Quijarro, resulting in the death of a local resident who, in order not to lose his job, was forced to travel with MAS-affiliated shock groups to violently clear roadblocks on the orders of Mayor Chambi, are the result of confrontational rhetoric, the negative stereotype of “protecting the economy,” and the glorification of political hatred, factors that together led to the death of an innocent person.
This type of disproportionate violence against a population peacefully exercising its constitutional right to mobilize and make its voice heard is a dynamic that this government has employed for many years, using the strategy of “collective responsibility” against opposition public officials, civic leaders or dissenting citizens, and social organizations (most of which are currently infiltrated by intelligence agents from the Ministry of Government or by undercover military personnel).
Several media outlets have their editorial lines conditioned due to the selective and discretionary control exercised over the awarding of “state advertising,” whether through extortion and intimidation or through immoral “political-communications” alliances designed to misinform or conceal the truth from citizens. It is important to ensure that every irregular act is investigated and reported to the public with the utmost responsibility, since this is a human right. For its part, all attacks against journalists, communicators, and camera operators are reprehensible in every respect and must be investigated and punished.
Citizens working in public service cannot be treated as tools of the political violence that hate-mongers seek to impose. Being required to militate for the ruling party, they are forced to march and travel from one city to another; in this case, the consequences of unleashing violence were not taken into account, and it cost the life of a Santa Cruz native at the hands of violent mobs.
After collecting more than a dozen witness testimonies, including from two Bolivian police officers, it can be established that it was inhumane that the Autonomous Municipal Government's ambulance, called by police to the scene of the clash, drove past the injured citizen—not once, but twice—after receiving orders not to assist him, because the driver believed the unconscious man lying on the street was part of the group of protesters. Local physicians attempted to resuscitate him immediately, without success. For this reason, he was transported to the hospital in a police pickup truck. It is strikingly notable that a forensic doctor was sent to Puerto Quijarro rather than transporting the body to Santa Cruz, as is normally done when specialized personnel are unavailable on site.
Given the need to foster social awareness of mutual respect, tolerance, and consensus in order to prevent incitement to hatred, and in contrast to respect for democratic values, tonight, October 22, 2022, a military contingent arrived at the roadblock points in Puerto Quijarro. The soldiers, all armed and in combat uniform, were lined up directly in front of citizens, even though they have absolutely no role in citizen security or in managing internal conflicts.
The reasons why underlying and uncontrolled hatred and intolerance are currently erupting are:
- Violence resulting in injuries or deaths is promoted.
- This leads to persecution and arbitrary arrests.
- Opposition, civic, citizen, or political leaders are criminalized.
- The population is intimidated through the abuses committed during roadblock clearances and persecution.
- Through this, demobilization is sought.
To counter violence and hate speech, and thus prevent these tragic events, the following must be done:
- Human rights organizations or citizens exercising the right to social oversight must get involved.
- Police and prosecutorial investigations must be monitored from the very beginning through to their conclusion.
- All investigative material gathered must be provided to support the case with relevant evidence (physical evidence, witnesses, documents, and expert forensic reports).
- Independent and impartial treatment must be demanded from the justice system at every level.
- Most importantly: overcome fear of doing what is right. If irregularities are detected, report them publicly and through legal channels to the competent authorities.
This government “objectifies” the dead and wounded, using them as banners to portray them as victims of the opposition or of protesters, thereby launching illegal prosecutions—generally built on fabricated evidence, false witnesses, and doctored expert reports. With judges and prosecutors aligned with the ruling party, with whom they must negotiate to obtain their positions, they seek to give these proceedings a veneer of legality.
Under this mechanism of “pseudo-justice,” the ranks grow of those who, without having committed any crime, become political prisoners or persecuted individuals.
It is characteristic of a dictatorship that seeks to control everything: citizen demonstrations and mobilizations, and the promotion and spread of collective hatred from the state apparatus, sowing contempt, fear, distrust, and military tactics of infiltration or political espionage. These are the main causes currently keeping Bolivia polarized and divided, amid the lack of decision-making freedom of a government that finds itself extorted and pressured to maintain its obtuse stance against moving the census forward to the first half of 2023. This government engineers these conflicts—or any other—in order to persecute, intimidate, and thereby violently demobilize citizens, given its lack of any genuine willingness for sincere dialogue.
This government, run by people involved in drug trafficking and organized crime, meanwhile allows violent actors to make decisions according to their own interests, instead of looking after what the citizenry needs. On the contrary, for this government, the citizen who freely exercises his or her rights is the enemy.
This government has never sanctioned the promoters of hatred and violence, even though this offense is classified as a crime against humanity; on the contrary, it shields and protects them through the prosecutor's office and the judicial system that it itself controls.
It was the Mayor of Puerto Quijarro, his deputy mayor, and members of the autonomous municipal government who must answer for busing in foreigners and party members brought in from elsewhere and prepared for confrontation. Combined with the mandatory participation the municipal authority imposed on its officials to take part in the roadblock clearances, and with the incitement and spread of the message of hatred and violence, these factors led to this tragic event—the product of their irresponsible fanaticism in clinging to power.
By: Jorge Valda Daza – Director of Global Human Rights League