OEA/Ser.L/V/II.53
doc. 6
1 July 1985
Original: Spanish
REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE REPUBLIC OF BOLIVIA
CHAPTER
I
THE
POLITICAL AND LEGAL SYSTEM IN BOLIVIA
A. Organization of
the State
1.
The Constitution in force in Bolivia was approved by a Constituent
Assembly that met from 1966 to 1967, and was enacted on February 2, 1967, by the
then-President, General René Barrientos.
2.
This Constitution adopted the democratic, representative form of
government on the basis of the fact that sovereignty rests with the people.
Inalienable and absolute exercise of that sovereignty is delegated to the
legislative, executive and judicial powers, powers which cannot be invested in a
single organ.
3.
The legislative power is composed of a bicameral National Congress.
The two chambers are the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the
Republic. The deputies are elected
by universal and direct suffrage, by a simple plurality of votes and with
proportional representation of minorities.
The law establishes the number of deputies on the basis of geographic
density. Deputies hold office for
four years.
The
Chamber of Senators is composed of three senators from each department.
They, too, are elected through direct and universal suffrage, two for the
majority and one for the minority. The
legislative power establishes and approves laws, repeals them, amends them or
interprets them, in accordance with the terms of the Constitution.
4.
One of the powers that the Constitution invests in the legislature
concerns its role as a political check on executive decisions while a state of
siege is in effect. Article 111 of
the Constitution states that “If the Congress should meet in regular or
extraordinary session while the Republic or a portion thereof is in a state of
siege, the continuation of such state of siege must have legislative
authorization. The same procedure shall apply if a decree of state of siege
is issued by the executive power while the chambers are in session.”
This article also provides that for the executive to be able to extend a
state of siege or declare another state of siege within the same year, the
consent of the Congress is required.
5.
Article 82 of the Constitution provides that during the Congressional
recess, a Congressional Committee shall function, presided over by the Vice
President of the Republic. Among
other functions, it must monitor the observance of the Constitution and respect
for civil guarantees.
6.
The executive power is exercised by the president of the Republic, in
conjunction with the ministers of state. The
president is elected by direct suffrage, as is the Vice President.
The constitutional term of office is four years, without extension.
Neither the President nor the Vice president can be reelected until four
years have elapsed since termination of his constitutional mandate.
Article 90 established the mechanism for electing a president should none
of the candidates obtain the required majority.
The
Constitution states that in the event of the president’s temporary disability
or absence, he shall be replaced by the vice president and, in the
vice-president’s absence, by the president of the Senate, the president of the
Chamber of deputies, and the president of the Supreme Court of Justice, in that
order.
“As
long as the vice president does not exercise the executive power, he shall serve
as president of the Senate, without prejudice to the election by that body of a
president to take his place in his absence.”
Among
the functions of the head of the executive branch of the government, the
president must preserve and defend the internal order and the external security
of the Republic (Article 96, paragraph 18); designate the representative of the
executive power on the Electoral Courts (Article 96, paragraph 23), and grant
amnesties for political offenses, without prejudice to those that may be granted
by the legislative power (Article 96, paragraph 13).
Finally, the president, with the approval of the Council of Ministers,
may declare a state of siege in such portion of the territory as may be
necessary (Article 111), within the constitutional limitations which will be
discussed further on.
7.
The judicial power is exercised by the Supreme Court of Justice, the
Superior District Courts, and any other courts and tribunals that may be
established by law. The
administration of justice is gratis and no extraordinary courts or tribunals may
be established.
The
justices on the Supreme Court of Justice are elected by the Chamber of deputies
from slates of three proposed by the Senate; the magistrates on the District
Courts are elected by the Senate by an absolute majority of votes, from slates
of three proposed by the Supreme Court of Justice. The judges are independent in the administration of justice
and are subject only to the law. Further,
the judicial power enjoys economic autonomy, and has its own budget administered
by the Supreme Court of Justice.
In
accordance with Article 122 of the Constitution, the regular courts are to take
cognizance of all litigation between private parties and between such parties
and the State when the latter acts as a person under private law.
They also decide direct appeals for annulment brought against any act or
resolution of any public authority other than judicial.
The
justices on the Supreme Court hold office for ten years; judges on the District
Courts hold office for six years, while sectional judges (jueces de partido) and
examining judges (instructors) hold office for four years.
No magistrate may be removed or suspended except by final judicial
decisions or in those cases determined by law.
One
of the fundamental powers of the Supreme Court is to preserve the Constitution.
Article 127 stipulates that the Supreme Court is “To take cognizance
of, in sole instance, questions of pure law wherein the decisions rest upon the
constitutionality or unconstitutionality of a law, decree, or resolution of any
kind.” It is also empowered to
the cognizance, in sole instance, of suits against the resolutions of the
legislative power, whenever such resolutions may affect one or more concrete
right, either civil or political.
8.
By the terms of Articles 129 and 130 of the Constitution, the public
ministry represents the State and society and is exercised by committees
appointed by the legislative chambers, by the attorney general, by district
attorneys and by any other officials, who by law, are members of the public
ministry. The attorney general is
appointed by the President from a slate of three proposed by the Senate and
holds office for ten years. The
only way he can be removed from office is by virtue of a sentence of conviction.
9.
The third part of the Constitution concerns special regimes.
Among these, the following merit particular mention: the social regime;
the agrarian and rural labor regime; the cultural regime; the family regime, and
the electoral regime which sets forth matters related to the electoral system,
suffrage, political parties and electoral bodies.
10.
The Constitution is the supreme law of the legal system and the
principles, guarantees and rights recognized therein may not be altered by laws
governing their exercise.
11.
The Constitution may be amended in part, in the manner prescribed by the
Constitution. The need for the amendment must be specified precisely in an
ordinary law approved by two thirds of the members present in each of the
chambers. The law declaring the
amendment cannot be vetoes by the executive power, which must enact it.
B. The System of Individual Rights
and Guarantees
1.
Titles One and Two of Part One of the Constitution, entitled “The
Person as a Member of the State,” contain the rights and duties of the
individual; his individual guarantees, and the juridical measures established
for his protection.
2.
The Constitution provides that no type of servitude is recognized and no
one shall be compelled to render personal services without his full consent and
due compensation. The individual
rights established in Title one include the following:
–
Equality before the law, without distinction as to race, sex language,
religion, political or other opinion, origin, economic or social condition, or
any other;
–
The right to live, health and security;
–
The right to express ideas and opinions freely;
–
The right to meet and associate for lawful purposes;
–
The right to work and to engage in commerce, industry or any other lawful
activity, under conditions that do not injure the collective welfare;
–
The right to receive an education and acquire culture;
–
The right to teach under the supervision of the State;
–
The right to enter, remain in, travel through and leave the national
territory;
–
The right to make decisions, individually or collectively;
–
The right to private property, provided it fulfills the social function;
–
The right to fair remuneration for work, and
–
The right to social security, in the form of determined by the
Constitution and the laws.
3.
Title Two establishes the following:
–
Protection against arbitrary arrest;
–
A prohibition against any kind of torture, coercion, extortion or any
form of physical or moral violence;
–
No one may be tried by special commission or brought before judges other
than those appointed prior to the commission of the offense;
–
The inviolability of the right of defense;
–
The presumption of the innocence of the accused;
–
The right of justice and due process;
–
The benefit of the law in criminal matters;
–
The right to the remedy of Habeas Corpus and the remedy of Amparo;
–
The inviolability of correspondence;
–
The inviolability of the home, and
–
The right to vote and to participate in government.
4.
The rights and guarantees listed below are set forth in Part Three of the
Constitution, which concerns the special regimes.
These rights are as follows:
In
social matters:
–
Freedom of employers to form associations (Article 159);
–
The right to unionize (Article 159);
–
The right to strike (Article 159);
Under
the agrarian and rural labor regime:
–
The existence of communal, cooperative and private ownership of land is
guaranteed (Article 167);
–
The existence of rural labor organizations is guaranteed;
In
cultural matters:
–
The freedom to teach under the supervision of the State is guaranteed.
(Article 177);
–
Freedom of religious instruction is guaranteed (Article 182);
In
family matters:
–
Marriage, the family and motherhood are under the protection of the State
(Article 193);
–
All children, regardless of origin, have equal rights and duties in
respect of their parents (Article 195);
–
The State shall protect the physical, mental and moral health of children
and shall uphold the rights of children to a home and to an education (Article
199);
On
electoral matters:
–
Suffrage is guaranteed and is based on universal, direct and equal,
individual and secret, free and obligatory voting, under public scrutiny and
based on the system of proportional representation (Article 219);
–
The right to be elected (Article 221);
–
The right to organize into political parties, in accordance with the
provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Law (Article 222);
–
The autonomy, independence and impartiality of the electoral organs are
guaranteed (Article 226).
Finally,
it must be pointed out that in Article 35, the Constitution expressly provides
that the declarations, rights and guarantees listed in the Constitution shall
not be taken as a denial of other rights and guarantees not set forth therein,
which emanate from the sovereignty of people and from the republican form of
government.
1.
The 1967 Constitution is in force, but under the restrictions announced
by the Government itself when it assumed command of the nation; in other words,
all provisions that do not contravene the basic purpose of the National
Reconstruction process remain in effect. Thus,
the constitutional system is applied so long as there is no conflict of interest
between the provisions of the Constitution and the provisions adopted by the
military government.
2.
With the military insurrection of July 17, 1980, the political
organization of the State to which this commission made reference earlier, was
substantially modified through the proclamation entitled “Participation of the
Armed Forces in the currently Political Process.”
With this proclamation, such measures as the following were adopted:
a) to disregard the results of the elections held on June 29, alleging
that they were fraudulent; b) to declare the functioning of the Congress and any
measures it may have adopted to be unconstitutional; c) to place the government
of National Reconstruction in the hands of junta composed of the commanders of
the country’s three armed forces and which will appoint one of its members as
president of the Republic; d) to honor all international pacts and agreements
signed by Bolivia and to maintain diplomatic ties with all those countries that
respect Bolivian sovereignty and its right to self-determination; e) to draft
statutes to govern the political parties; f) to set down the appropriate laws on
labor and union matters so as to normalize their activities; g) to declare the
militarization of the entire national territory, by putting military law into
full effect, and h) to preserve the 1967 Constitution in respect to all aspects
that do not contravene the purposes and objectives of the new Government.
The
Governing Junta thus assumed the functions of the executive, legislative and
judicial powers and also exercised the constituent power by disregarding the
outcome of the elections that chose the National congress which, in turn, was to
have exercised its constitutional mandate to elect the new president, since the
candidate who won the election did not obtain the legal majority required in the
Constitution.
3.
These as well as those other provisions to which the Commission will
refer affect the full observance and exercise of the human rights set forth in
the American Convention and recognized in the Constitution.
4.
Other provisions that limit the functioning of the State powers to the
detriment of fundamental guarantees are the following:
Decree 17531, of July 21, 1980, whereby the leadership of the trade
unions, business associations, professional associations, and associations of
working and nonworking laborers were suspended, and Decree 17536 of July 30,
1980 which instituted patriotic service to the State, which all citizens in
exercise of their civil rights are compelled to render.
Special
mention should be made of decree Law 17607, of September 17, 1980.
Through this Decree Law, the Government of National reconstruction
decreed that the National Constitution of February 2, 1967, was valid in keeping
with the basic objectives of the National Reconstruction process.
The decree also upheld the validity of the Civil Code, the Civil
Procedural Code, the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedural Code, the Family
Code, the Minors Code, all Commerce Code, and Law Governing the Organization of
the Judiciary and all those legal and administrative provisions neither
expressly amended nor repealed.
Through
Decree Law 17608 of September 17, 1980, the President created the National
Advisory and Legislative Commission, empowered to help draft and revise laws,
decrees and other resolutions and to advise the President and the Junta on
political, economic, institutional, social and international matters.
This same decree established the procedure to be followed by that
Commission (“CONAL”) where legislation was concerned.
This body, which took over some of the functions of the legislative
power, acted on its own authority and in constant coordination with the Office
of the President or the Junta.
The members of CONAL were appointed by the President, in consultation
with the Junta.
On
September 17, 1980, the President ordered a nation-wide reappointment of the
Judiciary. Through Decree 17612, he
appointed the new members of the Supreme Court, the magistrates on the Superior
District Courts, the sectional judges and the examining judges in the civil,
criminal and family courts of the departmental capitals.
On
July 17, 1981, the first anniversary of the military insurrection, the Junta not
only confirmed General García Meza as president, but also introduced a number
of changes in the Government Statute which did not alter the substance of the
standards cited earlier. In the
Statute, the Junta undertakes the functions of the legislative power and is
ratified as the supreme organ of the Bolivian State and the body that will steer
the process of National Reconstruction. Other
provision are as follows: The Junta
has full command of the armed forces; it has authority over the Ministers of
State; its members enjoy the immunities and privileges of the President of the
Republic; the President must consult the Junta in advance with respect to basic
decisions involving political, social, economic, international and military
matters; the Statue and the basic documents of the National Reconstruction
process may be modified only by a unanimous decision of the members of the
Junta; the President, with the consent of the Junta, may appoint the justices on
the Supreme Court, the Attorney General and the Comptroller General.
With
the resignation of General García Meza on August 4, 1981, which will be
mentioned in Chapter IV of this Report, the Junta assumed governance of the
nation on a temporary and associate basis.
Later, by a Supreme Decree of August 26, the Junta established the
regulations to govern the associate form of government and reconfirmed the
validity of the 1967 Constitution insofar as it does not contradict the various
measures adopted by the Military Government.
In that same decree, the Military Government also confirmed all
administrative, judicial and institutional acts adopted by the Junta s of the
date on which in undertook administration of the National Reconstruction
process.
5.
The Commission wishes to point out that the constitutional and legal
framework as limited by the provisions enacted by the new Government, creates a
legal system that, while leaving the principal laws in effect, nevertheless
affects the protection of fundamental human rights and suspends other rights
recognized by the Constitution and established in international instruments on
this subject.
Further,
the reports that the IACHR has received indicated that the Bolivian authorities
have acted with total disregard for the laws in force, repeatedly transgressed
the very spirit of the Constitution and acted in a manner contrary to the
purposes of the announced program of National Reconstruction.
This will be analyzed carefully in the corresponding chapters of the
present report.
1.
As a constitutional precept, state of siege is set forth in Bolivia’s
Constitution as an exceptional measure to preserve public order in cases of
grave danger caused by internal disorder or international war.
The
head of the executive power is empowered to exercise this measure.
With the approval of the Council of Ministers, the Chief of state may
declare a state of siege in such portion of the territory as may be necessary.
2.
As pointed out earlier, if the Congress should convene while the state of
siege is in effect, the state of siege must have legislative authorization to
remain in effect. The same is true
if the chambers are in session.
The
state of siege is eminently temporary in nature. Thus, the Constitution states that if not lifted within
ninety days, it shall expire ipso facto, except in the case of civil or
international war. The measures
adopted are also temporary in nature. Article
111 provides that those persons who have been subject to restrictions shall be
set free, unless they have been placed under the jurisdiction of competent
courts.
The
state of siege cannot be extended beyond ninety days, nor can another state of
siege be declared within the same year without congressional authorization.
3.
Article 112 lists the effects of a declaration of a state of siege, and
specifically points out that the rights and guarantees granted by the
Constitution shall not be suspended by the mere declaration of a state of siege.
The
guarantees and rights of persons charged upon good grounds with conspiring
against the public order can be suspended, subject to the following limitations:
a.
The legitimate authority may issue summonses or arrest warrants against
the accused, who must be brought before the competent judge within forty-eight
hours;
b.
If the preservation of public order necessitates the removal of the
accused, they may be ordered confined to a departmental or provincial capital
that is not unhealthful;
c.
Banishment for political reasons is prohibited, but a person confined,
sought or under arrest on such grounds, who requests a passport to leave the
country, may not be denied it for any reason whatever and the authorities must
grant him the guarantees necessary for that purpose;
d.
Persons carrying out orders which violate the above guarantees may be
tried at any time, even if the state of siege has ended, as guilty of an offense
against the constitutional guarantees, and the fact that they obeyed superior
orders shall not serve as an excuse;
e.
International war is the only case where censorship of correspondence and
all publications media may be established.
4.
The National Congress serves as a political check on the executive’s
exercise of the powers of the state of siege.
It is provided that the executive must submit a complete account to the
Congress of the reasons why the state of siege was declared, give the outcome of
the judicial proceedings ordered and suggest measures necessary to meet
obligations incurred through direct loans and the collection of taxes in
advance. Congress must make a decision, by either approving what was
done or establishing the responsibility of the executive power.
The congress is empowered to conduct the necessary investigation.
5.
Finally, Article 115 stipulates that neither congress nor any association
or public gathering may grant to the executive power extraordinary powers, the
whole of public power, or give it supremacy by which the life, the honor and the
property of Bolivians shall be at the mercy of the government or of any person
whatsoever.
6.
Since the time of the proclamation of the “Participation of the Armed
Forces in the Current Political Process,” which placed the entire country
under military law and imposed an indefinite curfew, the new government of
Bolivia has ignored the limitations imposed by the Constitution itself in the
event of irregular situations, by failing to comply with clearly defined
provisions that restrict its action and seek to guarantee the essential rights
of the citizenry in times of juridical abnormality.
E. Other Laws
1.
Without attempting an exhaustive analysis of the other laws in force in
Bolivia, in this section the Commission will discuss those other laws that in
its view have some bearing upon the protection of human rights and are in force
at the present time:
a)
Penal Code, enacted through the Supreme Decree No. 10426 of August
23, 1972. In Book Two, this Code
lists the crimes against the security of the State.
In Chapter II it establishes the crimes against the internal security of
the State, while Chapter IV lists the crimes against international law.
With respect to crimes against the internal security of the state,
mention should be made of Article 121 concerning “armed insurrections against
the security and sovereignty of the state,” which establishes the following:
“Those who take up arms to alter the Constitution or the form of
government established therein, depose some of the public powers of the National
Government or prevent, albeit temporarily, the free exercise of their
constitutional powers or their reappointment to office shall be liable to a
punishment of five to fifteen years imprisonment.”
(The underlining is ours).
“Those
who organize or form groups of armed irregulars, be they urban or rural, under
internal or foreign influence, to encourage armed confrontations with regular
forces or the police, or to perpetrate assaults against the life and security of
persons, the territorial integrity of the State shall be liable to a punishment
of fifteen to thirty years imprisonment.”
The
Commission also wishes to point to Article 138 in the chapter on crimes against
international law. That article
addresses the crime of genocide and provides that “Any individual who, intent
upon the total or partial destruction of a national, ethnic or religious group,
either kills or injures members of the group, subjects them to inhumane living
conditions, imposes upon them measures designed to prevent their procreation or
uses violence to remove children or adults to other groups, shall be punished by
ten to twenty years imprisonment.” “The
author or authors of bloody massacres within the country or any other individual
either directly or indirectly responsible for same shall be liable to the same
punishment. If the guilty
individual(s) is a public official or civil servant, he or she shall receive an
additional 100 t0 500 days imprisonment.”
The
importance of these laws will be seen in the chapters of this Report.
b.
Penal Procedural Code, enacted by Supreme Decree No. 10426, of
August 23, 1972. This Code repealed the penal procedural code enacted through
a law of August 6, 1898, and any other conflicting provisions.
c.
Civil and Civil Procedural Codes, enacted through Legislative
Decree 12760, of August 8, 1975. In
Title VII the Civil Procedural Code establishes the procedure for the
proceedings and remedies provided for in the Constitution.
Of these, mention should be made of the proceedings of
unconstitutionality or non applicability, the remedy of habeas corpus,
the remedy of amparo, and the direct remedy of nullity.
Supreme Court review of the decision is provided for in respect to the
first three cases.
d.
Family Code, enacted through Supreme Decree No. 10426 of August
23, 1972, and which governs the entire legal system relative to the family.
e.
Minors Code, enacted through Legislative Decree No. 12538 of May
30, 1975, and which governs the exercise, enjoyment and guarantees of the rights
of minors within Bolivian territory.
f.
Law Governing the Organization of the Judiciary, enacted through
Legislative Decree No. 10267, of May 19, 1972.
g.
Law on the Organization of the Military Judiciary, enacted through
Decree Law No. 13,321 of January 22, 1976.
It is composed of two sections and 123 articles.
The first section concerns the Tribunals of Military Justice, military
jurisdiction in times of peace and the organization of military justice in
general. The second section deals
solely with military jurisdiction in wartimes.
It
should be pointed out that Article 105 of this law establishes national
jurisdiction by providing that the jurisdiction of the military court in wartime
is the entire territory of the Republic. Territories declared to be military zones also fall under
military jurisdiction, even in times of peace. (The underlying is ours)
As
was seen earlier, when the Armed Forces took power they placed the entire
country under military law, thereby making the Military Codes applicable to
civilians and transferring competence to hear cases involving criminal acts
provided for under criminal laws from the regular judges to military judges.
Despite
the foregoing, the Commission has no knowledge and has received no information
to indicate systematic, arbitrary or prolonged application of the standards of
military criminal justice in trying civilians.
h.
Military Penal Code, enacted through Decree Law 13321 of January
22, 1976. This Code is divided into
three books. The first is general
in nature and concerns the application of the Military Penal Law, the crime, the
criminal and the punishment. The
second and third books refer to the crimes against the security of the State,
duty and military honor, and crimes against military personnel and against the
property of the armed forces.
The
Military Penal Code establishes the death penalty for treason in its various
forms, disloyalty and espionage.
i.
Code of Military Penal Procedure, enacted Decree Law 13321 of
January 22, 1976. This code
establishes the general and specific principles of procedure in this field.
F. Human Rights and the
International Legal System
1. Bolivia is a
member of such international organizations as the United Nations and the
Organization of American States, whose charters uphold protection and respect
for human rights. Bolivia has participated in a number of meetings, among them
the Paris and Bogotá meetings that adopted the Universal Declaration of the
Rights of Man and the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man,
respectively.
2.
Bolivia deposited the instrument of accession to the American Convention
on Human Rights or Pact of San José, Costa Rica, on July 19, 1979.
The President of the nation at that time was General David Padilla
Arancibia. Prior to that, through
Supreme Decree 16575, the Bolivian Government has declared its accession to this
inter-American legal instrument, and had pledged to observe it.
3.
The Bolivian Republic has also signed or ratified various international
legal codes related to this topic. These
include the following: the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination; The Inter-American Convention on Asylum; the Convention on the
Rights and Duties of States in Cases of Civil War; the Convention on Political
Asylum; the Inter-American Convention on Political Rights of Women; the
Inter-American Convention on Diplomatic Asylum; the Inter-American Convention on
Territorial Asylum; ILO Convention No. 87, concerning Freedom of Association and
Protection of the Rights to Organization; ILO Convention No. 98 concerning the
Application of the Principles of the Right to Organization and to Bargain
Collectively; ILO Convention No. 100 concerning equal Remuneration for Men and
Women Workers for Work of Equal Value; ILO Convention No. 102 concerning Minimum
Standards of Social Security, and ILO Convention No. 111 concerning
Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation.
G. Bolivia
and the American Convention on Human Rights
1.
By virtue of its accession to the American Convention, Bolivia undertook
to respect the rights and freedoms upheld in that Convention and to guarantee
their free and full exercise, in accordance with Article 1 thereof.
2.
Chapter IV of the Convention deals with suspension of guarantees.
Article 27.1 states that in time of war, public danger, or other
emergency that threatens the independence or security of a State Party, it may
take measures that, to the extent and for the period of time strictly required
by the exigencies of the situation, suspend its obligations under the
present Convention, with certain limitations.
The underlining is ours.)
3.
The text of Article 27.2 of the Convention is very clear.
The provision contained in paragraph 1 of that article does not authorize
any suspension of the right to juridical personality, the right to life, but
right to humane treatment, freedom from slavery, freedom from ex post facto laws,
freedom of conscience and religion, the rights of the family, the right to a
name, the rights of children, the right to nationality, the right to participate
in government, or the right to the legal guarantees essential to the protection
of such rights.
As
for the other rights set forth in the Convention, Article 27.3 provides for
certain formal requirements over and above the substantive requirements
mentioned above, in order for a state to be able to exercise the right to the
suspension.
Those
requirements are as follows:
a.
It must immediately inform the other states parties to the Convention,
through the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, of the
provisions the application of which has been suspended;
b.
The reasons that gave rise to the suspension; and
c.
The date set for the termination of such suspension.
5. In the case
that concerns us, that is, the State of Bolivia vis-à-vis the Convention, a
distinction must be made between those rights that can be suspended provided the
substantive conditions and formal requirements described earlier are met, and
those that cannot be suspended under any circumstances and whose nonobservance
would be contrary to the spirit and letter of the Pact of San José, Costa Rica.
6.
In the first of these situations, we find that with the military coup of
July 17, 1980, the Government of Bolivia suspended the right to meet; freedom of
association; freedom of thought and expression; the right to personal freedom
and the right to movement and residence, by declaring the entire country to be a
military zone; it retained the current Constitution only insofar as it did not
contravene the objectives of the new Government, and supplemented by the
measures adopted in the days and months subsequent to July 17, 1980.
The
Commission finds no direct causal relationship between the acts of opposition
that the military declaration occasioned and the actions and decisions the
Bolivian authorities took, at times legally and at other times ipso facto.
In the Commission’s opinion, the Bolivian authorities took, at times
legally and at other times ipso facto. In
the Commission’s opinion the Bolivian authorities exceeded the limits of state
action by disregarding the restrictions on the use of such measures stipulated
in the American Convention both with respect to the gravity of the situation and
the period of time such measures should remain in effect.
Furthermore,
the Commission has no knowledge to the effect that the military Government of
Bolivia has made proper use of the constitution and legal powers that would
allow it, by the very terms of the Constitution, to suspend certain individual
rights and guarantees for reasons of public order, thereby respecting the
content of the Convention.
As
for the formal requirements, Bolivia has not yet complied with the obligation to
inform the other states parties to the Convention, through the General
Secretariat of the Organization, of the provisions whose observance it has
suspended, the reasons for that suspension and the date set for the termination
of such suspension.
7.
Political rights are among the rights that cannot be suspended under any
circumstances. In the list contained in article 27.2, political rights are
among those not subject to suspension by the States.
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