An ‘aberrant’ ruling, as described, by a judge in the municipality of La Guardia ordered the release of 28 squatters of some productive properties in the north of Santa Cruz. The action was perpetrated with violence because its protagonists burst into the place with covered faces and armed with machetes, ‘molotov’ bombs, sticks, firecrackers and other artifacts. It was even reported that they held hostage workers from the squatted properties on more than 5,000 hectares. Almost a whole string of serious crimes.
A strong police contingent, with costs and efforts that can be imagined, was mobilized to the properties that had been invaded. There they proceeded to capture the perpetrators of the crime and transfer them to this city for prosecution. Given the seriousness of the events and the evidence presented by the prosecutor in charge, the order was given to send the invaders to Palmasola. However, it took them longer to enter prison than to leave, after an action for freedom that was resolved in their favor because their rights had been… ‘violated’.
It is the upside-down world that makes the calamitous administration of justice in Bolivia spin. The recurrence of ‘selective’ seizures of productive lands – as in the case at hand – has nothing more to do with the impunity that encourages the audacity and misdeeds of upstarts in increasing numbers. Santa Cruz seems like ‘no man’s land’ because respect for private property is frequently violated, accentuating the feeling of legal insecurity that scares away investors.
