October 30, 2024, 11:55 AM
October 30, 2024, 11:55 AM
“The Ombudsman’s Office served as a channel for a negotiation to move forward,” is how Sheila Gómez, defense delegate in Santa Cruz, justifies her intervention this Tuesday in Mairana. Three renowned lawyers value the intervention as an act of preserving the safety of the police officers and journalists kidnapped by the blockades.
The release of the blockades aroused the discontent and discomfort of a part of the population who considered the measure to be very permissive.
The representative of the wives of the Bolivian Police, Guadalupe Cárdenas, was very critical of the way the negotiations were proceeding. “In the hostage exchange, The police officers were returned in poor condition, with injuries in various parts of the body, in the hands and on the head. Those arrested were healthy and many of them were drunk. There is an order so that they are not touched,” he declared.
The facts
Yesterday, Tuesday, Mairana became a battleground between police and blockaders. The uniformed officers arrived at the municipality to reestablish order, regain control of the police facilities taken the previous day and free the route for the transport of vehicles.
Opposite, a large group of blockaders confronted them with dynamitesstones and sticks. There were several hours of violent clashes that disturbed the tranquility of residents. The residents of Mairana insist with their version about the origin of the violent people, they are not from the municipality, they said.
Calm prevailed amidst alarming news. The Police spoke of detained uniformed officers by the blockers. Also kidnapped journalists. In addition, there were 14 blockers arrested by law enforcement.
“The negotiation was initiated by the Departmental Commander of the Santa Cruz Police,” Gómez told EL DEBER Radio. Representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office joined a negotiation that “consisted of an exchange” between kidnapped police and journalists, on the one hand, and arrested blockers, on the other, he explained.
Sheila Gómez justified mediation to “avoid a situation of greater violence.”
Seek the greater good
The former Minister of Justice and Human RightsCarlos Gotia, prioritized “the rescue of the victims in the fastest, most immediate and safest way.” He emphatically insisted that “it does not matter who made the negotiation”, what is relevant is the release of the hostages.
“The use of force in these types of situations should not put the lives of those who are victims of these kidnappings at risk,” he added.
Therefore, an exchange of hostages like the one that occurred in Mairana “does not imply or suppose that the people who have carried out these events are released from the corresponding processes,” he assured EL DEBER.
Goitia stressed that It is appropriate to “immediately activate the prosecution mechanism and imposition of sanctions on those who are committing the criminal act and compensation to the victims.”
In this regard, the State Attorney General, Roger Mariaca, assured in a press conference that will investigate the acts of violence occurred in Mairana and assured that he will not tolerate any form of aggression, whether against journalists or against the population in general.
For constitutional lawyer William Herrera, the position taken by the Ombudsman’s Office revealed “a desperate measure” perhaps, he questions “suggested by the Government.”
He fears that actions like those of yesterday will generate a “precedent, because the principle of authority is completely lost and that would mean that the State submits to four who are there blocking.”
Herrera considered the Government’s actions in releasing the arrested blockers as a sign of weakness. “It has the mechanisms that the Constitution itself allows and in a case like this to establish the State of Exception to establish order,” he stated in a contact with EL DEBER.
Analyst and lawyer Israel Quino shared the same view. He justified “the greater good” and “the protection of the human rights of the two affected groups” as an argument to support the negotiations.
The intervention of the Ombudsman’s Office, Quino explained, is framed in “ensuring the validity and compliance of human rights, so intercede with the police because there is no open case in criminal matters.” The release of the arrested blockers occurred, according to the lawyer’s explanation, in the absence of “a specific procedural legal figure (…) by not identifying a crime, not identifying a minor or serious injury, releasing them and, subsequently, “I could not initiate any criminal proceedings.”
He left open the possibility of initiating subsequent processes if the attacked police officers decide to file a complaint for serious or minor injuries.
