January 20, 2023, 7:35 PM
January 20, 2023, 7:35 PM
“Case of Flores Bedregal et al. vs. Bolivia”, This is how the trial filed by the family of leader Jorge Flores Bedregal against the Bolivian State was labeled and this Friday the act of notification of sentence took place, which ordered the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I/A Court HR) with the presence of the parties. It was the second setback the country suffered in international courts.
“The State is responsible for the forced disappearance of Juan Carlos Flores Bedregalthe violation of the rights to the recognition of legal personality, to life, to personal integrity and personal liberty”, points out point 3 of the sentence, which was read by the president of the multilateral entity, Judge Ricardo Pérez Manrique.
The case of Flores Bedregal dates back to the last century, during the coup perpetrated by the then general, Luis García Meza, in 1980. The deceased leader was part of the group that was in the COB offices in El Prado in La Paz and was riddled with bullets in the stands of the labor entity. Since then, the whereabouts of his remains have been unknown, and his family, four sisters, never obtained reparation for damages in the Bolivian courts.
Now, 43 years after those events, The Inter-American Court read the final sentence that has 20 points, in which it details all the State’s failures to protect people’s lives. It also contains tasks that the current Government must fulfill, within a maximum period of one year, after which there will be a commission to monitor compliance with the sentence.
Violation of judicial guarantees; judicial protection; violation of the rights of access to information; violation of personal integrity, are some of the failures that the State committed at that time. As of the seventh point, the Inter-American Court left tasks to the authorities that they must fulfill without fail.
Investigations to clarify the circumstances of the disappearance; investigations into the whereabouts of the remains of Juan Carlos Flores Bedregal within a year; medical and psychological rehabilitation measures; a public act of acknowledgment of international responsibility, are some of the tasks that the Inter-American Court dictated.
In addition, ordered the State to lift the confidentiality of information in the Armed Forces to find out what happened to the deceased leader. This reservation or modification of the Law must be made within one year.
You must pay for the damages to the victims and also to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the processing of this case. Within a year the case will be reviewed again to see how much the country’s authorities complied. The president of the hearing, Judge Ricardo Pérez Manrique, recalled that the decision was made unanimously among all the lawyers.
