January 13, 2023, 4:00 AM
January 13, 2023, 4:00 AM
The opposition alliance Comunidad Ciudadana (CC) ordered attorney Wilfredo Chávez and Justice Minister Iván Lima to submit a written report to the Legislative Assembly within 10 days on compliance with the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in the case of extrajudicial executions that occurred in April 2009 at the Las Américas hotel. The opponents assure that there is no legal impediment to comply with the request, but from the Government they reiterate that there is a reserve in the handling of the information.
“We are presenting this request for a written report to order the attorney and Minister Lima so that they respond to all the actions they will assume to comply with everything indicated by the IACHR, not only to financially compensate and rehabilitate the victims, but also to make them answer if they are going to open criminal proceedings in the case. Messrs. Lima and Chávez have no legal impediment to provide the information we are requesting,” said Deputy Manuel Ormachea, from CC.
In September of last year, a substantive report from the IDH Commission was released, in which it stated that in the attack on the hotel Las Américas there were extrajudicial executions and torture ordered by the Government of then President Evo Morales against five members of an alleged armed group, and urged those responsible to be prosecuted and punished within Bolivian territory to avoid an international trial.
In the police action that took place on April 16, 2009, dead Eduardo Rózsa Flores, Arpad Magyaroisi and Michel Dwyer. For their part, Elöd Tóásó and Mario Tadic were arrested.
Regarding the requested report, Deputy Ormachea said that although the State must comply with confidentiality rules with the IACHR, there are no legal impediments for the aforementioned authorities to deliver the information to the Legislative Branch.
Ormachea recalled that the deadline for submitting a report to the IACHR was met on January 11. And, in this sense, he questioned the Minister of Justice for delegating the responsibility of referring to the issue to the State Attorney General, Wilfredo Chávez.
Along these lines, Lima reiterated yesterday that the only spokesman for the dispute is the state attorney. “This case is under reserve in accordance with the Statute and the Regulations of the Inter-American Commission. The Government will not pronounce until the Commission lifts the reservationLima insisted.
For his part, Deputy Ormachea regretted that the prosecutor has only referred to the financial compensation and rehabilitation of the victimsbut that it has denied the third recommendation of the IACHR that asks to start a timely trial to identify the perpetrators of the act.
In October of last year, the state attorney general, Juan Lanchipa, rejected the initiation of an investigation criminal prosecution against former President Evo Morales and other ex-authorities for the Las Américas hotel case and human rights violations.
However, it stated that with this offer and possible compliance with two recommendations of the Commission, the State would be admitting the existence of violations, extrajudicial executions and torture in the case also called Rósza.
For the pro-government deputy Juan José Jáuregui, the substantive report of the IACHR which stipulates four recommendations to the Bolivian State does not have a binding characterTherefore, it considers that no fault is incurred if the suggestions are not followed.
“This report is not binding, They are simply recommendations, once it is evidenced that they have been addressed or not, the victims will have the possibility of activating mechanisms of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights”, he explained.
While lawyer Williams Bascopé presumes that The Government is hiding something by not reporting on the progress of the Rósza case. Rolando Cuéllar, a MAS deputy, maintains that the Executive headed by Luis Arce will not put its “hands on fire” for Evo Morales, who is pointed out by the opposition as the confessed author of having ordered the extrajudicial executions in 2009.
