April 10, 2023, 4:05 AM
April 10, 2023, 4:05 AM
The former civic president Romulo Calvo; the rector of the UAGRM, Vicente Cuéllar, and the vice rector Reinerio Vargas, were summoned as defendants for the 36-day strike. The complaint was filed in El Alto and they will have to appear in Plan 3,000.
The summons was observed by the defense of the university authorities.
The three They were summoned to testify this Thursday, April 13 in offices of the Specialized Department for the Fight against Corruption, located in the El Mechero police station, Plan Tres Mil area. Reinerio Vargas was summoned for 9:15, Vicente Cuéllar for 9:30 and Rómulo Calvo for 9:45.
They are accused of crimes of resolutions contrary to the Constitution and to the laws, attacks against the president and other State dignitaries, political violence against women, racism and discrimination, attack against the freedom of work, attack against the security of public servants, criminal association, terrorism and impeding the development of functions, among others.
The complaint was filed by Marcelo Mayta, executive of the Central Obrera Regional (COR) of El Alto, on November 11 of last year, and accepted by the Prosecutor’s Office two days later.
Luis Fernando Camacho, governor of Santa Cruz, is also among those denounced by the representative of the COR alteña.
Manfredo Bravo, head of National and International Public Relations at UAGRM, pointed out that the summons was poorly executed because it did not have the annexes of the complaints filed against the university authorities.
“What we have done, through a letter made by the lawyers, is to answer this summons, pointing out that it is poorly carried out, because it did not have the annexes of the complaints. This is what we are going to argue in the event that the hearing will not be postponed,” said Bravo.
He added that the rector is in Italy because he has scheduled an audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican, also for the 13th.
For his part, former civic president Rómulo Calvo, in a contact with EL DEBER, pointed out that his summons was also poorly raised, but he will still be at the hearing. He noted that they are being summoned after the deadline and that the complaint was filed in the municipality of El Alto where there have been no consequences related to the 36 days of strike.
“This is part of a political persecution that the Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) is carrying out”, Calvo added.
Martín Camacho, lawyer for the excivic, He also confirmed that he will attend the hearing this Thursday. “We are not going to return or observe any error in the notification, we are going to go to the statement,” Camacho said.
On his social networks, Vicente Cuéllar wrote that he was summoned to testify as a defendant “for a series of crimes that Mr. Juan Marcelo Mayta, a supporter of the government party, has filed against me and other authorities, for having fought for a just right, the realization of a timely and transparent census for all Bolivians. Justice in our country is rotten. Those who think differently are persecuted, the right to dissent is restricted”.
While Marcelo Mayta told EL DEBER that the case was in reserve and for this reason he was recommended not to make statements about the investigation. Contact was also made with Erland Rodríguez La Fuente, Mayta’s lawyer, who first answered the call, but excused himself and asked that he be called back in two hours because he was in a particular activity, then he did not answer calls or messages.
William Herrera, a constitutional lawyer, considers that this entire process is “an abuse and an outrage” because the complaint was filed and then the case was opened in El Alto, despite the fact that everything happened in Santa Cruz and the defendants have their domicile in the crossing capital.
What they are looking for is how criminalize protests because what happened here was that and the one that carried out state terrorism was the Government, but they will never open any type of criminal case because this is aimed at intimidating leaders,” said the lawyer.
In turn, José Orlando Peralta, a political analyst, sees that the demand raised by the El Alto leader is “absurd” because it is unheard of for someone who was not present during the 36-day strike to be the one to denounce it.
“This makes me understand that This is a purely partisan political act and it has nothing to do with a search for justice, because the complaint by this social leader from El Alto is against the departmental authorities of Santa Cruz, they are not even national,” the analyst said.
On March 22 of this year, Luis Fernando Camacho, governor of Santa Cruz, appeared to provide his informative statement on the 36-day strike. On that occasion, the authority accepted its right to remain silent.
On that occasion, Camacho’s defense assured that there is “no causal link” or link between the authority and the mobilizations and indicated that at that time the social sectors related to the Government acted against the population.
