Bolivia, victims of massacres denounce vulnerability and lack of support

teleSUR English

In Bolivia, the victims of the two massacres carried out during the de facto government of Jeanine Añez in 2019 admitted their vulnerability in the face of their demands for justice. Our correspondent Freddy Morales gives us the details. teleSUR

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00:00And in Bolivia, the victims of the two massacres carried out during the de facto

00:03government of Yanin Añez in 2019 admitted their vulnerability in the face of their

00:07demands for justice. Our correspondent Freddy Morales with the details.

00:14Since the right won the elections on August 17th, the judges who were handling the trials for

00:20massacres and human rights violations during and after the 2019 coup, changed their attitude

00:26and began to close all the cases one by one. It hurt me, the prosecutor, or the judge did very

00:36wrong. The judge should not have acted that way, he should have looked at both sides.

00:47Are we animals? We are only people. It was our misfortune to be born poor.

00:51For example, the trials for the Sakaba and Senkata massacres, which left more than 20 people dead,

01:02have already been closed. And the accused, some of whom were in detention, were immediately released.

01:11All the actors who participated in the coup are being released. Justice is always leaning toward

01:16that side and is not looking at the other side. Where there have been serious human rights violations

01:21against the Bolivian people.

01:26The cancellation of the proceedings, which had been ongoing for more than for years,

01:31by the same judges, was made on the grounds that, because former President Yanin Añez was involved,

01:37the case should be heard by the Supreme Court, as previously authorized by the legislature.

01:42They have delayed us, confused us, and done nothing for the victims of the coup.

01:47As the Inter-American Court of Human Rights says, we must exhaust all domestic remedies,

01:53but that has already happened, and they have ignored us. I believe that we are going to take

01:58our claim internationally, to the International Human Rights Committee. And that is how we are

02:02going to proceed, because here they are not listening to us. In Bolivia for us there is no justice

02:08anymore. Up until now there has been no redress, there has been nothing.

02:14But, in the demand not only for justice, but also for redress, that is, for economic and moral

02:20compensation, the main defendant, former President Yanin Añez, has already filed her claim with the

02:26Inter-American Court of Human Rights, for alleged violations of her human rights during her detention,

02:32and TRIA. The violations are quite serious and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is

02:40expected to issue a statement on this situation. These situations have been serious and must be

02:45redressed, and sanctions must be imposed on all the authorities who refused to review their

02:50jurisdiction, and on all those who were involved in these processes.

02:53It is unlikely that the new legislature that will take office in November, together with the new

03:01government, aim to authorize a trial of responsibilities because the right-wing that

03:06participated in the coup, and was responsible for the massacres, controls more than 90% of both

03:12chambers. And they never admitted that in 2019 there was a coup, massacres, and human rights violations.

03:19Freddy Morales, Telesur, Bolivia.

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