|
|
|
Case 2756 BOLIVIA BACKGROUND: 1. On December 5,
1977, the Commission received the following denunciation: Abel
Ayoroa Argondoña, Legal Adviser to a number of trade union
organizations, was detained at the door of his law offices on June 6,
1972 by agents of the Political Police (Department of Political Order
‘DOP’). He was not permitted to defend himself, nor was he permitted
to inform his family. They locked him in a cell, at first alone and
then, after one month, he was taken to a mass cell, where there were
about 20 people. In the DOP at this time, there were about 500
prisoners, who slept in the corridors and outside in the patio in all
kinds of weather. After interrogation under duress, with threats and
mental torture, they released him on the condition that he leave the
country within 72 hours. Since he did not leave the country within that
time, they imprisoned the person who had stood guarantor for him,
destroying his home in order to take him prisoner. He escaped, went
elsewhere, and for a number of months they searched for him in La Paz
and throughout the country, until finally, they threatened to take his
family hostage which forced him to take asylum in the Embassy of
Argentina on December 17, 1972, and to leave Bolivia for Buenos Aires.
From there, he went to Santiago, Chile, where he was given asylum in
April 1973. While
in Santiago, Chile, with legal asylum, he was detained by agents of the
DINA on August 24, 1974. They blindfolded and handcuffed him, and took
him to an unidentified place, where they held him for 16 days with only
a loaf of bread and a bottle of water per day. He spent day and night
sitting in a chair completely blindfolded, bound with electrical wire,
handcuffed, unable to let anybody know that he had been detained. They
warned him not to try to escape, under pain of death. During those 16
days, they interrogated him four times. During the questioning, they
beat him and gave him ‘electric shocks’ on sensitive parts of his
body. Since he would not accept the political ideas proposed to him, he
was undressed and put on the ‘barbecue’, which is a torture
involving electricity and a metal bed (as he was later told by other
Chilean prisoners). However, his resolute attitude, and his warning that
he had heart problems, made them reluctant to go on with this torture.
Almost every night they threatened to ‘liquidate prisoners’, they
fired guns outside the room, which they claimed were executions, and the
man that seemed to be the head of the political police used to come all
the time and say that ‘we are going to settle accounts with this
Bolivian’, ‘it is better that you talk, because otherwise you’ll
be sorry’, and let loose a string of insults and abuse. Sixteen days
later, they took him out, (still blindfolded), along with some other
prisoners, and took him to a prison that he later learned was Cuatro
Alamos (Avenida Departamental and Vicuña Mackena). Before that they
made him sign a number of copies of all his statements, without giving
him the opportunity to read them, and still blindfolded, promising that
they would release him. The mattresses were made out of plastic, and
food was provided regularly. Since he had eaten nothing, the food
produced stomach pains which in the long run made him get worse. On
September 27, 1974, he was transferred by military aircraft Nº FACH-479
to Arica in the north of Chile, on the border with Bolivia and Peru. He
was still hand cuffed and blindfolded and was made to sleep in a room in
the barracks. They took him to the train station of the Arica-La Paz
railroad, and placed him on a regular train. Two DINA agents had
escorted him from Santiago but would not tell him where they were taking
him. There were other Bolivians on the train whom he knew, including
Mrs. Blanca de Franco, who lived in La Paz, Bolivia, but they did not
allow him to talk with her. When they arrived at the Chilean-Bolivian
frontier, two agents took him off the train. At the border, at a place
called Visviri, a jeep from the Bolivian Ministry of the Interior, with
four agents led by Guillermo Moscoso, the well-known torturer r f
Bolivian politicians, was waiting for him. After he had signed a
‘notice of delivery and receipt’, the agents from both countries
handed him over in manacles to the Bolivian Political Police, who took
him by jeep to Viacha, 30 kilometers from La Paz. There, they put him in
a room that had only a cement floor; no bed and no blanket. He had only
the clothes he had been wearing. The temperature in Chile had been 24o
C, while in Bolivia during the day it was 10o C in the sun, and less
than 4o C at night. They gave him food that had a lot of very spicy
chili pepper, which made him so ill that the blood hemorrhaging from his
colon could not be stopped. They would not tell his family where he was,
and they would not permit a doctor to see him. They put an empty tin can
in his room for his physical necessities, and by opening the iron door a
little they have him food. He had no light, although there was an
electrical installation in the room. He stayed like that for 21 days,
and at the end, was physically so exhausted that he could hardly stand. Luckily,
at the end of October, Mr. Lemann, the Representative of the
International Red Cross, arrived. He had the door opened, and was very
surprised when he learned his name, because he said that they had
presumed him to have disappeared in Chile. Mr. Lemann took away with him
the first written note advising his family that he was still alive,
although he was not allowed to tell them where, because Major Rocangel,
who was in charge of the Commission, would not allow this. He also
managed to have him transferred to the Police Hospital where they looked
after him fairly well, particularly because the doctors were
professionally responsible, and because of the humanitarian attitude of
the auxiliary personnel. However, before he was able to recover
completely, he was suddenly transferred one night to the Panóptico
Nacional of San Pedro, La Paz, to the Alamos Section for politicians and
trade unionists. He remained there until December 26, 1974, at which
time they transferred him to the Chonchocoro concentration camp in the
Bolivian highlands, because he had managed to publish a letter-complaint
in ‘El Diario’ addressed to the United Nations Human Rights
Commission. He
was kept prisoner in a room in Chonchocoro until the night before his
expulsion to Asunción, Paraguay on January 31, 1975. He made one
statement and that, under duress. The food was bad but it enabled him to
survive. He was allowed one visit per week, although the family suffered
a great deal on account of the distance. Other prisoners included
leaders of the Miners’ Federation: Víctor López and Oscar Salas. The
cold at night was the worst punishment, over and above the fact that
they had no drinking water or electric light. The first night, they kept
him in a room with straw mattresses which was unused, and full of rats
that would not let him sleep for an instant, he had to give them part of
his food so that they would not bite him. He had forgotten to note that
they took him twice from the panóptico de San Pedro to the Ministry of
the Interior to make statements at night using torture, beatings and a
strong light glaring in his face, as well as threats of abuse against
members of his family who were in La Paz, and brutal, grotesque
treatment. The people torturing him used only their first names,
(actually nicknames), and for the most part, came from the east of
Bolivia. The second time, the beating on his stomach from the two agents
made him pass out. One beat him while the other held him from behind. No
judge, no court heard about the case, despite the fact that the Bar
Association of La Paz had presented a writ of Habeas Corpus for some
lawyers, including Dr. Ayoroa. The writ was rejected by Dr. Burgoa’s
Court. Since
he was not allowed to exercise his right to self-defense, he was unable
to appear before any judge or court under the law. Furthermore, no
attorney dared to file a complaint. When one prisoner presented a
complaint in law, they took him away at night, beat him, and it was
discovered that the retina of one his eyes had become detached: R.
Petters was his defense. There have been cases in which the person who
brought suit on behalf of someone else was himself imprisoned.” 2. In a note of
April 5, 1978, the Commission transmitted the pertinent parts of the
denunciation to the Government of Bolivia, and asked it to provide the
appropriate information with respect to the complaint and with respect
to the exhaustion of domestic legal remedies. 3. In a
communication dated June 2, 1978, the Government of Bolivia, without
referring to arbitrary arrest, torture, or lack of due process, replied
to the Commission’s request in the following terms: Mr.
Abel Ayoroa Argandoña, a militant of the Nationaliat Revolutionary
Movement of the Left (MNRI) and of the Revolutionary Party of the
Nationalist Left (PRIN), was in May 1972 a member of the Executive
Committee of the FLIN (Nationalist Leftist Liberation Front), inciting
the populace to come to the Cabildo Abierto. He was arrested, and was
released in June of the same year, having signed a commitment not to
undertake any political activity against the Nationalist Government, On
December 18, he traveled to Argentina where he was very active in
subversive work. In
April 1973, he signed a subversive manifesto entitled ‘April’, which
incited efforts to overthrow the government. In May, he met with
militants of the MNRI in Chile, where details of the subversive plan
were finalized. Subsequently, on January 26, 1974, he re-entered the
country clandestinely from Argentina, to take part in a meeting with
extremist elements. His
name appeared on a document drawn up in Argentina by the MNRI, from
which it was learned that he would participate in the subversive
movement of March 23, 1974. He was exiled to Paraguay in January 1975,
because he was seriously compromised in subversive activities. He has
presently been granted amnesty under the Amnesty decree by the Supreme
Government, in December 1977 and the Amnesty of January 19, 1978. 4. The pertinent
parts of the Government’s reply were transmitted by letter dated June
28, 1978, to the person filing the complaint, who was invited to make
observations on the reply. 5. To date, the
complainant has made no observations on the Government’s reply. WHEREAS: 1. In replying to
the Commission’s request for information on the events denounced, the
Government of Bolivia declared that Mr. Abel Ayoroa Argantoña was
exiled to Paraguay in January 1975 , but made no reference to the
arbitrary arrest, torture or lack of due process. 2. Article 51.1 of
the Regulations of the Commission provides that: Article
51: 1.
The occurrence of the events on which information has been
requested will be presumed to be confirmed if the Government referred to
has not supplied such information within 180 days of the request,
provided always, that the invalidity of the events denounced is now
shown by other elements of proof. THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, RESOLVES: 1. On the basis of
Article 51.1 of the Regulations, to presume the material facts of the
denunciation related to arbitrary arrest, torture and lack of due
process to be confirmed. 2. To declare that
the Government of Bolivia violated (Article I) right to life, liberty
and personal security, (Article VIII) right to residence and movement,
(Article XXV) right to protection against arbitrary arrest and (Article
XXVI) right to due process of the American Declaration of the Rights and
Duties of Man. 3. To recommend to
the Government of Bolivia: a) that it order a complete, impartial
investigation to determine responsibility for the events denounced, and
to sanction those responsible for these events in accordance with
Bolivian law; b) to take all necessary measures to guarantee effective
observance of the right of residence and movement upheld in the American
Declaration; c) to inform Mr. Ayoroa, if it has not already done so,
that he may return at any time to the country, and d) that it inform the
Commission within a maximum of 90 days as to the measures taken to put
into practice the recommendations listed in the present Resolution. 4. To communicate
this decision to the Government of Bolivia and to the person filing the
denunciation. 5. To include this
Resolution in the Annual Report of the Commission to the General
Assembly of the Organization of American States, pursuant to Article 9
(bis), paragraph c. iii of the Statute of the Commission, without
prejudice to the fact that the Commission may, at its next session,
reconsider the case in the light of such measures as the government may
have adopted. (Approved
at the 610th meeting of March 7, 1979 (46th
session), and transmitted to the Government of Bolivia).
|
