Otto Reich speaks at Capitol Hill Evo-bashing session
Juan Carlos Urenda, leader of Bolivia's right-opposition Todos por Santa Cruz party, spoke before members of the US Congress at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington DC on April 22, complaining about what he called the deteriorating democratic system in Bolivia under leftist President Evo Morales, in a special session on Latin America organized by the Center for Security Policy. Presided over by Reps. Brian Bilbray (R-CA) and Connie Mack (R-FL), the event also included testimony by ex-assistant secretary of state Otto Reich and journalist Douglas Farah.
Urenda told the session that "the division of powers has disappeared in Bolivia. Evo Morales controls the judicial, legislative and executive powers, as well as the Constitutional Tribunal," the country's highest court. He also charged that coca cultivation in Bolivia has increased by 30,000 hectares under Morales' rule, and blasted Morales for his support for Iran's nuclear energy program. He characterized the new Bolivian constitution as "centralist" and eroding local rule—a hot issue in Urenda's home department of Santa Cruz.
Reich mostly spent his time at the mike lambasting Morales' Venezuelan ally Hugo Chávez, and urging that the US impose an embargo of Venezuelan oil. "Venezuelan petroleum represents 6% of that consumed in the United States, but North American sales represent 89% of Venezuelan hydrocarbon exports," he said. (Quote retranslated from Spanish translation.) (ANF, April 23)
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Amnesty International to Bolivia: protect ombudsman's office
Amnesty International issued a statement April 21 urging Bolivia to protect the autonomy of the human rights ombudsman's office (Defensor del Pueblo), in response to comments by Álvaro García Linera that the country's congress should chose a new person to fill the office on the basis of political criteria. (ANF, April 22)
Bolivia: new rights ombudsman finally sworn in
Bolivia's congress swore in the new Human Rights Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo), emeritus Methodist Bishop Rolando Villena, on May 13. According to the 2009 Constitution, Villena will serve a six-year term, without the possibility of re-election. Congress chose Villena amidst accusations of legal violations from the previous Defensor and opposition leaders. Vice President García Linera, presiding as head of the Senate, urged Villena to "defend, watch over and protect the integrity of Bolivian society’s individual and collective human rights." Booing and insults exchanged between different parties led to the session’s premature conclusion. As a result, Villena gave his acceptance speech outside the legislature. He affirmed, "I am a servant to the people and we will provide an unfaltering defense of human rights from different scenarios so that the exercise of authority will dignify relations between the state and the community." (Andean Information Network, May 19)