Bolivia's search for truth, justice and reparation

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivia's search for truth, justice and reparation
Posted 29 Aug 2014, 4:39pm

For over 150 years between its independence from Spain and the mid-1980s, Bolivia was characterised by a history of coups, counter-coups and the occasional revolution.

Since 1985, however, despite various outbreaks of social unrest, there has been continuous democratic government, with power regularly changing hands. Major social and economic reforms after 2005 have lead to a marked reduction in poverty and inequality.

Now that the country has entered a period of relative calm, I can understand why some would prefer to avoid stirring up old antagonisms and to consign to history the abuses that took place under the military regimes of earlier decades. However, for the relatives of those who suffered under these regimes, history cannot be swept under the carpet. They remind us that truth, justice and reparation are long overdue.

During the coup that brought General Luis Garcia Meza to power in 1981, an attack on the Bolivian Workers' Centre’s headquarters led to the detention and killing of Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz and Juan Carlos Flores Bedregal, both leaders in the Socialist Party. To date, their whereabouts remain unknown. In the same year, another nine leaders of the Revolutionary Left Movement were killed in the “Harrington Street massacre” in La Paz.

The Garcia Meza regime was one of a series of authoritarian and military governments that were in power in Bolivia between 1964 and 1982. In 18 years, more than 150 people ‘disappeared’ by the authorities, and at least 200 were executed without trial. Thousands more were arbitrarily detained, tortured, went into exile or were deported.

More:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/country-specialists/bolivias-search-truth-justice-and-reparation

[Louisiana1976]

1. I hope Bolivia's people get the truth and justice they're looking for under Morales.

[Judi Lynn]

2. All those monsters who terrorized the Bolivian people were absolutely A-OK with the U.S. gov't!

We NEVER heard a disparaging syllable regarding any of them while they were running the show, even when the Native Bolivians were banned from walking upon the same side with the "white" European descended scum who seized control of Bolivia and wildly abused, tortured, tormented, murdered the people, and still do.

At least they can hope to walk upon the sidewalks their taxes buy, and now they can even VOTE, after a revolution in 1952, which won them some rights. They are still brutally abused, treated like trash in their OWN country by filthy fascist scum, unfortunately.

People visiting Bolivia have remarked the hatred is very much like the evil hatred in the United States South before the 1960's, which we all know still exists. The same kind of garbage hates ALL cultures which have been conquered by predators and thieves.