Human Rights Lawsuits Brought Against Former Bolivian President and Minister of Defense for Complicity in Attacks on Civilians
Sixty-seven killed, more than 400 injured during popular protests in 2003
Click on these links to view articles on the lawsuits from the Washington Post, Reuters, and the Associated Press.
The International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, along with other human rights lawyers, has filed two lawsuits charging former Bolivian President Gonzalo Daniel Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante and former Bolivian Minister of Defense Jose Carlos Sánchez Berzaín for their roles in the killing of civilians during popular protests against the Bolivian government in September and October 2003.
The suits, which seek compensatory and punitive damages under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) charge Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín with extrajudicial killings and crimes against humanity for their roles in the massacre of unarmed civilians, including children. In September and October 2003, Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín ordered Bolivian security forces to use deadly force, including the use of high-powered rifles and machine guns, to suppress popular civilian protests against government policies.
In all, during those two months forces under their leadership killed 67 men, women, and children and injured more than 400, almost all from indigenous Aymara communities.
Each of the ten plaintiffs, who are Aymara natives of Bolivia, are survivors of individuals who were killed by forces under Sánchez de Lozada’s and Sánchez Berzaín’s command. The ten plaintiffs include among them: Eloy Rojas Mamani and Etelvina Ramos Mamani, whose 8-year-old daughter was killed in her mother’s bedroom when a single shot was fired through the window; Teofilo Baltazar Cerro, whose pregnant wife was killed after a bullet was fired through the wall of a house, killing her and her unborn child; Felicidad Rosa Huanca Quispe, whose 69-year-old father was shot and killed along a roadside; and Gonzalo Mamani Aguilar, whose father was shot and killed.
“We would prefer to see Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín sent back to Bolivia to stand trial, but if that does not happen, the U.S. courts are the best alternative. We hope that the judiciary in the United States will give a fair trial for the victims and defendants. We are asking for justice,” said Plaintiff Juan Patricio Quispe Mamani.
On October 17, 2003, both Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín fled to the United States. Sánchez de Lozada now lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland; Sánchez Berzaín now resides in Miami, Florida. Two separate cases were filed – one in U.S. federal court in the District of Maryland against Sánchez de Lozada and the other in the Southern District of Florida against Sánchez Berzaín – with the same plaintiffs and charges of human rights violations in each.
"Violators of human rights no longer have any refuge. They will be judged and held accountable. This is the case for Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín, who will answer to a court of law, either in the United States or Bolivia," said Harvard Law School Clinical Professor and Executive Director of the Human Rights Program James Cavallaro
The legal team includes Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris and Hoffman; CCR Senior Attorney Jennie Green and CCR cooperating attorneys Judith Chomsky and David Rudovsky; Steven Schulman, John Van Sickle and Jeremy Bollinger from the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; James Cavallaro and Tyler Giannini from the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School; and Miami attorneys Ira Kurzban and Geoffrey Hoffman.
“We are committed to seeing justice done for each of the plaintiffs, and to forcing the Defendants to confront the consequences of their disastrous leadership during this period,” said Steven Schulman, a partner at the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.