Recent incidents
On October 20, six people, four of them hooded and armed, broke in to the home of Mendoza’s brother, Hugo. They gagged and tied up Mendoza’s sister-in-law and her two elderly uncles. The assailants stated that they planned to kill Hugo Mendoza and waited for him for three hours. When he did not arrive, they took the elderly men’s savings, around $11,700 dollars. Many older Bolivians mistrust the nation’s banking system and choose to keep their savings at home. Oddly, they did not take anything else from the house.
Several months before the incident, Mendoza’s other brother’s car was stolen. In a letter to President Morales requesting a full police investigation of these events, Mendoza states that the family of ex-Attorney General Pedro Gareca suffered similar attacks and robberies in Santa Cruz. Gareca resigned on September 27, 2006 for "personal reasons," the day after he requested that an international arrest warrant be issued for ex-president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and two ex-ministers currently residing in the United States. Although Gareca provided no further explanation for his decision to resign, there was widespread speculation that he had received pressure to step down as a result of the investigations of high ranking ex-officials. Legal experts fear that the interim attorney general will not have the necessary political clout to pursue the pending legal processes. The October 20 break-in at Mendoza’s brother’s home occurred the same day that the new acting attorney general assured that Mendoza and the rest of the prosecutorial team would continue their investigations.
Recurring threats against investigators
Although it is impossible to directly attribute these robberies to Mendoza’s investigations, they appear to be the continuation of a disturbing pattern of recurring and escalating threats received by prosecutors of potentially explosive cases. On August 17, Mendoza and two other prosecutors formally requested permission to carry 9 mm pistols after repeated death threats. Some threatening calls even came from the San Pedro Prison. The acting District Attorney for La Paz, Fernando Ganam affirmed that the prosecutors who received the most constant death threats were those assigned to delicate cases such as Mendoza. He also mentioned William Alave (previously in charge of the February 2003 investigation with Mendoza) and Felix Peralta.[1] Prosecutors denounce that their homes have been broken into, with nothing was stolen, and other recurring threatening incidents.
Threats and pressure against legal investigators is nothing new. On February 27, 2004 a car bomb killed Santa Cruz prosecutor Monica Von Borries, who had been assigned to the case drug trafficking and wiretapping case against, Marco Marino Diodato, the husband of ex-president Banzer’s niece, who had escaped from prison one month before. Von Borries was also investigating powerful businessman for illegal land acquisitions and tax evasion.
In addition, Roger Triveno, the first civilian judge to charge military commanders for human rights violations in the Chapare coca-growing region in 1999. He received threats from anti-drug police, military officers and high ranking government officials in an effort to force him to drop the case. Eventually, the Cochabamba District Court ruled that the case should be transferred to the Bolivian military tribunal, in direct violation of the nation’s constitution and other legal norms. The tribunal quickly dropped the charges, and the army promoted the two accused officers.
It is essential that legal investigators in Bolivia have the necessary protection to carry out independent, transparent legal investigations with the necessary guarantees for their personal safety and that of their families. Although the international press often characterizes judicial proceedings against ex-government officials and military officers implicated in human rights violations as a political vendetta of the Morales administration, but many of these cases began during previous administrations. They represent a concerted effort to address endemic impunity in South America’s poorest nation.
[1] "Fiscales piden armarse para proteger sus vidas." La Paz, ANF. 17 August 2006. Alave and Peralta are investigating the La Solucion Mine Case and the murder of mayor Benjamin Altamirano. Gabriel Pinto, a leader of the Landless Movement (MST) is the primary suspect. Prosecutors investigating the death Naval Ensign, Wilder Blanco, also received threats.