Argentina Bolivia: Human Rights Defenders Mission Harrassed Upon Arrival

Both an independent delegation of Argentinean citizens and an official commission of the Mercosur Parliament will make contact with victims of repression and political persecution.

The Argentinean Delegation in Solidarity with the Bolivian People (DASB) on Thursday night arrived at the Santa Cruz Airport, where the Police submitted its members to an interrogation.

"'Be careful, we are watching you, we are following you,' de facto Interior Minister, Arturo Murillo threatened us. If this is not a dictatorship, so what is it?", human rights defender Juan Grabois said.

Almost immediately to what was happening at the Santa Cruz airport, Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales warned about the harassment case.

“Fourteen members of the Argentinean delegation were held by coup-related groups and subjected to a police interrogation in Santa Cruz. We demand that they let them arrive in La Paz to conduct a human rights investigation. The fascist dictatorship evidences its authoritarianism,” Morales Tweeted.

Last Tuesday, Argentinean social organizations appointed a group of representatives to write a “reliable report” on what has been going on in Bolivia since Evo Morales resigned on Nov. 10.

In the next days, the DASB mission will interview Bolivians who have been victims of human rights violations and political persecution since Nov. 11, the day in which the coup d'etat resulted in the self-proclamation of Jeanine Añez as Interim President.​​

"Given Macri's complicity with the Bolivian dictatorship, social, academic, trade union, and  environmental leaders, as well as human rights defenders and 10 lawyers, will travel to Bolivia to meet with social movements and relatives of those killed, maimed, and disappeared."

On Friday, the Mercosur Parliament's Human Rights Commission also arrived in Bolivia to make contact with the victims of repression and prepare a report, which will be presented at the session of that regional integration mechanism on Dec. 9.

"The Mercosur Parliament decided that its Human Rights Commission will carry out a public hearing to have a broader vision and elaborate a report," Argentine parliamentarian Cecilia Merchan said.

"In Bolivia, human rights have been violated... At the bottom of this is the very active participation of the Army and the Police, which aggravates the situation because they are public institutions that must protect those who are being hurt," she added.

telesur

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