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C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 000386 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PHUM PINR ENVR ASEC PTER BL
SUBJECT: "COMMUNITARIAN JUSTICE" SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL? 
 
REF: LA PAZ 374 
 
Classified By: A/EcoPol Chief Brian Quigley for reasons 1.4 (b, d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  Following the March 7 ransacking of former 
Vice President Victor Hugo Cardenas' home and attack on his 
wife and family (reftel), provincial community leaders 
declared March 10 they would formally expropriate the 
property and claimed the new constitution explicitly 
justified their actions.  Community leaders forbade police or 
government investigators from entering the property, citing 
their right to "communitarian justice."  A Cardenas campaign 
insider tells us ruling Movement Toward Socialism party (MAS) 
congressman Gustavo Torrico was the main organizer and 
financier of the attack and that it "surely had the knowledge 
and approval of the President and Vice President."  However, 
in an about-face from earlier comments and perhaps sensing 
the potential for land seizures to spiral out of control, 
Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera and other MAS leaders on 
March 11 rejected the attack and ordered it to stop.  Post 
worries that the MAS may not be able to control this new 
application of communitarian justice. End summary. 
 
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Illegal Becomes Legal Under the New Constitution 
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¶2. (SBU) Selectively quoting the newly-passed constitution, 
rural community leaders in Omasuyos on March 10 declared 
their right under poorly-defined traditions of "communitarian 
justice" to seize the home of former Vice President Victor 
Hugo Cardenas and barred any police or government 
investigators from entering the province, much less the house 
itself.  According to a resolution approved by regional 
leaders, the decision to take the property was done because 
Cardenas campaigned against the approval of the new 
constitution, which "damaged the dignity, ideology, and 
policies of the Aymara community." The resolution further 
stated that as Vice President, Cardenas "was complicit in the 
auctioning off of strategic businesses and delivering into 
the hands of transnational businesses Bolivia's renewable and 
non-renewable resources." 
 
¶3. (SBU) The leaders cited Articles 190, 191, and 192 of the 
constitution in justifying their actions, which together 
state that indigenous communities have the right to apply 
their own cultural norms, that members of such communities 
will be bound by any judgments reached, and that the state 
will respect the community's judgments.  (Note: The 
constitution also states that such "communitarian justice" 
may not violate the constitution, including freedom of 
speech, the right to private property, and the inviolability 
of the home from forced entry.  End note.)  MAS-affiliated 
leader Justino de la Cruz also said the Cardenas property was 
not "fulfilling a social function," which made it eligible 
for public seizure according to Article 56 of the 
constitution.  Responding to the fact that there are neither 
legal definitions as yet of the term "social function," nor 
procedures for legally expropriating properties under the new 
constitution, MAS congressman Leandro Chacullaca announced he 
would present a specific law "expropriating the home of the 
ex-Vice President, as it serves a necessary public function." 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Community to Government: Stay Out 
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¶4. (SBU) De la Cruz further declared the province of Omasuyos 
to be outside the jurisdiction of the central government and 
said that "from this date forward, no one will enter, neither 
an investigator nor a member of the police, (although) they 
do desire to investigate.  Omasuyos has its own investigator, 
its own (unofficial) police force, and they have the right to 
investigate in their own territory.  Those investigators that 
wish to enter should read Articles 190, 191, and 192 of the 
constitution."  The resolution passed by regional leaders 
reiterates this statement and further directs that "no one 
should hold discussions with the oral or written press, nor 
the (state) legal authorities." 
 
¶5. (SBU) Notwithstanding this declaration, Attorney General 
(equivalent) Mario Uribe ordered district attorney Jorge 
Gutierrez to start an investigation.  Gutierrez said he did 
not know when he would decide to send police to recover the 
property. 
 
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MAS Directs Violence, Cardenas Takes Advantage 
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¶6. (C) Opposition Alternate Senator and Cardenas backer Toto 
Loayza said MAS Congressman Gustavo Torrico was the main 
organizer and financier of the attack and that it "surely had 
the knowledge and approval of the President and Vice 
President."  Loayza said the vast majority of the crowd was 
imported from neighboring communities in the Lake Titicaca 
region.  He estimated only 20 percent of the small town 
participated and then only because they were threatened 
and/or paid.  He reported that many people told Cardenas 
local MAS and union leaders had threatened them or else 
&their houses would be next.8 
 
¶7. (C) Although he condemned the violent seizure of the 
property, Loayza also said Cardenas was playing the situation 
for all it was worth, and perhaps too much so.  In his 
opinion, if the government conducts an investigation, they 
will find that Cardenas was well aware the attack was coming 
and left his family to fend for themselves, and that he 
planted a TV cameraman across the street the day before. 
Loayza said Cardenas would be wise to let the "victim 
impression8 linger instead of revisiting the issue. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
MAS Opens Pandora's Box? 
- - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶8. (U) After initially issuing a raft of statements 
essentially blaming the victim (Cardenas) for bringing the 
home invasion upon himself, government leaders on March 11 
made a complete about-face, rejected the ransacking of 
Cardenas' property, and ordered that it stop immediately. 
Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said, "The constitution 
contains absolute respect for private property.  No one can 
use the new constitution as an argument to attack private 
property."  Regarding arguments that the property did not 
fulfil a social function, Vice Minister of Lands Sergio 
Almaraz clarified that the "social-economic function" would 
apply only to larger properties, and that Cardenas property 
was no larger than 300 square meters.  In the Lake Titicaca 
area, he said, only properties larger than five hectares 
would be considered eligible for redistribution.  (Note: With 
regard to "social-economic function," property size is not 
discussed in the constitution.  Almaraz may be referring to 
existing implementing laws for the Law of Agrarian Reform 
(INRA). End note.) 
 
¶9. (U) In news of another application of "communitarian 
justice," leading local daily La Razon reported March 12 that 
former Congress member and MAS party dissident Marlene 
Paredes made a formal statement that she had been expelled 
from her property in the Yungas valley area (Carmen de 
Chicalulu community) by MAS party followers.  Showing several 
large bruises on her body, she said a large group had shown 
up on her property on March 3, accused her of being a traitor 
for leaving the MAS, beat her with sticks, and took over her 
property. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Separately, on March 11 President of the 
Confederation of Eastern Bolivian Indigenous Communities 
(CIDOB) Alfredo Chavez announced that leaders of the 
country's 36 indigenous nations were going to "draft their 
own indigenous law" against those that had "destroyed" Santa 
Cruz's indigenous communities.  "We are going to apply 
'communitarian justice' on (Branko) Marinkovic and (Ruben) 
Costas... because they are responsible for the assault, 
taking, and destruction of our (community) centers." 
 
- - - - 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶11. (C)  After President Morales initially called Cardenas a 
"traitor" and said "the pueblo doesn't stand for or pardon 
traitors," and after Garcia Linera said approvingly that the 
indigenous community was exacting long overdue revenge for 
Cardenas' past "traitorous acts," the government suddenly 
decided to stop the community takeover.  Post believes the 
MAS has begun to see it may not be able to control copycat 
applications of "communitarian justice" now sprouting around 
the country.  Violent property seizures and statements such 
as CIDOB President Chavez's do not square with what our 
indigenous contacts have typically described as 
"communitarian justice. End comment. 
URS