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P 261627Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY LA PAZ
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0390
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 8900
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RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
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C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 000469 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PHUM PINR ENVR ASEC BL
SUBJECT: MAS TRAMPLES CONSTITUTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
REF: A. LA PAZ 386 
     ¶B. LA PAZ 374 
     ¶C. 08 LA PAZ 2569 
     ¶D. 08 LA PAZ 2464 
 
Classified By: A/EcoPol Chief Brian Quigley for reasons 1.4 (b, d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:   President Evo Morales, his ruling Movement 
Toward Socialism (MAS) party, and affiliated social groups 
continue to use authoritarian measures to implement a 
so-called "democratic revolution," including the initiation 
of legal proceedings against Supreme Court President Eddy 
Fernandez, a lawsuit against a leading newspaper for alleging 
MAS party corruption, a threatened "community takeover" of 
both former opposition Prefect (governor) Leopoldo 
Fernandez's and opposition Senator Roger Pinto's properties, 
continued inaction regarding the violent takeover of former 
Vice President Victor Hugo Cardenas' home, and a potential 
siege ("cerco") of Congress by MAS supporters to pressure the 
opposition-controlled Senate to pass the electoral transition 
law.  Without Eddy Fernandez, the Supreme Court will not have 
a quorum and will be essentially defunct.  In addition, 
Morales dismissed formal complaints of government attacks on 
press freedom and human rights brought before the 
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights March 20.  Morales 
continues to aggressively target and persecute those who 
oppose his "revolution," including an already-embattled 
judiciary, civic leaders, opposition lawmakers, potential 
presidential contenders, and the press.  End summary. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
MAS Threatens to Bring Down Supreme Court 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (U) The Constitutional Affairs Committee of the 
MAS-controlled lower house of Congress voted March 19 to open 
legal proceedQgs against Supreme Court President Eddy 
Fernandez for denying or delaying justice, most importantly 
in the "genocide" case against former President Gonzalo 
"Goni" Sanchez de Lozada.  Once the lower house votes to 
accept the committee's recommendation, Fernandez will be 
suspended from duty, and the twelve-member court will be 
reduced to seven active magistrates, one fewer than necessary 
for a quorum.  Government Coordination Vice Minister Rebecca 
Delgado on March 23 said: "We know he has had public and 
private meetings conspiring against the executive branch, and 
that this has been a pronouncedly political act.  He has 
political aspirations.  Correspondingly, the ethical thing to 
do is renounce his position and announce his presidential 
candidacy."  MAS Senator Ricardo Diaz added that according to 
the constitution no new magistrates can be appointed until 
the new Plurinational Assembly is seated and passes a law 
regarding judicial appointments, which would not occur until 
sometime in 2010. 
 
¶3. (U) Opposition leader Samuel Doria Medina criticized the 
action, saying: "The government wants to have the judicial 
branch, wants to have the (National) Electoral Court, in 
order to always win and to not have to respect the laws.  It 
is important to have separation of powers, to respect the 
judicial process because, to the contrary, we are now coming 
increasingly closer to an authoritarian government." 
 
¶4. (C) Two other parts of the judicial branch, the 
Constitutional Tribunal and the Judicial Council, are already 
essentially defunct.  The MAS used a campaign of 
intimidation, salary cuts, and legal proceedings to reduce 
the Constitutional Tribunal from ten members to only one, 
where it has remained since the end of 2007 (Reftel D).  The 
Constitutional Tribunal now has a backlog of more than 3,500 
cases.  The Judicial Council is in a similar situation, with 
only two out of five members (and three needed for a quorum) 
and a backlog of over 100 disciplinary cases. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Don't Say That! Morales Sues the Press 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5. (U) President Morales followed up his prior December 10, 
2008 public humiliation of a reporter for publishing a story 
regarding potential involvement by Morales and Presidency 
Minister Juan Ramon Quintana in a contraband corruption 
scandal (Reftel C) with a formal lawsuit against the 
newspaper itself, leading local daily La Prensa.  On December 
9, 2008, La Prensa published a story with the headline "Evo 
Negotiated Green Light with Contrabandists." Morales publicly 
denounced the story and its author, saying "We have this 
class of newspapers and of journalists who lie and lie." 
Morales directed his administration on March 21 to sue La 
Prensa on charges of slander.  Local and international NGOs, 
including the Bolivian National Press Association, are 
backing La Prensa, and the paper itself has published 
editorials maintaining its innocence and the factual nature 
of the story. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
More (Illegal) Communitarian Justice? 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶6. (U) Popular radio and television show host Carlos Valverde 
reported March 23 that campesinos had met in the city of 
Cobija (in the department or state of Pando) and decided to 
take the properties of ex-Prefect Leopoldo Fernandez and 
opposition Senator Roger Pinto, according to their supposed 
"communitarian justice" traditions.  Valverde further 
reported that Presidency Minister Quintana attended the 
meeting.  This possible action, which would be in retribution 
for Fernandez's and Pinto's alleged involvement in the 
September 11, 2008 Pando violence, follows a national wave of 
"communitarian justice," including the March 3 beating of 
ex-MAS dissident diputada Marlene Paredes' and the taking of 
her property, the March 7 violent takeover of former Vice 
President Cardenas's home, and the public threat March 11 by 
Confederation of Eastern Bolivian Indigenous Communities 
(CIDOB) President Alfredo Chavez to "draft (our) own 
indigenous law" and "apply communitarian justice on (Santa 
Cruz Civic Committee Leader Branko) Marinkovic and (Santa 
Cruz Prefect Ruben) Costas" (Reftels A, B). 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Meanwhile, No Government Support for Cardenas 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7. (U) More than two weeks after the March 7 "community 
takeover" of Cardenas' home that left his wife, son, and 
nephew injured and his property ransacked, there has been 
little government action to remove the squatters and restore 
the property to the Cardenas family.  Leading local daily La 
Razon reported March 18 that Foreign Minister David 
Choquehuanca had received demarches from Great Britain and 
the European Union, and that the UN had made a formal 
statement deploring the illegal and violent takeover. 
Cardenas has publicly requested help from the government, "as 
they are responsible for security in the country, to respect 
private property" and return his property.  Nevertheless, 
Choquehuanca maintained the problem was "a community issue." 
 
¶8. (C) In a March 13 meeting with Cardenas' backer and 
political strategist Javier Flores, Flores said they "knew 
Morales himself ordered this action" and that strong 
international pressure had resulted in the government's 
subsequent repudiation, in public at least, of the takeover. 
"The international community is deaf, dumb, and blind 
normally; it is a tragedy it had to come to this, but even 
they could not ignore these events.  The UN's letter and the 
international visits made the difference" in the government's 
changed public stance.  Flores stressed Cardenas did not want 
retribution or for anyone to go for jail.  "He just wants his 
house back.  With the loss of his house, he is losing his 
roots as an Aymara community member." 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
MAS-Supported Siege of Congress Looms 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶9. (U) According to the constitution, Congress is required to 
pass before April 8 a law defining the parameters of the 
upcoming December 6 national elections, including the 
allotment by region of the seats in the lower house and the 
number of special indigenous seats.  The lower house approved 
its version of the proposed legislation on March 23, and the 
opposition-controlled Senate is expected to modify the bill 
significantly before passing it.  MAS-supported social groups 
have announced that the Senate has until April 1 to pass the 
law, otherwise they will surround the Congress until a bill 
is passed. 
 
¶10. (C) The legislation as drafted will meet with significant 
opposition in the Senate for a number of reasons.  First, the 
130 seats in the lower house are supposed to reflect the 
country's population, i.e. larger population centers receive 
more seats.  However, the division of seats has historically 
been weighted disproportionately in favor of the western, 
MAS-dominated departments despite the rapid growth of Santa 
Cruz, and within departments in favor of rural areas over 
urban areas.  The proposed legislation exacerbates this bias, 
which would assist the MAS in its drive to obtain a 
two-thirds majority in the Congress (with which in could 
amend the constitution at will).  Second, the constitution 
mandates the 130 seats be divided equally in each department 
between direct election (i.e. vote for a specific diputado) 
and party vote (i.e. one votes for a party, which later 
selects the representative).  The legislation as written 
violates the constitution by proposing 70 "direct vote" seats 
and only 46 "party vote" seats.  The remaining 14 seats (to 
reach 130 total) are to be set aside to ensure indigenous 
representation.  However, the number and location of these 
"special" indigenous seats is a matter of intense debate, as 
the MAS has drafted indigenous district boundaries to their 
benefit.  Last, as proposed by the MAS, the candidates for 
these "special seats" must be approved by closely-allied 
social groups such as the Confederation of Eastern Bolivian 
Indigenous Communities (CIDOB), which would essentially 
ensure MAS representation. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Morales Denies Intimidating Press... 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶11. (U) President Morales March 17 lambasted a report by the 
Inter-American Press Association (SIP) cataloguing an 
increase in attacks against the press by Morales, his 
administration, and affiliated social groups.  SIP reported 
they had registered 46 verbal or physical acts of aggression 
against members of the media since October 2008, including 
Morales "public ridiculing" of the La Prensa journalist 
December 10.  In response, Morales invited SIP to come to 
Bolivia to investigate, saying "Who is the offender here? 
Evo Morales, or is the press actually offending Evo Morales, 
as the pueblo knows.  The press revises stories, and there is 
lie after lie.  The pueblo knows how they offend us 
permanently, but no matter." 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
...And Denies Human Rights Violations 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶12. (U) Morales similarly rejected charges of human rights 
violations made March 20 at the Inter-American Commission on 
Human Rights (CIDH) by the Lawyers Guild and the Cochabamba 
Office of Women's Judicial Rights.  Charges included the 
dismantling of the Constitutional Tribunal by illegal means, 
general impunity of the administration, corruption, a rise of 
narco-trafficking, violations of freedom of information and 
expression, violations of sexual and reproductive rights, and 
violations of the right to health and liberty.  Morales 
invited the Organization of American States (OAS) to come 
investigate for themselves, specifically mentioning Secretary 
General Miguel Insulza.  "Come see who is violating human 
rights," Morales said.  He then accused the members of the 
Lawyers Guild of being traitors ("vende patrias"). 
 
¶13. (C) In a March 24 meeting with Lawyers Guild President 
Bernardo Wayar, Wayar told Poloff the Morales administration 
was trying to ruin him and the Guild.  He said the government 
had formally decreed lawyers should not pay for membership to 
the Guild, ostensibly to encourage greater access, but really 
to economically cripple and therefore silence the 
organization.  Wayar also noted the CIDH had issued human 
rights recommendations in 2006 that the Morales 
administration had simply ignored.  He said he hoped the 
March 20 testimony would lead to a recommendation to the OAS 
for formal sanctions against the government.  Wayar said he 
had been under personal attack by the MAS for months, ticking 
off a list of hostile actions including anonymous phone calls 
warning his clients to stop working with him and similar 
phone calls to his home warning him to stop opposing the 
government. 
 
- - - - 
Comment 
- - - - 
 
¶14. (C) Morales continues to persecute (and in some cases 
prosecute) anyone who stands in the way of the MAS drive to 
consolidate power, all while staunchly denying any 
culpability.  Post does not expect Morales to slow in his 
domestic quest to quash all perceived opposition, whether 
from the press, the judiciary, or potential presidential 
candidates such as Cardenas. 
URS