VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLP #2305/01 2331926
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211926Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY LA PAZ
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4739
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 7013
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 4377
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 8271
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 5501
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 2725
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 2904
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 4801
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 5361
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 9969
RUMIAAA/USCINCSO MIAMI FL
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0487
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS LA PAZ 002305 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON PHUM BL
SUBJECT: MAS TAKES STEPS AGAINST CONSTITUTIONAL TRIBUNAL 
 
REF: LA PAZ 1664 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (SBU)  On August 16, the Constitution Commission in 
Bolivia's lower house of Congress submitted a report 
recommending legal action against all but one of Bolivia's 
five Constitutional Tribunal judges (the Constitutional 
Tribunal rules on the constitutionality of laws, while the 
separate Supreme Court acts as the court of final appeal.) 
In recommending that a case against the magistrates be filed 
in the Senate, the lower house may have violated Bolivia's 
constitution, because it did not wait for the required ruling 
on the magistrates' prior appeal for legal protection.  If a 
formal accusation is lodged, the magistrates will be 
temporarily suspended until the Senate tries the magistrates. 
 In the mean time, Bolivia will have no legal body overseeing 
the constitutionality of laws, giving the Executive Branch 
greater leeway without constitutional oversight.  Although 
the Senate seems likely to vote not to convict, ruling party 
Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) senators are likely to stall 
the vote, leaving Bolivia without effective constitutional 
oversight at a critical time. 
 
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The Legal Process 
----------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The case against the Constitutional Tribunal 
judges is in the preparatory stage in the lower house's 
Constitution Commission.  During this phase, the subjects of 
an impeachment case have the right to file an appeal for 
legal protection, which the magistrates did, claiming that 
their rights were being violated.  This appeal for legal 
protection was accepted by the Congress and transferred to 
the district court, which in turn decided that the lower 
house's Human Rights Commission must rule on the issue.  The 
Human Rights Commission has not yet issued a decision, and 
therefore the case should not proceed.  However, the MAS 
party has a majority in the Constitution Committee (and in 
the lower house overall).  Taking advantage of this majority, 
the MAS representatives have continued with the case and on 
August 16 published a report that recommends that the Senate 
impeach the Constitutional Tribunals.  There has not yet been 
a formal accusation from the President of the lower house, a 
necessary step if the case is to be put before the Senate 
(reftel.) 
 
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Potential Implications 
---------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  If the President of the lower house submits the 
case to the Senate, the judges will be automatically 
suspended (even before the Senate makes a decision.)  There 
is no legal limit to the deliberation period, and while the 
opposition has a one-seat majority in the senate, the MAS 
could use stalling tactics to prevent a final vote (keeping 
the Tribunal in limbo.)  The judges remain suspended until 
the senate reaches a decision.  In such a situation, 
substitutes (suplentes) are intended to replace the suspended 
judges.  However, currently the Constitutional Tribunal does 
not have substitutes available to take over, which would 
leave a Constitutional Tribunal comprised of only Judge 
Silvia Salame, who by herself would not have the necessary 
quorum to issue constitutional decisions. Thus Bolivia could 
be left without a body to determine constitutionality, 
leaving President Morales and the Executive branch with 
ever-more unfettered powers.  (Note:  On August 19, Vice 
President Garcia Linera suggested that the Congress would 
elect new tribunals as soon as possible.  Election of 
magistrates requires a two-thirds vote of the combined Senate 
and lower chamber. End note.) 
 
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Comment 
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¶4.  (SBU)  The recommendation by the Constitutional 
Commission does not have any legal power without action by 
the president of the lower house, and therefore this newest 
wrinkle in the Constitutional Tribunal situation may pass 
without further issue.  If the impeachment process continues, 
a suspension of the Constitutional Tribunal would come at a 
particularly difficult time, since a number of issues 
currently being debated in the Constituent Assembly could be 
subject to oversight from the Constitutional Tribunal: 
without a Constitutional Tribunal, these constitutional 
questions would be left unanswered.  On August 20, the 
Bolivian Bar Association issued a statement:  "To close the 
Tribunal means to remove the only legitimately empowered 
arbitration which can revise the acts and resolutions of the 
Assembly and implies the coming of juridical chaos and 
violence."  Whether or not the judges are eventually 
suspended or impeached, the action by the lower house's 
Constitutional Commission seems to be yet another example of 
the MAS testing the limits of its powers. In addition, the 
impeachment of the constitutional tribunal justices is part 
of an ongoing MAS campaign to discredit the judiciary, a 
branch of government the MAS currently does not control. End 
summary. 
 
GOLDBERG