Bolivians Support President Arce's Judicial Reform

On Wednesday, more than 70 Bolivian indigenous, peasant and worker organizations created a joint coordination mechanism to defend the participatory judicial reform promoted by President Luis Arce.

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"The Bolivian people shall join efforts to transform our judicial system so that the murders and tortures committed during 2019 U.S.-backed coup are properly processed. Justice shall prevail,” said Canela Crespo, the coordinator spokesperson.

The Arce administration's reform proposes to achieve equity in access to the judicial system by ensuring the presence of judges in each region of the country since 175 out of 330 municipalities have no judicial presence.This initiative also calls to institutionalize the judicial career, audit the judges' performance, and coordinate technical solutions for the full transparency of justice institutions.

The need for reforming the Bolivian justice system was accentuated after the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) released a report on the Senkata, El Alto, Sacaba, Cochabamba, and La Paz demonstrations, in which 37 people died and hundreds were injured in 2019.

The coup-born regime led by Jeanine Añez exempted the police and military from criminal responsibility, claiming that their actions during the repression of these protests were aimed at guaranteeing the safety of the Bolivian people.

On Sept. 3, the survivors and relatives of the victims of the Senkata and Sacaba massacres took to the streets of La Paz City to demand justice and reject the political position of the Catholic Church’s leaders, who have supported Añez.

“We understand that judicial investigations require time and shall respect constitutional principles. However, these crimes cannot go unpunished, so we ask for wholehearted support,” protesters stated.