Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante (born 1 July 1930), often referred to as Goni, is a Bolivian businessman and politician who served as the 61st
president of Bolivia
The president of Bolivia ( es, Presidente de Bolivia), officially known as the president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia ( es, Presidente del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia), is head of state and head of government of Bolivia and the ca ...
from 1993 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2003. A member of the
Revolutionary Nationalist Movement
The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement ( es, Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario , MNR) is a centre-right conservative political party in Bolivia and was the leading force behind the Bolivian National Revolution from 1952 to 1964. It influen ...
(MNR), he previously served as minister of planning and coordination under
Víctor Paz Estenssoro
Ángel Víctor Paz Estenssoro (2 October 1907 – 7 June 2001) was a Bolivian politician who served as the 45th president of Bolivia for three nonconsecutive and four total terms from 1952 to 1956, 1960 to 1964 and 1985 to 1989. He ran for pre ...
and succeeded him as the MNR's national chief in 1990.
As minister of planning, Sánchez de Lozada employed "
shock therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment where a generalized seizure (without muscular convulsions) is electrically induced to manage refractory mental disorders.Rudorfer, MV, Henry, ME, Sackeim, HA (2003)"Electroconvulsive the ...
" in 1985 to cut
hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...
from an estimated 25,000% to a single digit within a period of less than six weeks. Sánchez de Lozada was twice elected president of Bolivia, both times on the MNR ticket. During his first term (1993–1997), he initiated a series of landmark social, economic and constitutional reforms. Elected to a second term in 2002, he struggled with protests and events in October 2003 related to the
Bolivian gas conflict
The Bolivian gas conflict was a social confrontation in Bolivia reaching its peak in 2003, centering on the exploitation of the country's vast natural gas reserves. The expression can be extended to refer to the general conflict in Bolivia ov ...
. According to official reports, 59 protestors, ten soldiers and sixteen policemen died in confrontations. As a result of the violent clashes, Sánchez de Lozada resigned and went into exile in the United States. In March 2006, he resigned the leadership of the MNR.
The governments of
Evo Morales
Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to co ...
and
Luis Arce
Luis Alberto Arce Catacora (; born 28 September 1963), often referred to as Lucho, is a Bolivian banker, economist, and politician serving as the 67th president of Bolivia since 2020. A member of the Movement for Socialism, he previously serve ...
have unsuccessfully sought his extradition from the U.S. to stand trial for the events of 2003.
Victims' representatives have pursued compensatory damages for
extrajudicial killings
An extrajudicial killing (also known as extrajudicial execution or extralegal killing) is the deliberate killing of a person without the lawful authority granted by a judicial proceeding. It typically refers to government authorities, whether ...
in a suit against him in the United States under the
Alien Tort Statute
The Alien Tort Statute ( codified in 1948 as ; ATS), also called the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), is a section in the United States Code that gives federal courts jurisdiction over lawsuits filed by foreign nationals for torts committed in vi ...
. In 2014, the U.S. District Court in Florida ruled the case could proceed under the
Torture Victim Protection Act
The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA; ) is a statute that allows for the filing of civil suits in the United States against individuals who, acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation, committed torture and/or extrajudicial ...
. The trial, which began on 5 March 2018 and concluded on 30 May 2018, found Sánchez de Lozada and his former defense minister Carlos Sanchez Berzaín not liable for the civilian deaths after the judge declared that there was "insufficient evidence". Nevertheless, on 3 August 2020, the
11th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated this ruling. On 5 April 2021, a separate U.S. District Court ruling reaffirmed a 2018 jury verdict which found both Sánchez de Lozada and Carlos Sanchez Berzaín liable and required them to pay $10 million.
Political life
The son of a political exile, university professor, and diplomat, Sánchez de Lozada spent his early years in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. He grew up in
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
, and he attended boarding school at
Scattergood Friends School
Scattergood Friends School in Cedar County, Iowa, is a rural, private high school educating students in grades nine through twelve and, since 2020, middle school educating students in grades six through eight. Founded in 1890 by Iowa Wilburite Q ...
in rural Iowa.
He studied literature and philosophy at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. As a result of this experience, he speaks Spanish with a
midwestern American accent.
At the age of 21, he returned to
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
in 1951, on the eve of the 1952 revolution led by the MNR political party. This transformed Bolivia from a semi-
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
oligarchy to a multi-party democracy by introducing
universal suffrage
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...
, nationalizing the mines of the three Tin Barons, and carrying out sweeping agrarian reform. Sánchez de Lozada pursued
filmmaking
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...
and participated in several cinematic projects in the 1950s, including filming Bolivia's 1952 Revolution. In 1954, he founded Telecine. His film ''Voces de la Tierra'' (Voices from the Earth) won First Prize for documentaries at the 1957
Edinburgh Film Festival
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...
.
In 1957, Sánchez de Lozada turned to resource businesses, founding Andean Geoservices. In 1966, he founded the mining company COMSUR, later becoming one of the most successful mining entrepreneurs in the country.
Bolivia was ruled for nearly two decades by
military dictatorships
A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer.
The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
. In 1979 and again in 1980, on the return to democracy, Sánchez de Lozada was elected to congress as deputy for
Cochabamba
Cochabamba ( ay, Quchapampa; qu, Quchapampa) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and the fourth largest city in Bolivia, with a population of 63 ...
. In 1985, he was elected senator from Cochabamba and then as
President of the Senate of Bolivia
The president of the Chamber of Senators of Bolivia is the presiding officer of the upper chamber of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. The president is currently elected for a one-year term.
Below is a list of office-holders.:https://www.r ...
. Soon after, President
Víctor Paz Estenssoro
Ángel Víctor Paz Estenssoro (2 October 1907 – 7 June 2001) was a Bolivian politician who served as the 45th president of Bolivia for three nonconsecutive and four total terms from 1952 to 1956, 1960 to 1964 and 1985 to 1989. He ran for pre ...
appointed him as Planning Minister. Sánchez de Lozada oversaw a series of economic structural reforms that steered the country away from state capitalism, towards a mixed economy. He is particularly known for having sharply reduced the hyperinflation of the period, using economic shock therapy along with then Finance Minister
Juan L. Cariaga Osorio
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...
, as championed by United States economist
Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey David Sachs () (born 5 November 1954) is an American economist, academic, public policy analyst, and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, where he holds the title of University Professor. He is known for his work ...
, then of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
Sánchez de Lozada ran for president in 1989 as the MNR candidate. While he won the plurality with 25.6% of the popular vote, in the congressional runoff among the top three candidates,
Jaime Paz Zamora
Jaime Paz Zamora (born 15 April 1939) is a former Bolivian politician who served as the 60th president of Bolivia from 1989 to 1993. He also served as the 32nd vice president of Bolivia from October 1982 to December 1984 during the presidency ...
of the MIR, who had polled 21.8% of the popular vote and formerly been in third place, won the presidency. Paz Zamora was backed in the runoff by the second-placed, former military dictator
Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer Suárez (; 10 May 1926 – 5 May 2002) was a Bolivian politician and military officer who served as the 51st president of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from 1971 to 1978 in a military dictatorship; and then a ...
of the ADN, who had won 25.2% of the popular vote. Sánchez de Lozada describes himself as a fiscal conservative and social progressive.
First presidency (1993–1997)
In 1993, Sánchez de Lozada again ran for president, this time in alliance with the
Tupac Katari Revolutionary Liberation Movement (''Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Katari de Liberación'', MRTKL), an
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
party formed in 1985 whose leader
Víctor Hugo Cárdenas
Víctor Hugo Cárdenas Conde (born 4 June 1951) is a Bolivian indigenous Aymara activist and politician. He is the leader of the MRTKL party (Revolutionary Liberation Movement Tupaq Katari). He was the 35th vice president of Bolivia from 1993 ...
was the candidate for vice-president. The MNR-MRTKL ticket won the first plurality with 36.5% of the popular vote, and Sánchez de Lozada was confirmed as president by Congress. A coalition government that included the center-left
Free Bolivia Movement
The Free Bolivia Movement (Spanish: ''Movimiento Bolivia Libre'') is a progressive political party in Bolivia. The party was formed on January 15, 1985, following a split in MIR. Initially the party was known as ''MIR Bolivia Libre''.
At the le ...
(MBL) and populist
Civic Solidarity Union
Solidarity Civic Unity ( es, Unidad Cívica Solidaridad, UCS) is a political party in Bolivia. The party was founded on 15 August 1989 by Max Fernández, and is currently led by his son, Johnny Fernández.
UCS was part of the "Megacoalition" tha ...
(UCS) was formed. With the 1993 electoral victory, Cárdenas became the first elected indigenous vice president in South America.
The 1993–1997 MNR-led government initiated a series of constitutional, social, economic and political reforms. The Constitution was rewritten to define Bolivia as a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nation; the first articles enshrined indigenous rights. Other legislation included the Popular Participation Act, which decentralized the country by creating 311 (since expanded to 321) municipal governments, empowering them for local governance. The law introduced direct municipal elections for the indigenous population, and authorized local decision making on municipal spending, for which 20 percent of federal spending was guaranteed to the municipalities on a per capita basis. Other programs included educational reform, which introduced classroom teaching in the local indigenous languages, universal maternity coverage and milk and medical coverage for children up to the age of five years, and a universal old-age annual benefit. Political reforms included opening elections to independent candidates for congressional seats; and capitalization, a program which enabled the formation of joint ventures by private capital and the Bolivian people (not the Bolivian state), and requiring the private capital be invested directly in the new company.
Capitalization program
The capitalization program aimed to sell public enterprises to private companies in exchange for money. The program was meant to occur in four phases, which would include the privatization of
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
and
hydrocarbon
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ex ...
.
Between 1995-1996, the five largest state enterprises were privatized: the national oil company, phone company, electric company, national airline, and train system.
By 1996, the program included the privatization of water.
The capitalization program was controversial: it was perceived as a privatization of five major state-owned companies that ceded management of these industries to foreign interests. Supporters believed that the requirement for private capital to be directly invested in the new joint ventures significantly reduced room for corruption. The program was intended to provide for development of these "strategic" resources, as the Bolivian government could not afford to do so. The revenues of the new companies were expected to yield funds for human and social, as well as infrastructure development. The dividend payouts for the Bolivian people were the foundation of a universal, annual old-age benefit, the BONOSOL. Although small on a per capita basis, it was expected to benefit primarily the rural elderly, the most marginalized sector of Bolivia's indigenous population.
Finally, the reforms also included changes to the country's electoral laws. A new electoral system was introduced. The change opened elections for 70 congressional seats to independent candidates who were elected by plurality, with the remaining 60 seats to be filled proportionally by members of parties reflecting the votes cast for the presidential tickets. If no presidential candidate won an absolute majority, the president would be elected in a run-off of the top two contenders. The presidential term of office was set at five years.
Critics of the program have cited loss of national funds, skyrocketing prices for locals, and
social unrest
Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, or social unrest is a situation arising from a mass act of civil disobedience (such as a demonstration, riot, strike, or unlawful assembly) in which law enforcement has difficulty ...
associated with such changes. The sale of the national oil company resulted in millions of dollars in lost profits, compared to the price of the sale. The privatization of electricity resulted in price increases for electricity, as well.
As written by Jim Shultz for the
North American Congress on Latin America
North American Congress in Latin America (NACLA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1966 to provide information on trends in Latin America and relations between Latin America and the United States. The organization is best known for publishi ...
, "The great sums promised from these sales of public assets seemed to barely trickle down into the pockets of the poor and flow freely into the coffers of the wealthy Bolivians who cut the deals—with major corruption scandals a regular fixture."
Perhaps the most controversial impact was the privatization of water, which began under the government of Sánchez de Lozada and was followed by President
Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer Suárez (; 10 May 1926 – 5 May 2002) was a Bolivian politician and military officer who served as the 51st president of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from 1971 to 1978 in a military dictatorship; and then a ...
, resulting in the
Cochabamba Water War
The Cochabamba Water War was a series of protests that took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia's fourth largest city, between December 1999 and April 2000 in response to the privatization of the city's municipal water supply company SEMAPA. The wave ...
.
Second presidency (2002–2003)
In 2002, Sánchez de Lozada again ran for president. He chose
Carlos Mesa
Carlos Diego de Mesa Gisbert (; born 12 August 1953) is a Bolivian historian, journalist, and politician who served as the 63rd president of Bolivia from 2003 to 2005. As an independent politician, he previously served as the 37th vice presid ...
as his running mate, an independent historian and journalist who had MNR sympathies. Sánchez de Lozada hired U.S. political consultants
James Carville
Chester James Carville Jr. (born October 25, 1944) is an American political consultant, author, and occasional actor who has strategized for candidates for public office in the United States and in at least 23 nations abroad. A Democrat, he is an ...
,
Tad Devine
Thomas A. "Tad" Devine (born June 11, 1955) is an American political consultant. Devine was a senior adviser in Al Gore's 2000 and John Kerry's 2004 Presidential campaigns. He was also the chief strategist for Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential ...
,
Stan Greenberg
Stanley Bernard Greenberg (born May 10, 1945) is an American pollster and political strategist affiliated with the Democratic Party. Greenberg is a founding partner of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (GQR) and Democracy Corps, political consul ...
and
Bob Shrum
Robert M. "Bob" Shrum (born July 21, 1943) is the Director of the Center for the Political Future and the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics at the University of Southern California, where he is a Professor of the Practice o ...
to advise his campaign.
After running a sophisticated campaign, de Lozada seemed positioned to win a strong enough plurality to form a strong government. However, three days before the elections, the U.S. ambassador publicly warned the Bolivian people against electing "those who want Bolivia to again be an exporter of cocaine," as it would threaten U.S. aid to Bolivia. The people reacted in resentment, swelling the anti-U.S. vote for Evo Morales in the last three days of the campaign by 9 percent and helping him finish second after de Lozada. Evo Morales of the
Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) received 20.94% of the popular vote. The center-right neo-
populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
candidate,
Manfred Reyes of
NFR placed a close third with 20.91% of the popular vote. After a difficult coalition-building process, Sánchez de Lozada was elected in a coalition formed by the MNR-MBL, MIR and UCS, the last two former members of the preceding coalition headed by the rightist, former dictator General Hugo Banzer.
When Sánchez de Lozada took office, he was faced with an economic and social crisis inherited from the preceding administration. Economic growth had plunged from the 4.8% at the end of Sánchez de Lozada's first presidency to 0.6% in 1999 and had recovered to only 2% for 2002. The fiscal deficit was running at 8%.
Gas War and resignation
From his inauguration in August 2002 until the end of the year, there were fewer public tensions. In January 2003 and under the leadership of Evo Morales, a group of union leaders (Evo Morales for the "cocaleros"—coca growers,
Jaime Solares and
Roberto de la Cruz for urban workers and miners,
Felipe Quispe
Felipe Quispe Huanca "Mallku" (Quechua language: "condor"), (22 August 1942 – 19 January 2021) was a Bolivian historian and political leader. He headed the Pachakuti Indigenous Movement (MIP) and was general secretary of the United Union Conf ...
for the indigenous farmers in the
Aymara
Aymara may refer to:
Languages and people
* Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language
** Aymara language, the main language within that family
** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...
region surrounding
La Paz
La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...
) joined together to found the "People's High Command" (Estado Mayor del pueblo). A new wave of heightened protests began; main roads were blocked, and towns and cities were brought to a standstill. Some groups aired long-standing grievances against the government; others were targeted entirely locally, protesting against decisions of the now self-governing municipalities. In February, a standoff between police demanding higher pay and army units called to protect the presidential palace suddenly ended in violence and deaths in the streets of La Paz, without articulated demands.
The acute economic crisis affected above all the urban workers and the farming/indigenous populations; their struggles gave widespread support for protests. Protests and demands became more focused: the cocaleros continued protesting against eradication of a millenary plant (coca) used to produce cocaine, although Banzer's "Coca 0" policy had been replaced by the earlier subsidized crop substitution policy, in order to achieve gradual coca reduction but not total eradication. The indigenous farmers of the La Paz Aymara region pressed for political reform, to include recognition and inclusion of Bolivia's indigenous ethnic groups as legitimate political blocs. They wanted economic de-centralization based on recognition of indigenous groups as legitimate political actors. Other demands included autonomy for their territories. By contrast, urban workers, primarily in La Paz, and miners protested against the possible proceeds of increasing natural gas production going to foreigners.
Demands rose for the government to return to the corporatist state and nationalize Bolivia's hydrocarbon resources. Protesters demanded Sánchez de Lozada's resignation. In late September, a convoy of buses and trucks under a police escort was bringing back to La Paz over 700 persons, including foreign tourists, after a 10-day blockade of a valley resort town. In Warisata, confrontations between protesters blocking the road and the army led to six dead, among them two soldiers and a child aged 8, shot in her own house.
A few days later, in early October, The Pacific LNG, British Petroleum and Repsol YPF had forecast an investment of three billion dollars in Chilean territory, the sale price of the gas was less than a dollar per thousand BTU and the approximate profits were one billion dollars of which the Bolivian state only received 18%, totaling 180 million dollars per year.
A few days later, in early October, it was reported that President Sánchez de Lozada had decided to export Bolivia's gas to Mexico and the United States through a Chilean port. Rancor continues to be high against Chile since Bolivia lost its coastal territory to them in the late-19th-century
war of the Pacific
The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...
. Protesters blockaded the main highway from the city of
El Alto
El Alto (Spanish for "The Heights") is the second-largest city in Bolivia, located adjacent to La Paz in Pedro Domingo Murillo Province on the Altiplano highlands. El Alto is today one of Bolivia's fastest-growing urban centers, with an estim ...
, Bolivia down to neighboring La Paz. A massive demonstration and virtual siege of La Paz ensued.
After three days, fuel and other essential supplies were dangerously low in La Paz. On 11 October, President Sánchez de Lozada promulgated Supreme Decree 27209, ordering the militarization of the gas plants and the transport of hydrocarbons. This decree was intended to protect private and public property, noting in the third article: "whatever harm to property or persons that might be produced as an effect of fulfilling the objective of this supreme decree shall be compensated and guaranteed by the State". As a result, fully armed military troops were sent as a security force to open the way for diesel and gasoline cisterns to be transported through densely populated poor neighborhoods into La Paz.
Protesters tried to block the convoys at several points along their route. Alteño residents reported that government troops started shooting indiscriminately, killing a five-year-old child and a pregnant mother. Sánchez de Lozada and some government ministers attributed the violence to an armed 'coup', but Evo Morales and some civil groups described it as a 'massacre' by government forces.
Vice-President Mesa publicly broke with Sánchez de Lozada, saying, "Neither as a citizen nor as a man of principles can I accept that, faced with popular pressure, the response should be death." The Minister for Economic Development also resigned. 20,000 Bolivians began to march on La Paz, demanding the President's resignation. Evo Morales' supporters from Cochabamba tried to march into
Santa Cruz, the largest city of the eastern lowlands where support still remained for the president. They were turned back. While blaming the violence on 'narco-syndicalist', Sánchez de Lozada proposed a National Dialogue. He promised to put export plans to a national referendum, but demands for his resignation continued to rise. According to official figures, a total of 65 civilian deaths resulted from the Gas War, with around 400 persons wounded.
Faced with rising anger at the deaths, and with coalition partner Manfred Reyes Villa withdrawing political support, Sánchez de Lozada offered his resignation on 17 October in a letter to be read at an emergency session of Congress. He left on a commercially scheduled flight for the United States.
Exile (2003–present)
Trial of responsibility
In 2004, after a concerted campaign by the families of the victims, the government and human rights groups, who gathered over 700,000 signatures on petitions, two-thirds of Bolivia's Congress voted to authorize a "Trial of Responsibility" of the exiled president. It was intended to determine whether Sánchez de Lozada and his cabinet ministers should be held legally responsible for the violence of the Gas War. Supporters included many from the president's party, reflecting a broad consensus for an impartial investigation to understand the responsibilities for the violence and deaths.
The Attorney-General's office took testimony from twelve ministers, and carried out detailed preliminary investigations. Their work included forensic studies, crime scene investigations, and eyewitness testimony. Evo Morales, one of the key protest leaders, voluntarily offered evidence. In August 2011 the Bolivian Supreme Court sentenced five members of the military and two politicians to between three and fifteen years in prison for their role in the events of September and October 2003.
Attempts at extradition
On 11 November 2008, Bolivia formally served the U.S. government with a request to extradite Sánchez de Lozada to Bolivia. The request was rejected by the
U.S. State Department in 2012, based on the argument that Sánchez de Lozada's actions are not a crime in the U.S., and that no dual criminality condition existed. It said that no U.S. President could be charged for crimes done by military and police forces.
Civil trial in the United States
On 10 November 2009, the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida ruled that the claims for charges of
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
against de Lozada had no case. The court ruled that charges of extrajudicial killings could be pursued in order to allow two related U.S. cases to progress against former president Gonzalo Daniel Sánchez de Lozada de Bustamante and former Bolivian Defense Minister Jose Carlos Sánchez Berzaín.
Eight families of Bolivians killed during the 2003 protests are plaintiffs in the case. They include Etelvina Ramos Mamani and Eloy Ramos Mamani, the parents of eight-year-old Marlene, who was killed by a gunshot through her window during the military action on Warisata on 25 September 2003.
The plaintiffs in the cases, ''Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez de Lozada'', and ''Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez Berzaín'', seek compensatory and punitive damages under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). On 20 May 2014, Judge James Cohn ordered that Plaintiffs' claims under the
Torture Victim Protection Act
The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA; ) is a statute that allows for the filing of civil suits in the United States against individuals who, acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation, committed torture and/or extrajudicial ...
(TVPA) could proceed because they sufficiently alleged facts that "plausibly suggest that these killings were deliberate," and because they adequately alleged that Defendants were responsible for the killings. The case was stayed on 19 August 2014 pending defendants' appeal of the district court's decision. Appellants-defendants filed their brief to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on 14 January 2015. Plaintiffs-appellees filed their brief on 6 March 2015. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued their decision on 17 June 2016. On 17 April 2017, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari for the plaintiff's appeal, clearing the way for the case to be tried.
The jury trial for the combined cases against Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín began on 5 March 2018 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They were both found liable for the civilian deaths by the jury on 3 April 2018 under the TVPA claim that the deaths were extrajudicial killings. The plaintiffs were awarded $10 million in damages. On 30 May 2018, federal judge overturned the verdict of a jury by determining that a reasonable jury could not find them liable as a matter of law.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs appealed the judge's decision, making oral arguments before the
11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami in November 2019. On 3 August 2020, a three judge panel vacated the District Court's move to set aside the verdict, and ordered it to reconsider the matter on a new standard. It also ruled that plaintiffs were entitled to a new trial on the question of wrongful death, a matter the jury had decided in favor of the defendants. On 5 April 2021, the 2018 jury verdict, and the ordered $10 million payment, was reaffirmed by U.S. District Judge
James I. Cohn after defense notions to dismiss the ruling were denied.
See also
*Sánchez de Lozada is a member of
Club of Madrid
Club de Madrid is an independent non-profit organization created to promote democracy and change in the international community. Composed of 121 regular members from 72 countries, including 7 Nobel Peace Prize laureates and 20 first female heads ...
.
*Sánchez de Lozada reforms.
*
''Our Brand Is Crisis'' (2005), a documentary about Sánchez de Lozada's second presidential campaign and influence of American political consultants
*
President of Bolivia
The president of Bolivia ( es, Presidente de Bolivia), officially known as the president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia ( es, Presidente del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia), is head of state and head of government of Bolivia and the ca ...
*
History of Bolivia
After the fall of Tiwanaku Empire, the many Aymara Lake Titicaca was conquered by the Inca Empire. Prior to the Spanish conquest, the Andean province of Qullasuyu was a part of the Inca empire, while the northern and eastern lowlands were inhabi ...
*
Politics of Bolivia
The politics of Bolivia takes place in a tree of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president is head of state, head of government and head of a diverse multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the govern ...
References
External links
"Biography of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada" Presidency of the Republic of Bolivia official website
Social and Economics Reforms of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada personal website
: The Battle for the World Economy''], PBS-WGBH
Interview with President Sanchez de Lozada from ''
Commanding Heights,'' PBS documentary
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"Black October Memorial: A decade of impunity", Democracy Center
"A case for extradition: Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and Carlos Sanchez Berzain" Council of Hemispheric Affairs
Presidencia de Bolivia website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez De Lozada, Gonzalo
1930 births
Living people
20th-century Bolivian politicians
21st-century Bolivian politicians
20th-century Bolivian businesspeople
Bolivian exiles
Bolivian expatriates in the United States
Candidates in the 1989 Bolivian presidential election
Candidates in the 1993 Bolivian presidential election
Candidates in the 2002 Bolivian presidential election
Grand Crosses of the Order of the Sun of Peru
Members of the Inter-American Dialogue
People from La Paz
Presidents of Bolivia
Presidents of the Senate of Bolivia
Revolutionary Nationalist Movement politicians
University of Chicago alumni