The Unidad Móvil Policial para Áreas Rurales (UMOPAR), (English: ''Mobile Police Unit for Rural Areas''), was created in 1984 as a unit with within the

Bolivian National Police Law enforcement in Bolivia is reliant on the 40,000-member ''Cuerpo de Policía Nacional'' (National Police Corps) responsible for internal security and maintaining law and order. Unlike many South American countries, the Bolivian police force al ...

(Cuerpo de Policía Nacional). it is a Bolivian counter-narcotics and

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...

force which was founded by, and is funded, advised, equipped, and trained by the

United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

as part of its "

War on Drugs The war on drugs is a global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States.Cockburn and St. Clair, 1 ...

". It was made a subsidiary of the new Special Antinarcotics Force (Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico—FELCN), when the latter was created in 1987. There have been complaints that UMOPAR, which is effectively controlled by 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

military and

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...

, was the most powerfully armed and best trained military force in Bolivia. In 1984, UMOPAR troops kidnapped the President of Bolivia,

Siles Zuazo Siles may refer to: People: * Jemma Siles (b. 1997), Australian singer/songwriter *Hernando Siles Reyes (b. 1882), 31st President of Bolivia, 27th Vice President of Bolivia * Hernán Siles Zuazo (b. 1914), 46th President of Bolivia, 31st Vice Pres ...

, and staged an unsuccessful coup attempt against the Bolivian government.

U.S. involvement

Although UMOPAR is technically headed by Defensa Social, a branch of the Bolivian Interior Ministry, they are in practice controlled by DEA and U.S. military officials based at the U.S. Embassy in

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the third-most populous city in Bol ...

, who plan their operations, provide

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can ...

, and lead the drug raids, using UMOPAR mainly as a "strike force" for U.S. operations. UMOPAR forces receive extensive training from DEA and U.S. military personnel, including the

U.S. Army Special Forces The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army. The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal mi ...

, both in facilities in Bolivia (such as the Garras International Antinarcotics Training School), and at U.S. military bases such as

Fort Benning Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama– Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employee ...

, or the School of the Americas in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

. In 1987, under a

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

contract, an

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

corporation known as

Evergreen International Airlines Evergreen International Airlines was a charter and cargo airline based in McMinnville, Oregon, United States. Wholly owned by Evergreen International Aviation, it had longstanding ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It operated co ...

provided several

private military contractor A private military company (PMC) or private military and security company (PMSC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as "security contractors" or "private military ...

pilots, many of whom had flown for the CIA's Air America in Laos and

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

, to transport DEA agents and UMOPAR troops throughout the Upper Huallaga Valley. In 1988, U.S. Ambassador Rowell decided that UMOPAR troops needed their own air-mobile task force to increase their effectiveness. The

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

loaned UMOPAR 12

UH-1H The Bell UH-1 Iroquois military helicopter, first introduced in 1959, is the first production member of the prolific Huey family of helicopters, and was itself developed in over twenty variants, which are listed below. XH-40 and YH-40 The firs ...

helicopters, and Rowell assigned his U.S. Army-Navy attache,

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

Edward Hayes to command the UMOPAR troops in the unit, which was called the ''Diablos Rojos'' (Red Devils).

Human rights abuses

UMOPAR troops have frequently been responsible for beatings, torture, rapes, extortion, robberies, arbitrary shootings, mass arrests without warrants, and various other

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

abuses Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...

. The use of torture by UMOPAR forces has been widespread and systematic, and includes methods such as being hung upside down and beaten,

burned with cigarettes Cigarette burns are usually deliberate injuries caused by pressing a lit cigarette to the skin. They are a common form of child abuse and torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons suc ...

, electrocution, death threats, and being submerged underwater to simulate drowning, among other methods. UMOPAR forces act with almost total impunity, and human rights violations are rarely investigated, much less prosecuted. Other examples of abuses include: * In June 1988, UMOPAR troops killed 12 peasants and wounded over 100 in the

Massacre of Villa Tunari The Villa Tunari Massacre was a 27 June 1988 mass murder committed by UMOPAR (Rural Patrol Mobile Unit) troops in response to a protest by coca-growing peasants (cocaleros) in the town of Villa Tunari in Chapare Province, Bolivia. The cocalero ...

* On May 9, 1997, two UMOPAR agents detained and beat a fifteen-year-old girl, Valeriana Condori, during a coca-eradication mission in Uncía. * In July 1998, Father Hugo Ortiz, a Catholic priest and president of the ''Asamblea Permanente de Derechos Humanos de Bolivia'' (APDH), (Permanent Human Rights Assembly of Bolivia), was beaten by UMOPAR troops while travelling to a meeting. * In September 2000, a 19-year-old boy, Isaac Mejía Arce was tortured to death by UMOPAR troops using a technique known as ''el arrastre'' (dragging), where two men sat on top of his body while it was dragged around over the ground (a method frequently used by UMOPAR troops to extract information from suspects). Arce began coughing up blood, and ultimately went into a coma, and died on February 1, 2001. * In 2002, a member of UMOPAR shot at two government representatives as they were entering a community to investigate human rights violations.

U.S. involvement

Human rights abuses

See also

References

Further reading