| The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001. Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date. This site is not updated so external links may no longer function. Contact us with any questions about finding information. NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein. |
Title: Bolivia Human Rights Practices, 1995
Author: U.S. Department of State
Date: March 1996
BOLIVIA
A constitutional, multiparty democracy with an elected president and
bicameral legislature, Bolivia has separate executive, legislative, and
judicial branches with an attorney general independent of all three.
The judiciary, while independent, is notoriously corrupt and
inefficient. The executive and legislative branches share these defects
to some extent. Constitutional amendments to reform the political and
judicial systems which were approved in August 1994 were only partially
implemented by the end of 1995.
The National Police have primary responsibility for internal security,
although the army, navy, and air force can be called upon for help in
critical situations. A special antinarcotics force (FELCN), including
the Mobile Rural Patrol Unit (UMOPAR), is dedicated to antinarcotics
enforcement. Civilian authorities maintain effective control of the
security forces, but some members of these forces committed human rights
abuses.
Although rich in minerals and hydrocarbons, Bolivia has an annual per
capita gross domestic product of about $1,000. Principal exports are
minerals, natural gas, and other raw materials; traditional agriculture
dominates the domestic economy. Poverty is endemic. Many Bolivians
lack such basic services as water, electricity, sewers, and primary
health care. The centralized economy has long depended heavily on
foreign aid. To promote development and a transition to a market
economy, the Government is carrying out a program of privatization,
deficit reduction, to strengthen the banking system, and encourage
increased exports and foreign investment.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens;
however, legal and institutional deficiencies prevented their full
protection. The Government launched several initiatives to improve this
situation, but implementation was slow. The most pervasive human rights
abuse continued to be prolonged incarceration of detainees due to
antiquated procedures, inefficiency, and corruption in the judicial
system. The Government's declaration of a state of siege in April,
although permitted by the Constitution, was viewed by human rights
groups and opposition politicians as a violation of human rights.
Controversy continued as to whether certain actions, such as temporary
detentions, taken to implement the state of siege, were unconstitutional
and constituted violations of human rights.
There were credible reports of abuses by police, such as petty theft and
extortion. Police remained reluctant to prosecute their own colleagues
for offenses, although several policemen were discharged and arrested
for rape and for culpable negligence in a prisoner's death.
Investigations refuted claims by coca growers that the deaths of four
farm workers in separate confrontations with police were extrajudicial
murders. Other problems include substandard prison conditions, violence
and discrimination against women, discrimination and abuse of indigenous
people, abuse of children, and inhuman working conditions in the mining
industry.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
There were no reports of politically motivated killings. There were
allegations of extrajudicial killings.
Coca growers unions alleged that five deaths of farm workers in separate
confrontations with antinarcotics police in the Chapare region were
extrajudicial murders. Although some of the findings were disputed,
investigations conducted by the executive and legislative branches
indicated that two of the deaths resulted from justified use of
defensive force by police, two were caused accidentally by other
protesting farm workers, and one is still undetermined. The
investigation continues. On July 21, a still-unidentified peasant died
from shrapnel injuries sustained on July 15 when a dynamite bomb was
thrown into a police truck carrying police and arrestees during a large,
violent confrontation over coca eradication in the Chapare. Police
arrested several coca growers in September and charged them with having
supplied and used the improvised bombs.
In August a large group of armed peasants pursued an UMOPAR patrol which
had arrested several coca growers and seized cocaine base, U.S.
currency, and a shotgun. A second UMOPAR patrol fired warning shots,
one of which--possibly a ricochet--apparently struck and killed Juan
Ortiz Diaz. On August 18, UMOPAR officers shot and killed Jose Mejia
Pisa after he had shot and seriously wounded an UMOPAR member. On
September 2, Roman Crespo Condori died of a gunshot wound sustained
during a confrontation between peasants and UMOPAR forces. An autopsy
revealed that Crespo's wound resulted from a shotgun pellet, a weapon
commonly used by peasants but not used by the UMOPAR. In November
police shot and killed 13-year-old Janeth Veliz Vargas during
confrontations between peasants and police. Both the executive branch
and the Congress immediately sent investigative commissions to the
Chapare in response to these incidents. The autopsies of Ortiz and
Crespo were performed in the presence of nongovernmental observers.
Leaders of the coca growers and some nongovernmental
organizations disputed some of the findings in these cases, and the
government investigations are still open; evidence available to date,
however, refutes allegations that these deaths were extrajudicial
killings or the results of unjustified police force.
At the end of 1994, five police officials including a colonel were
arrested and charged with culpable negligence in the death of a prisoner
who succumbed to unnoticed internal injuries shortly after his arrest.
Former dictator General Luis Garcia Meza, convicted in absentia for
political murder and other crimes committed during his 1980's regime,
was extradited from Brazil early in the year and began serving his
sentence in a maximum security prison. The police officer accused in
1994 of murdering coca worker Felipe Perez Ortiz escaped from custody in
September of that year and has not been recaptured.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment
The Government honors the constitutional prohibition on torture.
However, there were widespread allegations that police used undue force
in detaining labor activists under the state of siege and farm workers
during antinarcotics operations. Although many clearly were politically
motivated exaggerations, the similarity and volume of such allegations
suggest that they had some basis in truth. However, no incriminating
evidence came to light, and no security personnel were charged or tried.
In an isolated case, three policemen were fired and held for trial for
allegedly raping a juvenile prisoner.
The Congressional Human Rights Committee issued a report in October
resurrecting allegations that police officials had in past years
tortured captured terrorists and recommending that criminal proceedings
be opened against named officers. The report was awaiting action by the
Congress at year's end.
Prisons are overcrowded, and conditions can be life threatening for
inmates without money. Ability to pay can determine cell size, visiting
privileges, day-pass eligibility, and place or even length of
confinement. Cell prices range from $20 to $5,000, paid to prior
occupants or to prisoners who control cell blocks. In the poorest parts
of La Paz' San Pedro Prison, for example, inmates occupy tiny cells (3
by 4 by 6 feet) with no ventilation, lighting, or beds. Crowding in
some "low-rent" sections obliges inmates to sleep sitting up. Children
up to 6 years old may live with an incarcerated parent; an estimated 400
children do so. Authorities worked to get such children out of prisons,
but many have nowhere else to go. The standard prison diet, according
to a recent outside study, can cause anemia. Drugs and alcohol are
readily available for those who can pay. There is no adequate health
care within the prisons, and it is very difficult for prisoners to get
permission for medical treatment outside. There was at least one
confirmed case in which a prisoner died while awaiting permission for
outside emergency care. Affluent prisoners, however, can obtain
transfers to preferred prisons for "medical" reasons. The Government
permits visits by human rights and news media representatives.
There were credible reports that coca growers unions used physical
coercion and intimidation to prevent farm workers from cooperating with
the Government in coca eradication.
Indigenous communities in areas with little or no central government
presence impose corporal punishment such as whipping on members who
violate traditional laws or rules, although such punishment is forbidden
by the national Constitution.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Radical labor union elements carried out frequent and increasingly
violent demonstrations in an effort to defeat government privatization
and educational reform programs. In response, the Government declared a
90-day state of siege on April 18. In the first 3 days of the
emergency, security forces arrested more than 400 persons and sent over
300 of them to temporary confinement in military bases away from urban
areas. Some detainees were released on April 19, and more were freed
over the following 3 weeks. By May 4, all had been released except a
handful who were being investigated for possible criminal offenses.
These persons, too, were freed by mid-May. Except for a shortlived
curfew and a ban on politically oriented gatherings, the Government
imposed no extraordinary measures. When the state of siege expired, the
Government renewed it for an additional 90 days.
The state of siege, approved by the Congress, was a constitutional
measure. There were complaints, however, that the detentions were not
confirmed by courts within 48 hours as the Constitution requires.
Constitutional questions also arose from the arrest of an international
group of coca advocates a few hours before the state of siege was
formally proclaimed. These questions have not been resolved.
Denial of justice through prolonged detention remains the most pervasive
human rights problem. Judicial corruption, a shortage of public
defenders, inadequate case-tracking mechanisms, and complex criminal
justice procedures keep persons incarcerated for months, or even years,
before trial. Government and nongovernmental estimates agree that 85 to
90 percent of all persons in custody have yet to be sentenced. The
Constitution provides for judicial determination of the legality of
detention. Prisoners are released if a judge rules detention illegal,
but the process can take months. Prisoners may see a lawyer, but public
defenders are overburdened. Bail exists, except in some drug cases, and
is generally granted. Many persons, however, cannot afford it. Persons
tried under the counternarcotics law must await Supreme Court
confirmation or rejection of lower courts' verdicts--a process involving
prolonged delays.
The Government is addressing the problem of delay of justice by
gradually implementing the 1994 constitutional reforms to streamline the
judicial system. The 1994 law ending imprisonment for debt has brought
the release of hundreds of prisoners who could not afford to pay their
creditors, attorneys, or court costs. At mid-year, the Congress
approved five new magistrates to complete the Supreme Court bench,
ending a period of 18 months in which the court was not fully staffed or
fully functional. The Minister of Justice introduced a draft law in the
autumn congressional session that would permit pretrial release on
personal recognizance, and provisional liberty for those declared
innocent but awaiting review or appeal, or those already imprisoned
longer than the maximum sentence for their alleged offense. The new law
would also shorten the permissible time for various stages of the penal
process, including preventive detention. Congress approved this law and
it was promulgated February 2, 1996. The Minister of Justice proposed,
and the Supreme Court approved, pardons for 130 elderly and very young
prisoners as recommended by public defenders.
Children age 11 to 16 can be detained indefinitely for known or
suspected offenses, or for their protection, simply on the orders of a
social worker. There is no judicial review. It is estimated that over
700 children were detained in this manner in juvenile centers equivalent
to jails at year's end. Within the centers, convicted child criminals
are not segregated from children who are confined either as suspects or
due to abandonment or by reason of mental disability. Medical care and
rehabilitation programs are scarce to nonexistent. The Government has
acknowledged this problem but says that it does not have sufficient
resources to correct it quickly. The National Agency for Minors, Women,
and the Family (ONAMFA) began efforts to return 200 minors to their
families in the hope that social workers might help to reintegrate them
into society. In addition, ONAMFA plans to relocate juveniles who have
no homes to private foster care or to other more appropriate centers.
The Government does not use forced exile as a punishment.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The judiciary is independent, but corruption and intimidation in the
judicial system remain major problems. Poor pay and
working conditions help make judges and prosecutors susceptible to
bribes. Five Supreme Court magistrates, including the newly elected
president of the court, face investigations and possible corruption
charges. Several lower court judges, as well as some prosecutors, were
the subjects of similar allegations during the year, resulting in some
firings and pending legal actions.
The judicial system has four levels: these are investigative, trial,
and superior courts, with the Supreme Court at the apex. Police present
the case of an arrested person to a prosecutor. If the prosecutor
decides to prosecute, the case is then submitted to an investigative
court which decides whether there is sufficient evidence to issue an
indictment; if so, the case goes to a trial court. The trial court's
decision may be appealed to superior court and, eventually, to the
Supreme Court. Bail is usually available. Cases of persons arrested
under the counternarcotics law go directly from a special prosecutor to
the trial court. The trial court's decision must be reviewed by the
district superior court which may confirm, lower, raise, or annul the
sentence, or impose a sentence where there was none before. Both the
district prosecutor and the defense attorney may make recommendations
and comments at this stage. Superior court decisions in narcotics cases
must be reviewed by the Supreme Court whose decision is final. During
this process, the accused must remain incarcerated, even if declared
innocent by the initial trial court. There is no bail in narcotics
cases.
Authorities generally respect the constitutional guarantee of the right
to a fair public trial. However, the maximum time periods permitted by
law for different stages of the judicial process frequently are
exceeded. Investigation, trial, and appeal procedures can take so long
that prisoners may serve more time than the sentence for the crime with
which they are charged. Defendants have the right to an attorney, to
confront witnesses, to present evidence, and to appeal judicial
decisions. The authorities generally honor these rights. Although the
law provides for a defense attorney at public expense if needed, one is
not always available. The highly formal and corrupt judicial system
makes it difficult for poor, illiterate persons to have effective access
to courts and legal redress.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The Constitution provides for the sanctity of the home and the privacy
of citizens, and government authorities generally respect these
provisions. There were credible allegations of UMOPAR abuses involving
illegal searches and thefts of property from homes. However, residents
in the coca growing areas generally are reluctant to file and pursue
formal complaints, and there were no known prosecutions of UMOPAR
officials. In August the Government and coca growers union
representatives agreed to form a mixed commission with offices
throughout the Chapare coca-growing region, where most offenses
allegedly occur. These offices would accept and pursue complaints of
human rights abuses committed by anyone, including police, narcotics
traffickers, or coca growers. The first such office began to function
in Chimore in December.
The Government respects the rights of individuals to determine family
size, religion, and political affiliations.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution provides for the fundamental right to express ideas and
opinions freely by any means of dissemination. There are, therefore, no
legal or institutional barriers to freedom of speech and press.
State-owned and private radio and television stations operated freely.
Newspapers are privately owned; most adopt antigovernment positions.
Some reporters were arrested at union offices when the state of siege
was declared, and others were slightly injured in the violent
demonstrations that preceded it. Although news media portrayed these
incidents as targeted official interference with press freedom, they
evidently were the accidental result of the journalists being in the
wrong place at the wrong time. Those who were arrested in the union
raids were released quickly once their media credentials were
established. Injuries suffered by reporters in demonstrations were few
and less severe than those suffered by some police and demonstrators in
the same encounters.
The Government respects academic freedom, and the law grants public
universities autonomous status. Some Marxist groups of teachers and
students sought to deny academic freedom and to impose their political
agenda on the education process. They aimed to paralyze the
Government's education reform plan, which reduced the block revenue
grants to universities and subjects teachers to academic quality
controls by the Government and the community.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The law provides for the rights of peaceful assembly and association,
and the authorities respect them in practice. The Government routinely
grants permits for marches and rallies and, as a rule, authorities try
to avoid confronting demonstrators. Labor, political, and student
groups carried out many demonstrations and rallies, often dangerously
violent, in La Paz and other cities in the first quarter of the year.
The prohibition of politically oriented gatherings pursuant to the state
of siege was a constitutional measure. Despite this general
prohibition, however, authorities approved many public demonstrations
including a labor federation march to celebrate May day.
c. Freedom of Religion
Roman Catholicism predominates, and the Constitution recognizes it as
the official religion. However, citizens may practice the religion of
their choice. About 400 religious groups, mostly Protestant, are
active. Missionary groups must register with the Foreign Ministry as
nongovernmental organizations (NGO's); there was no indication that they
were treated differently from other NGO's. The Ministry did not
disallow any registrations by missionary groups.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation
There are no restrictions on travel. The law permits emigration and
guarantees the right to return. The Government does not revoke
citizenship for political reasons. The Government cooperates with the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees. Some refugees were accepted for
resettlement. There were no reports of forced expulsion of anyone
having a valid claim to refugee status.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercise this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Political parties ranging from far left to moderate right function
openly. The "popular participation law" passed in April 1994 gave local
communities greater influence in government decisionmaking and control
of more discretionary revenues. Its impact was greatest in rural areas
which formerly had few or no financial resources and no voice in the way
central government funds were spent. The Government conducted a
nationwide campaign to register new voters, particularly those
heretofore hampered by a lack of vital documentation.
No legal impediments exist to women or indigenous people voting, holding
political office, or rising to political leadership. Nevertheless, the
number of women and indigenous
people who have prominent positions in politics remains small, but with
notable exceptions such as Vice President Victor Hugo Cardenas, an
Aymara.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
A number of human rights groups operate without government restriction,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
Government officials are generally cooperative and responsive to their
views. The Human Rights Commission of the Congress is very active and
frequently criticizes the Government publicly.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability,
Language, or Social Status
The Constitution prohibits discrimination based upon race, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, origin, or economic or
social condition. Nonetheless, there was significant discrimination
against women, indigenous people, and the small black minority.
Women
Violence against women is pervasive. A study by the National Institute
of Statistics covering the July 1992-June 1993 period found that 40
percent of all reported violent attacks in La Paz department were
perpetrated against women. Ninety-five percent of the attackers were
male; in 71 percent of the cases the attacker was closely related to the
victim. Of these domestic violence complaints, 52 percent involved
physical mistreatment and 48 percent involved psychological abuse. A
total of 11,069 complaints of violence against women were registered in
La Paz during this period. The Government currently estimates that
there are about 100,000 incidents of violence against women annually
nationwide and that as many as 95 percent of them go unpunished. The
Congressional Committee on Women reported that an average of 3.5 cases
of rape or statutory rape were reported each day for the first half of
1995 and estimated that twice that many cases were not reported.
The Government continued to implement a program for the protection of
women. In 1994 the Congress adopted as national law the Inter-American
Convention for the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence
against Women. In December Congress passed the Law on Domestic Violence
making rape a public crime. The Law was promulgated by year's end.
Comprehensive legal services offices continued to be established to help
and support women. The first 15 such offices handled about 1,500 cases
per month. Special family protection police units, staffed by 30 female
officers, began operating in La Paz in January and responded to an
average of 20 complaints per day in their first months. A shortage of
female officers has slowed their expansion. Other steps in the program
include revisions to school curricula and educating health care
providers about the appropriate manner of dealing with female patients.
Sexual harassment is not defined as a crime in the Penal Code.
Individuals prosecuted for harassment must be tried under other penal
provisions. A former Commander of the Navy, for example, accused of
sexually harassing the wives of subordinates, was tried in a military
court for abuse of authority and unethical official conduct. He was
eventually acquitted. Two officials of a major city are under
investigation for alleged sexual harassment of a colleague. There are
no statistics on the incidence of sexual harassment, but the problem is
generally acknowledged to exist widely in a male-oriented society.
Women generally do not enjoy a social status equal to that of men. Many
women do not know their legal rights; traditional prejudices and social
conditions remain obstacles to advancement. Women generally earn less
than men for equal work. Young girls often leave school to work at home
or on the economy. Although not effectively enforced, the national
labor law is over protective in some aspects, limiting women to a
workday 1 hour shorter than that of men and prohibiting them from
working at night.
Children
The Government is aware of the precarious situation of children and the
need to provide legal and institutional infrastructures for their
protection. However, the Government has not given the situation
sufficient political priority to ensure that it will be met quickly and
effectively. Government surveys suggest that about 1 million children
(that is, about 1 child in 3) suffer physical or psychological abuse--13
percent of them at school, where corporal punishment and verbal abuse
are common, and 87 percent at home. About 20 percent of all children
suffer abuse severe enough to result in bruises, scars, or burns.
The Government announced in August that a national network had been
created to prevent and treat child abuse. The network comprises seven
subsystems: legal, education, communication, family, community,
information, and health. In April the Government approved a United
Nations-supported program of night school for working children and
adolescents. The Government's child protective agency, ONAMFA,
announced implementation of a multidisciplinary approach to treating
families with mistreated children, beginning in October. All of these
initiatives will depend on the continuing availability of resources to
be fully effective.
Although laws provide safeguards against children working, they are not
effectively enforced, and many children (about 216,000 according to the
National Institute of Statistics) work, usually for family subsistence,
in uncontrolled and sometimes unhealthy conditions (see Section 6.d.).
Statistics from the Ministry of Planning's Education Reform Team show
that in rural areas, only 0.7 percent of girls and 1.4 percent of boys
finish high school; in urban areas, 26 percent of girls and 31 percent
of boys do so.
The National Institute of Statistics calculated that 47 percent of
children in La Paz were chronically undernourished, and that 10 percent
of the children migrating from rural areas showed evidence of acute
malnutrition.
Many children, particularly from rural areas, lack the birth
certificates and identity documents they need to secure society's
benefits and protections. There were credible allegations that as many
as 200 juveniles, for instance, were incarcerated as adults in the San
Pedro jail for want of reliable civil documents proving their ages. The
1994 Education Reform Act sought to better the situation of children;
even optimistic observers, however, noted it will take years for it to
have an impact. The Minor's Code promulgated in 1992 has proven
inadequate, and the Government is working with interested NGO's on a
revised Code to be considered in the 1995-96 congressional session. A
revised labor law now in preparation would give the Government a
stronger juridical framework in which to deal effectively with child
labor.
The old practice of "criadito" service still persists in some parts of
Bolivia. Criaditos are indigenous children of both sexes, usually 10 to
12 years old, whom their parents indenture to middle- and upper-class
families to perform household work in exchange for education, clothing,
room, and board. There are no controls over the benefits to, or
treatment of, such children, who may become virtual slaves for the years
of their indenture.
People With Disabilities
In December the Congress passed a law on disabilities drafted by the
Senate Commission on Social Development and interested NGO's. The law
guarantees equal employment and social rights to the disabled, provides
incentives to employers, and requires national and local governmental
agencies to strengthen or create units charged with responsibility for
the disabled. The new electoral law made arrangements for blind voters.
In general, however, there are no special services or infrastructure to
accommodate people with disabilities. Social attitudes have kept many
disabled persons at home from an early age, limiting their integration
into society.
According to the director of the National Institute of Child
Development, 96,000 children have mental disabilities, 37,000 have
physical disabilities, 4,000 have hearing impairments, and 2,500 have
visual impairments. Because of scarce resources, only about 400 of
these children were treated in government facilities.
Indigenous People
Discrimination against, and abuses of, indigenous people continued. The
Indian majority generally remains at the low end of the socioeconomic
scale, facing severe disadvantages in health, life expectancy,
education, income, literacy, and employment. Lack of education,
inefficient farming and mining methods, indigenous cultural practices,
inability to speak Spanish, and societal biases keep the indigenous
people poor. They continued to be exploited in the workplace. Some
rural indigenous workers are kept in a state of virtual slavery by
employers who charge them more for room and board than they earn.
The Government prepared a decree to make rural agricultural workers
subject to the labor law to afford them better protection. Indigenous
peoples complain that their territories are not legally defined and
protected, and that their resources are exploited by outsiders.
Specific offenders allegedly are coca growers and timber pirates.
Indigenous groups have taken advantage of the Popular Participation Law
to form municipalities that will offer them greater opportunities for
self-determination. By the end of the year, they had established six
municipalities. In August the Government formed a "National Committee
for the International Decade of Indigenous Peoples" to plan, evaluate,
coordinate and publicize programs to increase self-determination, and to
set goals and objectives.
At the end of 1994, the first 100 children graduated from a pilot
program of bilingual education in Aymara, Quechua, or Guarani and
Spanish. The President has stated his firm commitment to teaching all
children in both their native language and Spanish. A lack of personnel
qualified to teach in the indigenous languages inhibits the expansion of
this program.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
Workers may form and join organizations of their choosing. The Labor
Code requires prior government authorization to establish a union,
permits only one per enterprise, and allows the Government to dissolve
unions; however, the Government has not enforced these provisions in
recent years. While the Code denies civil servants the right to
organize and bans strikes in public services, including banks and public
markets, nearly all civilian government workers are unionized. Workers
are not penalized for union activities. In theory, the Bolivian Labor
Federation (COB) represents virtually the entire work force; however,
only about one-half of the workers in the formal economy actually belong
to labor unions. Some members of the informal economy also participate
in labor organizations. Workers in the private sector frequently
exercise the right to strike. Solidarity strikes are illegal, but the
Government has not prosecuted those responsible nor imposed penalties.
Significant strikes centered around annual negotiations over salaries
and benefits for public employees. However, their real targets were the
Government's economic and social reform programs. Most strikes were
conducted and led by the militant Trotskyite element of the Urban
Teachers Union. Other major disturbances occurred in the Chapare region
where the coca growers unions opposed government eradication efforts.
Strikers and demonstrators marched, set up roadblocks, and used
improvised weapons including dynamite bombs against police and property.
Normal activity in major cities was frequently paralyzed by rioting
unionists until the Government imposed a state of siege in April.
Unions are not free from influence by political parties. Most parties
have labor committees that try to influence union activity, causing
fierce political battles within unions. Most also have party activists
in the unions. The law allows unions to join international labor
organizations. The COB became an affiliate of the communist, formerly
Soviet-dominated, World Federation of Trade Unions in 1988.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Workers may organize and bargain collectively. In practice, collective
bargaining, defined as voluntary direct negotiations between unions and
employers without participation of the Government, is limited.
Consultations between government representatives and labor leaders are
common, but there are no collective bargaining agreements as defined
above. In state industries, the union issues a list of demands and the
Government concedes some points. Private employers often use public
sector settlements as guidelines for their own adjustments, and some
private employers exceed the Government settlements. The Government,
conscious of International Monetary Fund guidelines, rarely grants wage
increases exceeding inflation.
The law prohibits discrimination against union members and organizers.
Complaints go to the National Labor Court, which can take a year or more
to rule. The court has ruled in favor of discharged workers in some
cases and successfully required
their reinstatement. However, union leaders say problems are often moot
by the time the court rules.
Labor law and practice in the seven special duty-free zones are the same
as in the rest of the country.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor. However, the practice of
criadito service and agricultural servitude by indigenous workers (see
Section 5) constitute violations as do some individual cases of
household workers effectively imprisoned by their employers.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The law prohibits employment of persons under 18 years of age in
dangerous, unhealthy, or immoral work. The Labor Code is ambiguous on
conditions of employment for minors age 14 to 17, and permits
apprenticeship for those 12 to 14 years old. This practice has been
criticized by the International Labor Organization, and the Government
is preparing legislation reforming this and other provisions of the
Labor Code.
Responsibility for enforcing child labor provisions resides in the Labor
Ministry, but it generally does not enforce provisions about employment
of children. Although the law requires all children to complete at
least 5 years of primary school, the requirement is poorly enforced
particularly in rural areas. Urban children hawk goods, shine shoes,
and assist transport operators. Rural children often work with parents
from an early age. Children are not generally employed in factories or
formal businesses but, when employed, often work the same hours as
adults.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
In conformity with the law, the minimum wage is subject to annual
renegotiation and was adjusted in May to approximately $42 (200
bolivianos) per month plus bonuses and fringe benefits. The minimum
wage does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family, and most workers earn more. Although the minimum wage falls
below prevailing wages in most jobs, certain fringe benefits are pegged
to it. The minimum wage does not cover about 20 percent of urban
workers--vendors and shoe polishers, for example--nor does it cover
farmers, some 30 percent of the working population.
Only half the urban labor force enjoys an 8-hour workday and a workweek
of 5 or 5 1/2 days, because the maximum workweek of 44 hours is not
enforced. The Labor Ministry's Bureau of Occupational Safety has
responsibility for protection of workers' health and safety, but
relevant standards are poorly enforced. Working conditions in the
mining sector are particularly bad. Although the State Mining
Corporation has an office responsible for safety, many mines, often old
and using antiquated equipment, are dangerous and unhealthy. In some
cooperative mines, miners earn less than $3 per 12-hour day. They work
without helmets, boots, or respirators in mines where toxic gases
abound; they buy their own supplies, including dynamite, have no
scheduled rest periods, and must survive underground from 24 to 72 hours
continuously with little water and food. There are no special
provisions in law defining when workers may remove themselves from
dangerous situations. Unless the work contract covers this area, any
worker who refuses to work based on the individual's judgment of
excessively dangerous conditions may face dismissal.
(###)
[end of document]
Return
to 1995 Human Rights Practices report home page.
Return to DOSFAN
home page.
This is an official U.S. Government source
for information on the WWW. Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links
does not imply endorsement of contents.