Bolivia Extends Its State of Exception as Brazilian Gangs Recruit on the Border
Key Facts
Bolivia has now spent six months under a state of exception, and will spend at least three more. Its legislature voted on Thursday to extend the measure by a further ninety days.
The vote was 100 in favour of 115 legislators present, across both chambers sitting jointly. The previous period, which began on 20 June, was due to expire on Friday.
What Was Extended
The executive issued Supreme Decree 5707 on 15 September. Under Bolivian law a state of exception requires legislative ratification, which is what Thursday’s session provided.
The scope is national and the term is ninety days. The government’s stated justification is the possible reactivation of blockades, marches, strikes and gatherings.
The sectors named are the ones a blockade can reach quickest. Fuel, food, medicine, oxygen and critical infrastructure are all listed.
The original declaration followed weeks of road blockades by groups aligned with Evo Morales. They were demanding the resignation of President Rodrigo Paz.
The Vice-President Voted Against
Vice-President Edman Lara presides over the Legislative Assembly. He opposed the extension.
That is an unusual position for a sitting vice-president to take on his own government’s decree. It is also a measure of how contested the instrument has become.
States of exception concentrate authority in the executive and limit certain guarantees. Extending one twice runs into the objection that emergencies are supposed to end.
The government’s answer is that the conditions that produced the first declaration have not changed. The vote suggests most legislators accepted that.
Fifteen legislators of the 115 present did not back it. That is a small minority, but the position of the man in the chair gives it more weight than the count suggests.
What the Interior Minister Told Deputies
Marco Antonio Oviedo addressed the Assembly on Thursday. His central claim was more specific than previous warnings about the Brazilian border.
He said the two largest Brazilian criminal organisations are beginning to recruit Bolivian citizens. He described both as dangerous and as having established a permanent and continuous presence in Bolivia over an extended period.
He named the Santa Rosa to Montevideo route on the Brazilian frontier as taken by one of the groups. He said its members are armed with rifles and charge for the passage of goods.
The areas he identified are Santa Rosa del Abuná in Pando, San Ignacio de Velasco and San Matías. All three sit on or near the Brazilian border.
The Response
Oviedo instructed the police commander to launch immediate operations in Pando. He also announced reinforcement of the border with military personnel, special forces, ground controls and drones.
A new violence-response plan was promised for presentation in the affected cities. The context is a wave of killings in eastern Santa Cruz.
Recruitment is the escalation that distinguishes this from earlier warnings. A transit route is a logistical problem, while recruitment is a social one.
It also changes what a border operation can achieve. Controls stop goods and people crossing, but they do nothing about members already inside the country.
Bolivia sits between the world’s largest cocaine producers and its Atlantic export routes. That geography has made it a corridor for as long as the trade has existed.
What changes is who controls the corridor. Brazilian organisations have displaced local networks across much of the continent over the past decade.
Bolivia’s own coca production adds a second layer. The country is a producer as well as a route, which gives foreign groups two reasons to establish themselves.
A Third Appointment
President Rodrigo Paz swore in a new permanent secretary-general of the Supreme Defence Council on Wednesday. The appointee is Air Division General Germán Leonardo Rodrigo Mendizábal.
That post is not a cabinet position and he is not the defence minister. Ernesto Justiniano has held that office since 3 June.
The president instructed him to advance a comprehensive security and defence law. The brief covers drug trafficking, organised crime and what the government calls narcoterrorism.
No bill exists yet. What was announced is an instruction to draft one rather than a text to debate.
The distinction matters for how quickly anything changes. Bolivia’s security framework dates largely from before the current pattern of cross-border organised crime.
A state of exception is in the meantime doing the work a law would do. That is the argument both for the extension and against it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is Bolivia’s state of exception extended?
Ninety days, approved by the legislature on 17 September with 100 votes of 115 present. The previous period began on 20 June and expired on 18 September.
What is the legal basis?
Supreme Decree 5707, issued on 15 September, which required legislative ratification under Bolivia’s law on states of exception.
Who opposed it?
Vice-President Edman Lara, who presides over the Legislative Assembly, opposed the extension.
What did the interior minister say about Brazilian gangs?
Marco Antonio Oviedo told the Assembly that the two largest Brazilian criminal organisations are recruiting Bolivian citizens, and that one border route in Pando is controlled by armed members charging for passage.
Was a new defence minister appointed?
No. General Germán Rodrigo Mendizábal was sworn in as permanent secretary-general of the Supreme Defence Council, which is not a cabinet post. Ernesto Justiniano remains defence minister.
Sources: Infobae on the legislative vote to extend, ABC on the parliamentary approval, Infobae on the recruitment warning, Los Tiempos on the Supreme Defence Council appointment
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
Read More from The Rio Times