RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Although the Government of Bolivia clarified that vaccination against the coronavirus is voluntary and stressed that those who do not have a vaccine passport could alternatively present a negative PCR test, evangelical churches and other groups asked this Tuesday the nullity of both measures before Justice.
“We are filing a popular action to annul supreme decrees 4640 and 4641, (which) constitute decrees that violate fundamental rights and guarantees,” lawyer Gabriel Justiniano, representative of the plaintiffs, told reporters.
The lawsuit was immediately disqualified by the Minister of Justice, Iván Lima, who insisted on the official argument that vaccination continues to be voluntary and that those who do not have a Covid passport can alternatively present a PCR test.
The popular complaint – a legal remedy that requires authorities to comply with the Constitution – was filed by the president of the Association of Evangelical Churches, Luis Aruquipa, former labor leader Jaime Solares, two doctors known for using chlorine dioxide to combat Covid-19, and a citizens’ committee from the city of El Alto, Justiniano said.
Chlorine dioxide, like ivermectin, is a Covid-19 treatment described as a miracle cure by many practicing physicians in several countries but demonized by the establishment.
The lawyer defended the legal recourse because he argued that the requirement of a vaccination card would constitute in practice a form of forcing immunization, which he considered contrary to constitutional norms that protect the citizen’s right to decide on health issues.
“We are defending the freedom of the people, the freedom of worship and the freedom of disposition of each person over his or her body, in addition to the right to access services such as banks and hospitals without the need for any vaccination card,” said Justiniano.
The vaccination card requirement also violates the right to work of those who are not vaccinated, he remarked and said he hoped that the hearing on the lawsuit would take place next week at the latest in a constitutional court in La Paz.
The Government reacted immediately.
According to the state news agency ABI, Minister Lima assured that the decrees on the vaccination card are “strictly” following the Constitution and protect the collective right to health without affecting individual liberties.
“We think that there are no legal, constitutional arguments and that there is a series of fallacies, lies, half-truths, which do not apply and which will be answered by the national government in all courts where we are summoned”, assured Lima.
He reiterated that vaccination is voluntary and was already accepted by the majority of the Bolivian population “despite the campaign of groups seeking to confuse, distort and show realities that do not exist”.
The requirement of a vaccination card or a negative Covid-19 PCR test to enter public places or places where people gather has been in force since January 1 as an emergency response to the explosion of a fourth wave of infections with the new coronavirus.
In this new wave of coronavirus in the Andean region, Bolivia leads to recent cases in relation to its number of inhabitants.
For this reason, last Thursday, the Bolivian Government declared a national health emergency in an attempt to ensure that medicines and health sector supplies are not in short supply and that prices do not rise dramatically in the face of a new outbreak of coronavirus infections that seems to have no end in sight.
This Tuesday, the U.S. John Hopkins University reported that 11,281 new cases were registered in Bolivia, an increase of 45.49% compared to five days ago, and 41 deaths due to the disease.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Bolivia has registered 622,000 cases and 19,763 deaths.
BOLIVIA THREATENS WITH UP TO TEN YEARS IN PRISON FOR NOT CARRYING VACCINATION PASS
Although there is more than ample scientific evidence that the mRNA injections do not protect against infection and vaccinated persons keep spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the far-left government of Bolivia threatens to take measures that should serve as a clear warning to all about the kind of world Latin America is fast approaching.
End of December, the Bolivian government threatened penalties of up to ten years in prison, which will take effect on January 1, for not carrying a Covid-19 vaccination certificate to attend social events or enter certain establishments.
This comes just days after Guillermo Lasso’s Ecuador became the first country on the continent to introduce mandatory vaccination, following the controversial example of Austria and Germany.
Read also: Opinion – None of democracy’s basic elements survive in Bolivia and Nicaragua
Deputy Minister of Consumer Protection Jorge Silva stressed that the measure is “not a joke,” pointing out that people who do not carry the document and test positive for Covid-19 could be punished based on a public health offense.
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