Judicial Hitmen | Los sicarios judiciales

By William Herrera, El Deber:

The national courts and tribunals are full of judicial hitmen who were (and will continue to be) at the service of the MAS regime. During the 20 years of Evo Morales and Luis Arce, the judicial system (there are always exceptions) served the political power. The Ministry of Justice had practically turned into the ministry of revenge and political corruption. The fabricated cases against former president Jeanine Áñez, the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, and the former civic leader Marco Antonio Pumari are the most emblematic recent examples, but they are not the only ones. The better-known cases—Hotel Las Américas, alleged terrorism-separatism; Chaparina, La Calancha, El Porvenir—were the first among many others.

Evo Morales acknowledged, for example, that the trial against Jeanine Áñez was decided with the president, Luis Arce, the minister of justice, Iván Lima, and other political leaders. A confession relieves the need for proof. All these “cases” were staged with the aim of eliminating the political opposition and those who exposed the corruption promoted, protected, and carried out by the government itself. José María Bakovic was one of the first fatal victims of masismo: he died on October 12, 2013 in the hallways of the departmental court of La Paz while waiting for a hearing. They invented 76 cases against him, and although his life was in danger, two forensic doctors from the Institute of Forensic Investigations in Sucre forced him to travel to La Paz, where he suffered a fatal heart attack. Another victim was the former director of the Indigenous Fund, Marco Antonio Aramayo, who was held in San Pedro prison until he died. The judicial hitmen invented 259 cases against him, and in 26 of them they imposed pre-trial detention; he had to endure all the abuses of the judicial system and the government until he died behind bars.

Political criminalization always involves a crude manipulation of state institutions and seeks to outlaw all those who think differently. But not even under the worst dictatorships had anything comparable been done. In truth, there are no precedents (in democratic history) of the state machinery (ministries of justice and government, judges, prosecutors, police, etc.) functioning with such perversity.

The government of Luis Arce never cared about the victims of Senkata and Sacaba. All it sought with the conviction of Jeanine Áñez was to hide the criminal manipulation of the October 2019 general election results. MAS meticulously planned the crime months in advance, with abundant financial resources and cutting-edge technological support. Evo Morales greased the entire state apparatus and mounted an exponential campaign to anesthetize the electorate into believing that everything was democratic and constitutional.

The judicial hitmen (there is evidence in the judicial and prosecutorial rulings in the courts) must not only be removed but also prosecuted and convicted for having committed the gravest abuses of power in the name of justice. It is true that some lower-level judges were forced, threatened, and even removed from their positions, but the “blues” and their allies were true butchers of the Constitution and the law. One must recall, for example, magistrate Gualberto Cusi, who refused to submit to Evo Morales’ government and suffered the worst humiliations—ultimately ending up on the street.

The revolving door has begun to release the political prisoners and persecuted prisoners of the MAS governments, and it now awaits the entry of those who must enter for so much political vengeance and corruption. The list is long, and a good part of it must include the judges, prosecutors, court members, and magistrates who not only became butchers of the Constitution and the law but also extorted political prisoners and the persecuted. These are not mere disciplinary offenses but very serious criminal acts, classified as prevarication, bribery, rulings contrary to the Constitution and the law, etc.

The true independence and dignity of the judicial branch must begin by removing and prosecuting the judicial hitmen who have not only detained and convicted the innocent but have also extorted, destroyed families, and taken lives in many cases.

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