Visiting Fellow Roger Noriega

It is a dramatic tale. After losing his bid for the presidency in democratic elections, a cocalero congressman immediately turns to violent protests that succeed in toppling the man who beat him. At the head of an angry mob, the populist leader forces early elections, leading to his winning of the presidency on his second attempt. The new president then grabs the reins of once independent courts, forcing trumped-up criminal charges against the political foe whom he hounded from office.

The main character in this political thriller is Bolivian President Evo Morales, who has earned an anti-American reputation by forging close ties with Cuba, Venezuela, Libya and Iran. His political rival is respected former President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, who defeated Morales in 2002, but gave up power in 2003 hoping that Morales would spare the country from more violence.

Today, Morales is the ringmaster of a political circus aimed at crushing all opposition to his policies, starting with his political rivals. And he has used Bolivia's own courts to do his bidding. One of Morales' prime targets is still Sánchez de Lozada, who has been living in the United States since leaving office. But Sánchez de Lozada is not alone. Morales is pressing criminal charges against all five living former presidents of Bolivia, members of the Sánchez de Lozada cabinet, and military leaders.

Morales is also seeking the ouster of Bolivia's Constitutional Tribunal after it ruled that Morales' permanent appointment of four Supreme Court justices without congressional approval was unconstitutional. Those same hand-picked justices accommodated Morales' demand for Sánchez de Lozada's extradition from the United States, denying him the due process required by Bolivian law.

Violent Demonstrators

The unrest that led to Sánchez de Lozada's resignation began in February 2003 with an unsuccessful assassination attempt on his life. The violence flared up again in September 2003, when Morales and his accomplices blockaded the roads near Lake Titicaca, taking 800 innocent people hostage--including foreign tourists. Sánchez de Lozada's government tried in vain to negotiate with the violent demonstrators. Buses sent by the government to evacuate the hostages were ambushed by deadly force. A Bolivian soldier involved in the hostage rescue was the first person killed, and others died on both sides during the evacuation.

In October 2003, Morales took his lawless violence to the capital city of La Paz. By blockading all roads he strangled La Paz, depriving its residents of food, fuel, and other needed supplies. On Oct. 11, 2003, Sánchez de Lozada and his cabinet executed a supreme decree allowing military personnel to escort fuel trucks to La Paz. The decree, valid under Bolivian law, established a state of emergency in the capital city. When security personnel escorted the fuel trucks, armed protesters again used violence to drive them back, resulting in more deaths on both sides.

The Organization of American States and independent prosecutors from the Public Ministry of Bolivia investigated the 2003 events. The former focused on the February incident and the latter on the October unrest. Both investigations concluded that the Bolivian armed forces response was legal and responsible. The president's state of emergency decree seeking to restore law and order are protected by the Bolivian Constitution.

Political Vendetta

Had Sánchez de Lozada done nothing to restore order, the violence would have raged on with untold consequences for Bolivia's law-abiding citizens. It is ironic that he is now being persecuted for upholding the law in the face of illegal mobs instigated by Morales. In an extraordinary but understated reaction, the U.S. State Department in February 2005 declared that the charges against Sánchez de Lozada "appear to be politically motivated".

Morales' efforts to arrest and prosecute Sánchez de Lozada are part of an elaborate political vendetta against those who do not share his extreme agenda. Our government would be committing a grave injustice by surrendering the man, who tried earnestly to stop the violence, into the bloody hands of the man who started it in the first place.

Roger F. Noriega is a visiting fellow at AEI. His law and advocacy firm, Tew Cardenas, LLP, represents U.S. and foreign governments and companies.