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<h1 class="reader-title">Bolivia's De Facto Gov’t Grants
Impunity to Police, Armed Forces</h1>
November 16, 2019</div>
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<p>The de facto government of Bolivia issued a decree
Saturday exempting Armed Forces and National Police from
criminal responsibility when committing acts of
repression against protesters who have taken to the
streets to reject the coup d'etat.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em><strong>RELATED:<br>
<a
href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolivia-Iachr-and-Un-Condemn-Deaths-by-Armed-Forces-20191116-0007.html"
target="_blank">Bolivia: IACHR, UN Condemn Armed
Forces' Killings of Civilians</a></strong></em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>"The personnel of the Armed Forces, who participate in
the operations for the restoration of order and public
stability, will be exempt from criminal responsibility
when, in compliance with their constitutional functions,
they act in legitimate defense or state of necessity,"
the decree reads.</p>
<p>The document also states that security forces may use
firearms to suppress protests, as they are allowed to
“frame their actions as established in the approved
Force Use Manual, being able to make use of all
available means that are proportional to the operational
risk,” it adds.</p>
<p>This comes as violent repression from the government
escalates against protesters in Bolivia. </p>
<p><strong>The de facto government that usurped power in
Bolivia has conferred the Armed Forces to act without
having to answer for their crimes. The number of
deaths grows. The Argentinian government is silent.
The OAS endorses. Michelle Bachelet and the U.N. must
intervene. </strong>
</p>
<p>Over the last 24 hours, at least nine Bolivians have
died as a result of repressive actions carried out by
the security forces that support the coup-based
government headed by Senator Jeanine Añez.</p>
<p>"23 people have died since the coup. The most recent
victims are four people shot dead in La Paz and
five in Sacaba," La Paz Ombudsman' Office delegate
Teresa Zubieta told teleSUR.</p>
<p>While the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) condemned the “disproportionate use” of
police-military force in the repression in the city of
Cochabamba where nine coca growers died and dozens were
injured.</p>
<p>The IACHR expressed "concern about the actions of the
armed forces in the operations carried out in Bolivia
since the beginning of the week," and on Saturday the
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle
Bachelet also warned on Saturday about the dangerous
path that protests are taking in Bolivia after the
deaths in Sacaba, as the situation could ”spin out of
control.” </p>
<p>President Evo Morales was forced to resign on Nov. 10
after senior army and police chiefs called on him to do
so following weeks of right-wing unrest and violence
against his Oct. 20 elections victory, in what his
government and world leaders have called a coup by
opposition forces in the country. </p>
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