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Black October

Victims of a Bolivian massacre seek justice in Miami.

A A A Comments (7) By Tim Elfrink Thursday, Dec 18 2008

...continued from page 5

"I don't get into all of that," Alvarez says, shaking his head slightly. "There are probably plenty of people in Bolivia who love him too, depending whether they're on the right or the left or whatever. He's a good neighbor — that's what I know about."

Sonia, who lost her husband Lucio on that bloody Sunday in El Alto, sits outside the hulking glass and steel Wilkie D. Ferguson Courthouse in the piercing October sunlight. She leans uncomfortably forward in one of the artfully tilted decorative chairs along North Miami Avenue, holding herself tightly as jets bound for MIA roar periodically overhead.

AP Photo/Dado Galdieri

An Aymara woman weeps at her husband's tomb in November 2003, a month after Black October.

AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa

Former Bolivian President Gonzalo "Goni" Sánchez de Lozada

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"Since that day, there's no justice for us or anything, and it hurts. Here in Miami, Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín live happily. They probably feel fine, and we don't feel fine," Sonia says, wiping tears from her cheeks, which have blushed red in the sunlight.

Eight-year-old Marlene's mother, Etelvina, sits next to Sonia, staring silently at the gravel. Her husband, Eloy, paces nervously, glancing warily around an unfamiliar city.

"She was an innocent child ... that's what's really painful to me, because she had so much good life ahead of her and then she had to go to the cemetery instead," Eloy says of his daughter. "After all this happened, the authors of what happened want to just hide here in the United States. I can't allow that."

Judge Jordan has issued no ruling. Both sides are still waiting for word on whether the case has standing to proceed in Miami. In the meantime, Bolivia's new government has sent an extradition request to the United States for both Sánchez de Lozada and Berzaín to be tried in their homeland along with the rest of their cabinet. Experts say it's highly unlikely either man will be forced to return to Bolivia.

For the Aymaras, the only hope lies in Miami.

"My husband was a really good person, especially with my son. It's not the same without him. My son even today still asks about his father," Sonia says. "For this we keep fighting — for some sort of justice."

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Alexandro Bohrt 11/10/2009 10:10:00 PM

People arround the world: What happened in Bolivia in october 2003 was a Coup d'etat. What this article is not mentioning is that in those days the people of Warisata were kidnapping more than 20 tourists and they were shooting guns against the police. The military forces had to act to get those tourists back to their countries. This actions were planified by the current Vice President who was a terrorist and who was training Warisata's people to use guns against the police a few years before. It is easy to get confused by people like the author of this article because every body feels pity about the poor people but the fact is that Evo Morales is using this universal feeling to get all foreign people at his side and hide their true intentions. What an easy job for Evo Morales!! the powerful and rich Goni against the poor people of Warisata. The truth is that Goni was the president and Evo Morales did a coup with Venezuela's money.

melissa 01/14/2009 12:41:00 AM

Interesting case. For background on the Bolivian presidential campaign, and the culture clash it sparked that led to Sanchez de Lozada's resignation, I recommend Rachel Boynton's 2006 documentary film "Our Brand is Crisis." You will hear "Goni" explain in broken Spanish why he hired an American team of strategists, who knew even less than he about Aymara culture, but were relying on the theory that fear is a universal selling point. The strategy backfired and indigenous Bolivians quickly began to mobilize. You will see footage of the protests and the carnage that ensued, much too vivid to forget.

Niki 01/01/2009 1:50:00 PM

This is a fascinating story depicting changes in the new world order and in internatioal law. The first thing that struck me is that most of this conflict originated not with the indigenous peoples and their government, but by attempts to privatize oil and gas in the name of free-market capitalism. This same scenario is played out all around the world and there are many cases in US courts against companies, like Chevron right now. We all--from Reagan through the Clinton democrats-- are possibly accepting, without enough thinking, the idea that privatization is the only way to help economies, and that privatization from foreign sources should be allowed and enforced by the military strength of the local government if necessary. The argument that government is corrupt when business is state owned no longer holds up when we read about this case. Governments are just as corrupt with either free-market reforms or with state control. It makes complete sense to me that the people in a democracy feel they should have inherent rights to have a say in how the natural resources of their land are used. But that aside, it seems the culprits should be tried in absentia in Bolivia though, then extradited. Or at the UN court in The Hague.

donna 12/19/2008 11:32:00 PM

People like Steve Saulka disgusts me!! The young Thomas Becker cares more about the poor and indigenous people than he does making music and millions of dollars with Atlantic Records. No milital service, what does that have to do with being a voice the less fortunate? I think Mr. Saulka would feel differently if he had been born in a poor village of Boliva. We have been blessed to live in the greatest country a country that my father, husband and brother-in-law have all fought for. I would be more than proud to have a son like Thomas Becker. Goni and Sanchez must be held accountable for their actions. From murders to living in million dollars homes in gated communities..that is not the message that living in the USA is about. It is about equal opportunity and justice for everyone, even those who are poor and even those millionairs who break the law.

Allison Clark 12/19/2008 11:00:00 PM

Dear Steve Saulk, not every person has to serve in the military. There are MANY other ways to serve your country other than performing military services. Becker, is helping to fight a war of justice for the less fortunate! I can't believe your words Mr. Saulk, you make me sick.

Crystian 12/19/2008 4:53:00 PM

This story makes me hungry, ill pay the first person 50 bucks for a pizza...=)

Steve Saulka 12/19/2008 2:38:00 AM

Young Mr. Becker suffers from the typical myopia of the young, blind idealism. Whatever the intrinsic merits of the case, to force it through the prism of American ideals is one thing; to force it through our courts another. With the standing to play out this case in the US comes the responsibility to do so for others like it. The Wilsonian ideal that says America is the font and driving force for justice has resulted in hundreds of thousands of young American boys fighting and dying for others' causes. I read of Becker's musical work, his social justice adventures, his opportunity at Harvard - and not a word about military service. He is only one more of those whose toying with concepts and abstract notions means others not as fortunate will die, in their service of his ideals. Becker disgusts me.