The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) - OAS has consistently issued recommendations to Bolivia to reclassify the crime of terrorism in the country. In 2021, after the electoral and institutional crisis of 2019, the IACHR issued a communiqué in which it urged the South American country to observe the Inter-American standards of access to justice and due process; likewise, it demanded it fulfill its obligation to investigate, punish and guarantee full reparation to the victims and their families for human rights violations.
This political crisis occurred from November 10 to 20, a period in which there were numerous protests against the government of President Evo Morales, accused of having committed electoral fraud in the October general elections, according to the Electoral Integrity Analysis Report of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Subsequently, the Commission learned about some arrest warrants against persons who were part of the interim government 2019-2020, for the crimes of sedition, terrorism and conspiracy within the judicial case called "coup d'état", said persons denounced being victims of persecution.
In light of this situation, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights reiterated that some national anti-terrorism laws violate the principle of legality, as they are based on an excessively broad and imprecise definition of the concept of terrorism. In March 2022, the Commission signed an agreement to follow up on the recommendations raised by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI-Bolivia) in the report on the events of violence in 2019, in this document 36 recommendations were established for the plurinational State, the Bolivian civil society and the IACHR. One of these agreements focuses on the need to redefine the concept of terrorism: "To adapt the criminal definitions of sedition, terrorism and financing of terrorism, in accordance with the principle of legality and international standards, and to review the practice of promoting and confirming charges in relation to these criminal definitions.
In January of this year, in the report Social Cohesion: the challenge for the consolidation of democracy in Bolivia, the IACHR again expressed its concern about the existence of "unclear and objective criminal offenses such as terrorism and breach of duty. Likewise, there is a lack of adaptation of the classification of the crime of torture to international standards".
Currently, people like Fernando Hamdan are being prosecuted for terrorism and armed uprising against the security and sovereignty of the State after the events of June 26, so it is even more urgent that Bolivia heed the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and reform the classification of the crime of terrorism and its financing. The Ibero-American Commission on Human Rights for the Development of the Americas (CIDHPDA), in the voice of the President Commissioner for Latin America and the Caribbean, Víctor Hugo Gutiérrez Yáñez, demands that the government of Luis Arce take the corresponding measures, following international standards, to guarantee the human rights of Bolivians.