Why "justicia comunitaria"?

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Hello everyone,

I’d like to take the opportunity to lend some explanation as to why community justice persists in Bolivia today. The simplest way to put it is: the implementation and practice of community justice is in response to Bolivia’s corrupt civic and social structure. Bolivia has been a democratic state for 28 years, yet it is still struggling to produce a rule of law that respects human rights. In the article "Flexible Justice" (2005), Daniel Goldstein writes, “As Bolivia has restructured its economic and political sectors according to a neoliberal model, citizens have been required to become more ‘flexible’ in securing their livelihoods…creating ‘self-help’ justice mechanisms (including private security patrols and vigilante lynchings).”

Bolivia is a developing nation that tends to comply with the demands of international lending agencies and foreign nations in order to progress in a globalizing economy. Yet, neoliberal economic reforms (that tend to privatize virtually all nationally-owned industries) are a result of late capitalism, which leads to higher rates of unemployment and budget cuts for state payroll. A civic sector which is most effected by state payroll cuts is the Bolivian military and police forces. This means that Bolivia has a deficiency of judiciary and police services, and instead possesses a highly corrupt “security” system. Individuals who have had experience with the Bolivian justice system would claim “there is no justice in Bolivia, unless one has enough money to buy it.” For example, in February 2001, a US Peace Corps volunteer went missing somewhere in the rural La Paz Department, but his body was never found and there were no reported sightings. The police do not have the money nor resources to even conduct an investigation unless family members pay off the investigators. Even if they were to investigate, they don’t have paper to write reports, gloves to avoid contamination of the crime scene, nor a camera to document evidence, not to mention any proper refrigeration for found bodies nor lab equipment to conduct proper autopsies.

As a result of deficient funds for qualified staff nor proper equipment, the police rely on funds from bribes and corrupt dealings in order to go about their jobs and make income (the police institution itself has become a private resource). Unfortunately for the poor and middle class, there is no public sector to which they can appeal to rectify grievances with the corrupt police. Even private security firms, consisting of retired military and policemen who are paid a salary (or more like a fee) by townspeople in order to provide protection are often criminals themselves who inform their team when houses are empty and ample to be raided. Naturally, indigenous townspeople find no other alternative but to take justice into their own hands (hence the creation of lynch mobs to punish criminals and corrupt police).

Daniel Goldstein sums it up well with these concluding words: “ view themselves as filling in for the absent state, pursuing ‘delincuentes’ and ‘malhechores’ who prey on the good people of society. Lost in this good/bad distinction is the fact that delincuentes and linchadores (lynch-mob participants) alike are poor people of indigenous origin, engaged in an escalating cycle of violence whose end is not currently in sight (405).”

This is a somewhat disheartening conclusion to pose, however, it is the analysis of one Political Scientist. Within the next few days, I am speaking with my first round of interviewees. Maybe local Bolivians, from various life paths, can offer a different insight into "justicia comunitaria".

Stay tuned!

Nejla

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Comments

[Roberto J.]

Yes, there is definitely a grain of truth in so far as the absence of an effective, equitable formal judicial system in Bolivia (particularly for the poor and underprivileged) leaves a vacuum which is filled by taking justice in to their own hands.

[Yasare Calvo]

Very well written Nejla. Keep up the good work.