| Sacaba massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the 2019 Bolivian political crisis | |
  Sacaba | |
| Location | Sacaba, Cochabamba, Bolivia |
| Date | 15 November 2019 |
| Target | Protesters |
Attack type | Massacre |
| Weapons | Firearms |
| Deaths | 11 |
| Injured | ~98 |
| Perpetrators | Bolivian National Police, Armed Forces of Bolivia |
The 2019 Sacaba massacre occurred when Bolivian soldiers and police attacked and broke up a protest led by Bolivian coca growers at Huayllani in Sacaba municipality, Cochabamba on 15 November 2019. It came in the first week of the interim presidency of Jeanine Áñez. Marchers intended to enter the town of Sacaba and proceed to the departmental capital of Cochabamba to protest the ousting of Bolivian president Evo Morales, but were stopped by the police and military. During the afternoon, police and soldiers clashed with protesters, and eventually soldiers opened fire on the crowd. Eleven demonstrators were killed; an estimated ninety-eight people were wounded, including four journalists and eight members of the security forces.[1] Two hundred twenty-three protesters were arrested, many of whom suffered mistreatment and at least nine of whom were tortured.[1]
Following the killing of another ten demonstrators and bystanders at Senkata on 19 November 2019, the pro-Morales movement entered roundtable talks with the Áñez government. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights denounced the Sacaba events as a massacre in December 2019,[2] and the IACHR-appointed Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts ratified that description in its 2021 report on human rights violations during the crisis.[3] The massacre was also investigated and condemned by the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic and the University Network for Human Rights.[4] Former Army Col. Franz Vargas was arrested in July 2021 for his alleged responsibility for the massacre.[5]
- ^ a b "Masacre de Sacaba: del llamado del MAS a marchar a la "caza" y tortura". Opinión Bolivia. 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
- ^ Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (2019-12-10). "CIDH presenta sus observaciones preliminares tras su visita a Bolivia, y urge una investigación internacional para las graves violaciones de derechos humanos ocurridas en el marco del proceso electoral desde octubre de 2019" (Text). Retrieved 2021-11-22.
- ^ Grupo Interdisciplinario de Expertos Independientes (23 September 2021). Informe Final sobre los hechos de violencia y vulneración de los derechos humanos ocurridos entre el 1 de septiembre y el 31 de diciembre de 2019 (PDF). Grupo Interdisciplinario de Expertos Independientes.
- ^ International Human Rights Clinic. Harvard Law School; University Network for Human Rights (2020). "They Shot Us Like Animals": Black November & Bolivia's Interim Government (PDF).
- ^ Chuquimia, Marco Antonia; Tedesqui Vargas, Luis Marcelo (2021-07-26). "Aprehensión y detención de militares por sucesos de 2019 se extiende a tres departamentos". El Deber. Retrieved 2021-11-22.