Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez de Lozada / Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez Berzain

Synopsis

On September 26, 2007, the two cases were filed, one in U.S. federal court in the District of Maryland against Sánchez de Lozada, the former President of Bolivia, and the other in the Southern District of Florida against Sánchez Berzaín, the former Minister of Defense, charging both men for their roles in extrajudicial killings of Aymara citizens, an indigenous group in Bolivia, between September and October of 2003.

Status

On October 24, 2008, CCR will be arguing in opposition of the Defendants' Joint Motion to Dismiss in the Southern District of Florida at 1:00pm.

Description

Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez de Lozada and Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez Berzain are two cases that filed aginst the former President of Bolivia Gonzalo Daniel Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante and the former Minister of Defense Jose Carlos Sánchez Berzaín for their roles in the killing of civilians during popular protests against the Bolivian government in September and October 2003. The suits, which seek compensatory and punitive damages under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) charge Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín with extrajudicial killings and crimes against humanity for their roles in the massacre of unarmed civilians, including children. In September and October 2003, Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín ordered Bolivian security forces to use deadly force, including the use of high-powered rifles and machine guns, to suppress popular civilian protests against government policies. In all, during those two months forces under their leadership killed 67 men, women, and children and injured more than 400, almost all from indigenous Aymara communities. Each of the ten plaintiffs, who are Aymara natives of Bolivia, are survivors of individuals who were killed by forces under Sánchez de Lozada's and Sánchez Berzaín's command. The ten plaintiffs include among them: Eloy Rojas Mamani and Etelvina Ramos Mamani, whose 8-year-old daughter was killed in her mother's bedroom when a single shot was fired through the window; Teofilo Baltazar Cerro, whose pregnant wife was killed after a bullet was fired through the wall of a house, killing her and her unborn child; Felicidad Rosa Huanca Quispe, whose 69-year-old father was shot and killed along a roadside; and Gonzalo Mamani Aguilar, whose father was shot and killed. The legal team includes CCR Senior Attorney Jennie Green and CCR cooperating attorneys Judith Chomsky, Beth Stephens, and David Rudovsky; Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris and Hoffman; Steven Schulman, John Van Sickle and Jeremy Bollinger from the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; James Cavallaro and Tyler Giannini from the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School; and Miami attorneys Ira Kurzban and Geoffrey Hoffman.

Timeline

On September 26, 2007, the two cases were filed, one in U.S. federal court in the District of Maryland against Sánchez de Lozada and the other in the Southern District of Florida against Sánchez Berzaín.

In May 2008, our case against Sanchez de Lozada in the Maryland District Court was consolidated with the Sanchez Berzain case in the Southern District of Florida for pre-trial purposes.  Subsequently, Plaintiffs amended their complaint in the Southern District of Florida to include charges against Sanchez de Lozada.

On October 24, 2008, CCR will be arguing in opposition of the Defendants' Joint Motion to Dismiss in the Southern District of Florida at 1:00pm.