Senkata massacre


The 2019 Senkata massacre occurred when Bolivian soldiers and police broke up a road blockade at the YPFB gas facility in Senkata, El Alto, Bolivia, on 19 November 2019. It occurred one week into the interim presidency of Jeanine Áñez and four days after the Sacaba massacre. Rural and urban protesters had blockaded the plant shortly after the ouster of Bolivian president Evo Morales. Their protests were part of nationwide blockades by his supporters denouncing the ouster as a coup d'état, and urban protests in El Alto against the new government's desecration of the wiphala, an Indigenous flag designated a Bolivian national symbol by the 2009 Constitution. By 14 November, protesters had built barricades as part of their blockade.
During the morning of 19 November, security forces escorted trucks containing natural gas canisters out of the plant. Before noon, they began clashing with protesters who dismantled the wall and attempted to get inside. The security forces used live ammunition on demonstrators in the vicinity of the plant, as well in surrounding neighborhoods throughout the afternoon. Eleven people, all of them civilians and including some bystanders, were shot dead or fatally wounded during the day's events. The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts, appointed by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, estimates that eighty people were wounded that day among bullets of 22 caliber and dynamite.
Following the events of 19 November, the government issued a series of conflicting reports about the day, both denying that militarized forces had shot their weapons and arguing that the military had to intervene to prevent a terrorist attack. Investigative reports and witness testimony debunked the initial governmental narrative and illustrated how governmental forces used extreme force and committed extrajudicial executions in what the Inter-American Commission on Human rights has called a massacre. In 2021, three Defense Ministers and five military officers were arrested and/or indicted on charges relating to the massacre. Following this, in 2022 Departmental police commander William Cordero was indicted.
The 19 November police and military intervention marked the end of disruptions to the supply of natural gas in La Paz and El Alto, but not of protests against the Áñez government. Talks between pro-Morales movements and the Áñez government led to a promise of new elections and demobilization of protests.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights denounced the Senkata events as a massacre in December 2019, and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts ratified that description in its 2021 report on human rights violations during the crisis. The massacre was also investigated and condemned by the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic and the University Network for Human Rights.

Background

Bolivia entered into a political crisis following the 20 October 2019, national elections. Opposition protesters denounced the candidacy of President Evo Morales, who was running for a fourth term, and claimed that he was benefiting from electoral fraud. Following a police mutiny, the initial conclusions of an OAS audit of the election, and public urging by the commander of the Armed Forces, Morales resigned on 10 November 2019. Supporters, including Morales' coca grower base in the Chapare region of Cochabamba department, immediately began protests denouncing his ouster as a military coup. Jeanine Áñez was sworn in as interim president on 12 November.
Residents of El Alto opposed to the new government began protest blockades across the city, including at the Senkata plant on 11 November 2019. By 14 November, YPFB reported that it was unable to send gas canisters out of the facility and this was leading to shortages in the municipality of La Paz.
On 15 November 2019, amid continuing protests, violence and shortages in several main cities, Áñez and her cabinet signed a decree to enlist the police and army to pacify the country. This was issued as Supreme Decree 4078 on 15 December. Article 3 of the decree reads, "The personnel of the Armed Forces who participate in operations to restore internal order and public stability will be exempt from criminal liability when, in compliance with their constitutional functions, they acted in legitimate defense or state of necessity, in observance of the principles of legality, absolute necessity and proportionality." The decree was criticised by several human rights groups, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN Human Rights Commission, who all called for its immediate revocation. Amnesty International described it as "carte blanche" for human rights abuses.

Events

In response to ongoing persecution against Indigenous peoples, including the Sacaba massacre, and the new interim government, communities throughout El Alto had been organizing non-violent blockades. Groups involved in the protests included the CSUTCB, the National Confederation of Indigenous Rural Women from Bolivia - Bartolina Sisa, and the Túpac Katari Rural Workers Federation. Historically the Senkata gas plant which belongs to Yacimientos Petrolífos Fiscales Bolivianos, has been a central site for protests due to its strategic location. The plant provides gas to La Paz, as such, blocking the plant prevents trucks from passing through from the La Paz to Alto area. On 14 November protesters began building blockades that limited both the ability of trucks to leave and the ability of some food and fuel to enter. They also dug trenches in front of the main doors to the plant to prevent trucks from entering. The same day, the interim government ratified Decree 4078 which granted impunity to the armed forces from any violent acts used to "maintain public order".
As the blockade continued, it began to cause gas shortages and frustration mounted. The interim government said that they would negotiate with the protesters, and protesters demanded that armed forces leave as a condition under which they would end the blockade. On 18 November, there was a town meeting of El Alto neighborhood councils. At the meeting they voted to continue and intensify the blockades.
On 18 November the government deployed a caravan of military vehicles and soldiers inside the Senkata plant. When interviewed by the GIEI, Brigadier General Franko Suárez who was responsible for security at Senkata stated that he did not have command over the escort, but rather the operation was directly under the Commander of the Armed Forces. Forces included at least 304 troops from the División Mecanizada 1, RCM-4 "Ingavi" 1207 and RAAM-6 "Mcal.
Bilbao" 1208. The following morning, 19 November, the military operation began to escort gas from the plant. Based on information collected from the GIEI report from Army and Air Force reports, at 6:00am administrative personnel and their drivers began arriving to the plant. According to a report submitted the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, at around 8am a military escort arrived to help move 45 gas-filled tanker trucks and trucks filled with gas canisters from the plant. Protesters, local residents, shop owners and shoppers were all present. At 9:15am military and police forces from the RCM-4/Ingavi division left their station to head to the plant. Between 10 and 10:15am police and armed forces at the plant unlocked the main entrance to prepare for the gas trucks to leave. Shortly after, the security convoy that would be escorting the gas trucks arrived. After shooting tear gas, at around 10:00am state forces then began to shoot live rounds at demonstrators including those fleeing the demonstrations and those helping the injured. Investigative Reports note that when the firing first began, security forces made no attempts to negotiate or warn surrounding individuals. Demonstrators and civilians, including women with children attempted to flee. Those living around the plant who were not part of the protests fled their homes as the gas entered. Witnesses reported seeing dozens of people suffocating on the gas and overall panic. Protesters decided to lift the blockade around 10:30am to let the trucks through. However, repression continued.
The trucks proceeded to leave the plant, escorted by police and military troops, at around 10:50am. Military reports note that protests began at 11:15am. However, testimonies collected from witnesses and attendees note that between 9 and 11 am, without warning, state forces began firing tear gas at those outside the plant, attempting to break the blockade. Based on Army and Air Force reports, at 11:44am the commander of the CEO Andino received a verbal command to mobilize an Anti-Riot company to aid in "reclaiming" the Plant. Then at 12:10pm about 110 troops from the Mecanizada division left their barracks under the orders of Franko Orlando Suárez González. These troops arrived at the plant around 1:40pm. Navy reports detail a different timeline. According to these reports the Ingavi troops arrived at the plant around 11:40am and left around 12:30am without any incidence. Despite discrepancies between the reports, based on both video evidence and confirmed by the GIEI reports, the trucks left the plant between 10:50am and 11:40am without issue. Demonstrators did not prevent them from leaving. Though the trucks left without incident, security forces continued repressive measures. The GIEI report called the militarized actions "violent persecution" against demonstrators and civilians in the surrounding area that resulted in extrajudicial executions.
Security forces broke into people's homes to use their roofs to shoot at civilians. A military helicopter also shot tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition from above. Witnesses report that state forces were targeting people who were not participating in the blockades and those who just walking through the area. For example, both Milton Zentero a young university student and 22-year-old Joel Colque were shot as they returned home from school and work respectively. 21-year-old Jose Tenorio Mamani was shot and killed as he was helping the injured. Similarly, Antonio Ronald Quispe Ticona was killed as he tried to shield civilians from bullets shot from the helicopter. He left his home around 1:30pm, and while watching the footage on television, his Uncle identified him as a victim around 4:30pm. Joel Colque was shot around 10:00am suggesting that the shootings began minimally one hour after the tear gassing began. Another victim, Clemente Eloy Mamani Santander was shot between 10 and 10:30 am. Pedro Quisbert Mamani, 37, was shot and killed between 3 and 3:30pm, as was Rudy Cristian Vazquez Condori, 23, who left his house around this time. Many of the victims families reported that they were not participating in the protests but were simply passing through. However, according to the GIEI, due to the widespread persecution, some families could be afraid of identifying their family members as protesters.
The violence took place over about 8 hours, from 10 am to 6pm. Witnesses report incidents of shooting at three different intervals between 10:30am and 11:30am, 2:00 and 3:30pm, and 4:30 and 5:00pm. At least eleven people were killed and the number of wounded were variously reported as 72 or 80. The killed include:
  1. Deyvid Posto Cusi.
  2. Antonio Ronald Quispe Ticona
  3. Clemente Eloy Mamani Santander
  4. Joel Colque Patty
  5. Pedro Quisbert Mamani
  6. Juan José Tenorio Mamani
  7. Rudy Cristian Vazquez Condori
  8. Milton David Gironda
  9. Edwin Jamachi Paniagua
  10. Calixto Huanaco Aguilario
  11. Emilio Fernández
During what the Inter-American Commission on Human rights has since called a massacre, security forces also forcibly arrested civilians and dragged them into the plant. They also dragged at least one wounded or dead person into the plant after the initial tear gassing. Fearing that security forces would disappear the bodies of those killed and wounded, some threw stones at the plant while other protesters knocked down the wall of the plant. This was met with increased violence from the security forces in an area that extended far beyond the initial blockade of the plant. The police returned some of the detained individuals to the police station later that night.
Victims reported varying responses at the hospitals at which they sought treatment. Some reported good care while others noted that some hospitals blatantly turned people away due to their presumed association with the MAS-ISP, or demanded payment up front, delaying treatment. Police also arrived at the hospital and took some injured away. Similarly, multiple reports including the GIEI and a submission to the UN special rapporteur report noted that some people did not seek medical treatment for fear of repercussions.