[House Hearing, 112 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



 
                                [ERRATA]
                THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT'S INADEQUATE 
                  RESPONSE TO HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS IN
             BOLIVIA: THE CASE OF AMERICAN JACOB OSTREICHER

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                 SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,
                            AND HUMAN RIGHTS

                                 OF THE

                      COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                      ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                              JUNE 6, 2012

                               __________

                           Serial No. 112-153

                               __________

        Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs


Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ 
                                  or 
                       http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

                                 ______



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                                [ERRATA]

    An error was made on the cover and page 1 of Serial Number 
112-153. The name of Mr. Ostreicher was misspelled in the 
title.


    THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT'S INADEQUATE RESPONSE TO HUMAN RIGHTS 
       CONCERNS IN BOLIVIA: THE CASE OF AMERICAN JACOB OSTREICHER

                              ----------                              


                        WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2012

              House of Representatives,    
         Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,    
                                  and Human Rights,
                              Committee on Foreign Affairs,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 o'clock 
a.m., in room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. 
Christopher H. Smith (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
    Mr. Smith. The subcommittee will come to order, and I want 
to wish everybody a good morning. Thank you for joining us for 
this extremely important and timely hearing to examine the 
situation of Mr. Jacob Ostreicher, who has been imprisoned for 
over 1 year in Bolivia, and the involvement of the State 
Department in this case.
    Normally this subcommittee focuses on human rights issues 
in the context of whether foreign governments are respecting 
the rights of their own people. But today we are undertaking 
the sobering task of defending the human rights of one of our 
own fellow citizens. Mr. Ostreicher and his wife, Miriam Ungar, 
who is here with us today to testify on behalf of him, are from 
New York. His daughter, Chaya Weinberger, will also be 
testifying, and she is from New Jersey and a resident of my 
congressional district. She lives in Lakewood.
    They are part of a large family and a close-knit Orthodox 
Jewish community. It was actually Rabbi Aaron Kotler, the chief 
executive officer of Beth Medrash Govoha, the yeshiva, who 
first brought Mr. Ostreicher's plight to my attention about 3 
weeks ago. Human rights abuses that are happening to Mr. 
Ostreicher in Bolivia are being felt deeply and personally here 
in our own country.
    Our distinguished witnesses will provide compelling 
testimony on the facts of Mr. Ostreicher's case and the abuses 
that he has suffered and continues to suffer. And we will also 
examine whether Mr. Ostreicher has been receiving the 
assistance that he should receive as a United States citizen 
abroad, with the purpose of ascertaining what should be done 
going forward. We will also do everything we can to correct the 
ongoing extreme injustice being perpetrated against Mr. 
Ostreicher and secure his freedom as quickly as possible.
