[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 62 (Wednesday, April 10, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2393-S2395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPORTING DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS IN BOLIVIA AND
THROUGHOUT LATIN AMERICA
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 58, S. Res. 35.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 35) supporting democratic principles
and standards in Bolivia and throughout Latin America.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution which had been reported from the Committee on Foreign
Relations, without amendment, and with an amendment to the preamble, as
follows:
Whereas the nation of Bolivia proclaimed independence from
Spain on August 6, 1825, with Simon Bolivar as its president;
Whereas Bolivia endured more than a century of fragile
governance and instability, with more than 150 changes of
leadership since it gained independence;
Whereas Bolivia experienced a succession of military coups
that resulted in the irregular transfer of power between
presidents and military juntas during the period of 1964 to
1982;
Whereas a transition to civilian democracy occurred in
1982, after the ruling military junta handed over power to a
civilian government, which managed to maintain control
despite major economic upheavals and painful market reforms;
Whereas elected President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and his
successor Carlos Mesa both resigned in the face of
destabilizing protests in 2003 and 2005, respectively;
Whereas, in 2005, Evo Morales won his first term as
president, becoming Bolivia's first indigenous citizen
elected to the office;
[[Page S2394]]
Whereas Bolivia's historically marginalized indigenous
peoples represent approximately 41 percent of the country's
population, according to the 2012 Bolivian census;
Whereas, in 2006, the people of Bolivia elected a
constituent assembly to write a new constitution recognizing
greater political and economic rights for the country's
indigenous population, while key opposition parties boycotted
the constituent assembly election;
Whereas, in 2008, a recall referendum on President Morales
was rejected by 67 percent of voters in Bolivia;
Whereas, in 2008, amidst growing protests in the country
and rising tensions between Bolivia and the United States,
President Morales expelled the United States ambassador to
Bolivia;
Whereas, in 2009, Bolivians approved, by a vote of more
than 60 percent in a nationwide referendum, a new
constitution that included a limit of two five-year
presidential terms;
Whereas, in 2009, President Morales won reelection to a
second term with more than 60 percent of the vote;
Whereas, in 2013, President Morales' loyalists in Bolivia's
Legislative Assembly approved legislation allowing him to run
for a third term--a law that President Morales' political
allies in the Bolivian Constitutional Tribunal affirmed,
ruling that the two-term limit in the country's new
constitution did not apply because President Morales' first
term was under the old constitution;
Whereas, in 2013, President Morales expelled the United
States Agency for International Development for trying to
``conspire against Bolivia'';
Whereas, in 2014, President Morales won his third term as
president, with 60 percent of the vote;
Whereas, in 2016, the Government of Bolivia called a
national referendum to modify the constitution in order to
allow for an additional term for Morales;
Whereas, that same year, more than half of voters in
Bolivia rejected the proposed lifting of presidential term
limits that would have allowed President Morales to run for a
fourth term and serve at least 19 years in office;
Whereas, after the referendum, the Morales Administration
increased its troubling rhetoric against opposition media and
advanced a narrative suggesting a plot to prevent President
Morales from staying in power;
Whereas, in 2017, President Morales' loyalists on the
Bolivian Constitutional Tribunal lifted constitutional term
limits arguing that they violated the candidates' human
rights, citing the American Convention of Human Rights,
adopted at San Jose November 22, 1969, the main human rights
treaty in the Americas, as the legal foundation for its
decision;
Whereas the Convention states that political rights can
only be limited under very specific circumstances, a
provision which, when drafted in 1969, was intended to
prevent abusive governments from arbitrarily barring
opposition candidates and not to impede constitutional
reelection limits designed to reduce corruption and abuse of
power given Latin America's long history of violent and
prolonged dictatorship;
Whereas the Bolivian Constitutional Tribunal's ruling
rendered Bolivia one of a very small number of countries in
the Western Hemisphere that does not place limits on
presidential reelection;
Whereas the Secretary General of the Organization of
American States said the cited clause ``does not mean the
right to perpetual power . . . Besides, presidential re-
election was rejected by popular will in a referendum in
2016.'';
Whereas, in March 2018, a report commissioned by the
Organization of American States specifically related to this
issue stated that--
(1) ``There is no specific and distinct human right to re-
election.'';
(2) ``Term limits. . .are a reasonable limit to the right
to be elected because they prevent an unlimited exercise of
power in the hands of the President.''; and
(3) ``The limits on a president's re-election do not
therefore unduly restrict his/her human and political
rights.''; and
Whereas the Morales era has seen many social and economic
gains, but also a weakening and undermining of key democratic
institutions in order to favor the ruling party: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) supports the important transitions to democracy and the
regular peaceful transfers of power through elections that
have taken place in the majority of Latin American and
Caribbean countries in recent decades;
(2) recognizes the historic significance of Bolivia's 2005
election;
(3) expresses concern for efforts to circumvent
presidential term limits in the Bolivian constitution;
(4) supports presidential term limits prevalent in Latin
America as reasonable checks against a history of coups,
corruption, and abuses of power;
(5) expresses the belief that the 2016 referendum vote to
maintain presidential term limits reflected the legitimate
will of the majority of voters in Bolivia;
(6) agrees with the Organization of American States
Secretary General's interpretation of the American Convention
of Human Rights as not applicable to presidential term
limits;
(7) calls on the Government of Bolivia to respect, and
where necessary restore, the independence of key electoral
and governing bodies and administer the October 2019 election
in adherence with international democratic norms and its own
constitutional limits on presidential terms; and
(8) calls on Latin American democracies to continue to
uphold democratic norms and standards among members states.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I know of no further debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. If there is no further debate, the question is
on agreeing to the resolution.
The resolution (S. Res. 35) was agreed to.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that the
committee-reported amendment to the preamble be agreed to, the
preamble, as amended, be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be
considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or
debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The committee-reported amendment to the preamble was agreed to.
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
The resolution with its preamble, as amended, reads as follows:
S. Res. 35
Whereas the nation of Bolivia proclaimed independence from
Spain on August 6, 1825, with Simon Bolivar as its president;
Whereas Bolivia endured more than a century of fragile
governance and instability, with more than 150 changes of
leadership since it gained independence;
Whereas Bolivia experienced a succession of military coups
that resulted in the irregular transfer of power between
presidents and military juntas during the period of 1964 to
1982;
Whereas a transition to civilian democracy occurred in
1982, after the ruling military junta handed over power to a
civilian government, which managed to maintain control
despite major economic upheavals and painful market reforms;
Whereas elected President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and his
successor Carlos Mesa both resigned in the face of
destabilizing protests in 2003 and 2005, respectively;
Whereas, in 2005, Evo Morales won his first term as
president, becoming Bolivia's first indigenous citizen
elected to the office;
Whereas Bolivia's historically marginalized indigenous
peoples represent approximately 41 percent of the country's
population, according to the 2012 Bolivian census;
Whereas, in 2006, the people of Bolivia elected a
constituent assembly to write a new constitution recognizing
greater political and economic rights for the country's
indigenous population, while key opposition parties boycotted
the constituent assembly election;
Whereas, in 2008, a recall referendum on President Morales
was rejected by 67 percent of voters in Bolivia;
Whereas, in 2008, amidst growing protests in the country
and rising tensions between Bolivia and the United States,
President Morales expelled the United States ambassador to
Bolivia;
Whereas, in 2009, Bolivians approved, by a vote of more
than 60 percent in a nationwide referendum, a new
constitution that included a limit of two five-year
presidential terms;
Whereas, in 2009, President Morales won reelection to a
second term with more than 60 percent of the vote;
Whereas, in 2013, President Morales' loyalists in Bolivia's
Legislative Assembly approved legislation allowing him to run
for a third term--a law that President Morales' political
allies in the Bolivian Constitutional Tribunal affirmed,
ruling that the two-term limit in the country's new
constitution did not apply because President Morales' first
term was under the old constitution;
Whereas, in 2013, President Morales expelled the United
States Agency for International Development for trying to
``conspire against Bolivia'';
Whereas, in 2014, President Morales won his third term as
president, with 60 percent of the vote;
Whereas, in 2016, the Government of Bolivia called a
national referendum to modify the constitution in order to
allow for an additional term for Morales;
Whereas, that same year, more than half of voters in
Bolivia rejected the proposed lifting of presidential term
limits that would have allowed President Morales to run for a
fourth term and serve at least 19 years in office;
Whereas, after the referendum, the Morales Administration
increased its troubling rhetoric against opposition media and
advanced a narrative suggesting a plot to prevent President
Morales from staying in power;
Whereas, in 2017, President Morales' loyalists on the
Bolivian Constitutional Tribunal lifted constitutional term
limits arguing that they violated the candidates' human
rights, citing the American Convention of Human Rights,
adopted at San Jose November 22, 1969, the main human rights
treaty in the Americas, as the legal foundation for its
decision;
Whereas the Convention states that political rights can
only be limited under very specific circumstances, a
provision which, when drafted in 1969, was intended to
prevent abusive governments from arbitrarily barring
opposition candidates and not to impede constitutional
reelection limits designed to reduce corruption and abuse of
power given Latin America's long history of violent and
prolonged dictatorship;
[[Page S2395]]
Whereas the Bolivian Constitutional Tribunal's ruling
rendered Bolivia one of a very small number of countries in
the Western Hemisphere that does not place limits on
presidential reelection;
Whereas the Secretary General of the Organization of
American States said the cited clause ``does not mean the
right to perpetual power . . . Besides, presidential re-
election was rejected by popular will in a referendum in
2016.'';
Whereas, in March 2018, a report commissioned by the
Organization of American States specifically related to this
issue stated that--
(1) ``There is no specific and distinct human right to re-
election.'';
(2) ``Term limits. . .are a reasonable limit to the right
to be elected because they prevent an unlimited exercise of
power in the hands of the President.''; and
(3) ``The limits on a president's re-election do not
therefore unduly restrict his/her human and political
rights.''; and
Whereas the Morales era has seen many social and economic
gains, but also a weakening and undermining of key democratic
institutions in order to favor the ruling party: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) supports the important transitions to democracy and the
regular peaceful transfers of power through elections that
have taken place in the majority of Latin American and
Caribbean countries in recent decades;
(2) recognizes the historic significance of Bolivia's 2005
election;
(3) expresses concern for efforts to circumvent
presidential term limits in the Bolivian constitution;
(4) supports presidential term limits prevalent in Latin
America as reasonable checks against a history of coups,
corruption, and abuses of power;
(5) expresses the belief that the 2016 referendum vote to
maintain presidential term limits reflected the legitimate
will of the majority of voters in Bolivia;
(6) agrees with the Organization of American States
Secretary General's interpretation of the American Convention
of Human Rights as not applicable to presidential term
limits;
(7) calls on the Government of Bolivia to respect, and
where necessary restore, the independence of key electoral
and governing bodies and administer the October 2019 election
in adherence with international democratic norms and its own
constitutional limits on presidential terms; and
(8) calls on Latin American democracies to continue to
uphold democratic norms and standards among members states.
____________________