Víctor Hugo Daza

Víctor Hugo Daza was a 17-year old Bolivian citizen killed by the military during the protests of early 2000 in the city of Cochabamba. People in Cochabamba protested against the privatization of local water supplies by the Bechtel Corporation that forced the poor to pay as much as 25% of their incomes for water.

A military tribunal acquitted the sharpshooter believed to be responsible for Daza's death. He was caught on film dressed in civilian clothes shooting a group of unarmed civilians.

When the water system in Cochabamba was privatized and taken over by Bechtel Corporation of San Francisco, California, United States, many people responded with protests that finally reversed the privatization on April 10, 2000.

To defend the contract, the government put thousands of police and military into the street, with a toll of dozens wounded and one, Víctor Hugo Daza, killed. In the conflicts, the military used sharpshooters dressed in civilian clothing, firing military issue rifles into civilian crowds. One such sharpshooter, Captain Robinson Iriarte de la Fuente, a graduate of the U.S. School of the Americas, was caught on video.

Dressed in civilian clothing, Iriarite was filmed shooting at a crowd of protesters by a camera crew from 'Periodistas Asociados Televisión' (PAT), an independent Bolivian television network. Eye witnesses have indicated that Víctor Hugo was among the group under fire when he was fatally shot in the head. The footage capturing this event was seen by people in Bolivia and around the world.

On March 1, 2002, a military tribunal acquitted Captain Iriarte of all responsibility associated with the shooting death of Víctor Hugo Daza. Upon Capitan Iriarte's acquittal by the military tribunal he was promoted to the rank of Major.

The circumstances surrounding Daza's death plainly demonstrate that Captain Iriarte was dressed as a civilian, bearing no identification of his rank or affiliation, at the time he fired at a crowd of unarmed civilians. However, rather than proceed through the civilian criminal justice system, the case was immediately transferred to a military tribunal that enjoyed absolute and final jurisdiction over the cases before it.

According to some, Captain Iriarte was not held accountable for his actions.

ee also

* Cochabamba protests of 2000