Eighth Criminal Investigation Court issued Resolution No. 180/2001, ordering a search
with seizure powers of two houses 5 to find the perpetrators. 6 On December 17, 2001, the
same court issued Resolution No. 186/2001, expanding the previous order to include six
more properties 7 and expressly authorizing the execution of the operations during night
hours, based on article 118 of the Bolivian Code of Criminal Procedure. 8
6.
Article 118 of the Bolivian Code of Criminal Procedure 9 establishes the power of the
investigating judge to issue warrants outside working hours. 10 However, this article and
the resolutions issued by the Eighth Criminal Investigation Court must be situated with
the general panorama of the Bolivian legal system. Therefore, it is essential that any
analysis is based on the provisions of the Bolivian Constitution 11 concerning the
inviolability of the home and, at the time of the events, it expressly prohibited nighttime
raids in the absence of the resident’s consent or flagrante delicto. 12
7.
The Code of Criminal Procedure also contained a specific provision that regulated
house raids (article 180), establishing that “a raid on a house or private residence during
nighttime hours shall be prohibited […] except in the case of flagrante delicto” and defining
nighttime hours as “the time between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. the following day.” 13 Both
provisions required the concept of flagrante delicto – defined in article 230 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure – to be understood as when the perpetrator of the act was “surprised
while attempting to commit an offense, committing it, or immediately afterwards while
being pursued […].” 14
8.
Based on Resolutions Nos. 180 and 186, 15 on December 18, 2001, dozens of armed
state agents burst into six buildings 16 in El Alto, La Paz and Santa Cruz, and one in
Cochabamba to locate and arrest the perpetrators of the attack on the armored vehicle
four days previously – in other words, in the absence of a situation of flagrante delicto.
Women and children were present in the homes raided 17 and, owing to the late hour, most
of the residents were in their nightwear. 18
9.
In addition to these six nighttime raids, at 8:30 a.m. the state agents also raided
the home located at Simón López Avenue (Cochabamba) where Carlos Álvaro Taboada
Valencia was found. 19 Bearing in mind the legislative framework resumed above and
presented in the judgment (paras. 49 and 50) – in particular, the constitutional paradigm
5
No. 55 Virgen de Rosario Street and No. 120 11th Street, in La Paz.
6
Cf. Judgment, para. 53.
Properties identified as: No. 75 Cívica Avenue, Nos. 2525 and 2523 Presbítero Medina Street, No. 2315
Las Rosas Passage, No.6568-B Plaza Liberal, and No. 600 Zarzuela Street.
7
8
Judgment, para. 53.
Cf. Code of Criminal Procedure, Law No. 1970 of March 25, 1999 (evidence file, folios 2109, 2110, 2118,
2124, 2125, 2137 and 2138).
9
10
Cf. Complete text of the article in the judgment, para. 50.
11
Cf. 1995 Constitution of Bolivia, Law No. 1615 of February 6, 1995 (evidence file, folios 2056 and 2058).
12
Cf. Complete text of the article in the judgment, para. 49.
13
Cf. Art. 180 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, complete text in the judgment, para. 50.
14
Cf. Complete text of the article in the judgment, para. 50.
It is underscored that the addresses of No. 1365 Juan Manuel Cáceres Passage, the Tropical Inn Hotel
and Simón López Avenue in Cochabamba were not listed in the resolutions, cf. judgment, paras. 129 and 130.
15
16
Home located at No. 2319 Las Rosas Passage, entered at 2:45 a.m.; home located at No. 2525 Presbítero
Medina Street, raided at 3:00 a.m.; home located at No. 75 Cívica Avenue, raided at 01:00 a.m.; home located
at No. 1365 Juan Manuel Cáceres Passage, raided between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m.; home located in the zone of
Iparvi, raided between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. , and the room of Freddy Cáceres in the Tropical Inn Hotel, raided
during the early morning hours, cf. judgment, para. 129.
17
No. 2319 Las Rosas Passage: two women and two children; No. 2525 Presbítero Medina: one woman and
one child; No. 75 Cívica Avenue: three women and two children; zone of Iparvi: three women; No. 1365 Juan
Manuel Cáceres Passage: one pregnant woman; Tropical Inn Hotel: one woman, Cf. Judgment, para. 127.
18
Police operations described in the judgment, para. 54, and detailed in paras. 55 to 72.
19
Cf. Judgment, para. 130.
2