vice in government and the breakdown of morality. It pointed out that for years, the The Mayor of La Paz’s
Office endured corrupt administrations that drained the city’s coffers and bankrupted the city, with
scandalous consequences. The State contends that the problems were ignored and were not deemed
important enough to be investigated and punished with exemplariness. It also claims that everything done by
the State in terms of investigation and evidence had but one purpose, which was to try to elucidate acts of
corruption and sanction them accordingly.
62.
The State maintains that Ms. Andrade is facing 6 criminal cases having to do with her time in
office as a member of the city council and mayor in the period from 1996 to 2000. It notes that she brought a
criminal case in the Bolivian courts seeking reparations for the harm allegedly done to her honor and dignity.
The State recounted the reasons why the six criminal cases were brought against Ms. Andrade. It indicated
that the above six cases, in which Ms. Andrade was named a co-defendant, do not stem from any single event;
instead, they are the result of a number of related events involving alleged mismanagement of the Bolivian
people’s monies.
63.
In the Gader case, the State observed that in the wake of an irregular contracting process, on
May 14, 1999 former Mayor Germán Monroy issued a Municipal Resolution under which he made an
exception in order to retain the services of the firm GADER SRL for the sum of US$ 1,800,000 to prepare an
integrated tax collection system. The State asserted that in communication No. 095/1999, the City Council
ordered the Mayor “to terminate the contract and the payment corresponding to that commitment until the
City Council takes a decision on the matter.” The State points out that the foregoing notwithstanding, Ms.
Andrade Salmón, in her capacity as Mayor, ordered payment of the sum of US$ 1,070,000 to GADER SRL.
64.
Regarding the Street Lamps case, the State asserted that according to the report prepared by
the Citizen Participation and Decentralization Committee, dated February 11, 2000, Ms. Andrade, as President
of the City Council, did not comply with the regulations that establish that a joint report of the legal and
financial commissions should be adopted prior to discussion of the contract, which did not have the clearance
from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Treasury either; she led other council members
astray; she brought pressure to bear on members of the city council to vote in favor of the contract, and
signed Municipal Ordinance No. 179/98 in which the agreement and contract were approved, despite the fact
that the Council’s decision was to ask the executive branch to determine what law was applicable to the
contract, and to have the debt listed with the Ministry of the Treasury.
65.
Related to the Guaglio or Pension case, the State pointed out that on November 22, 1999,
then Mayor Andrade Salmón made out a check in the amount of 696,816.17 bolivianos to the SERAMEC
company, which had defrauded the Government of La Paz regarding payment of contributions to the city
employees’ Pension Fund. In the Mallasa case, the State indicated that Ms. Andrade, who was aware that
criminal acts had been committed involving Mallasa City Park, nevertheless failed to bring legal action against
the City Mayor and failed to order the necessary investigations to identify who the responsible parties were.
In the Esin case, the State observed that as President of the City Council, Ms. Andrade signed and put her
rubric on a Municipal Ordinance approving the agreement signed between ESIN and the Government of La
Paz, causing the City of La Paz an economic loss on the order of US$ 719,400.
66.
The State argued that it had guaranteed Ms. Andrade’s right to a prompt and just legal
process, in which constitutional remedies were invoked to repair the allegedly violations of her rights. Here,
the State underscored the fact that the Constitutional Court acted promptly, effectively and impartially when
it granted Ms. Andrade a writ of habeas corpus. The State alleged that the rulings delivered by Bolivia’s
Constitutional Court on the alleged victim’s petition of habeas corpus ordered alternatives to pre-trial
detention; they specifically ordered bail in lieu of pre-trial detention, which meant that for the court to order
Ms. Andrade’s release, she had to post bail. The State alleged that inasmuch as Ms. Andrade did not comply
with this procedural requirement, and the bail that she did offer to post was not the full amount ordered, her
release was not immediately ordered. The State claimed that had the alleged victim requested release on her
own recognizance under Article 242 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it may have been granted. To be
granted release on her own recognizance she would have had to offer and produce proof of her own