Evo Morales, President of Bolivia. (Photo: Alain Bachellier, in Flickr)

Chilean justice officials have determined that three Bolivian soldiers will face a hearing in Chile on Friday. The soldiers were detained for entering Chile without permission and with possession of weaponry.

After being detained for a month, the soldiers recently refused a plea bargain and were denied the ability to return to Bolivia before the trial.

“The Bolivian soldiers, through their legal advisor, made use of their legitimate rights, just like any Chilean citizen, and didn’t accept the plea bargain offered by the district attorney,” Chilean Assistant National Prosecutor Alberto Ayala said.

He said their sentences could be reduced over time if they are convicted, but Bolivian President Evo Morales has taken issue with the soldiers’ detention.

“They are not guilty,” Morales said. “The detention is unjust.”

A judicial source noted that there had been plans to avoid a trial and have the three soldiers leave the country on Friday, but the trial will be go ahead and there will be a discussion to determine the soldiers’ fate.

Tension has been common between the two countries of late, after Morales accused Chilean President Sebastián Piñera of using the three soldiers as “political hostages.”

Piñera disputed that argument last Friday.

“These three people are being detained not because they are Bolivians, not because they are soldiers, but because they crossed the border into Chilean territory,” Piñera said.

Bolivian President Evo Morales declared the detention of three Bolivian soldiers, arrested on Friday for crossing the Chilean border, as “illegal”.“It is unacceptable,” Morales said, speaking at an event held in Chuquisaca in Southern Bolivia. “The detention of these soldiers is illegal […] the armed forces have the task of fighting against contraband and drug trafficking,” he added.

Colchane, on the border with Bolivia (Wikimedia)

The three soldiers, Alex Choque Quispe, Augusto Cárdenas García, and José Luis Fernández Choque. were arrested in Colchane, just after entering Chilean territory. They were pursuing a group of smugglers with seven undocumented vehicles.

Bolivian newspaper La Razón reported that two smugglers were stopped by the Bolivian army, one crashed, and the other four crossed the border into Chile, where they were chased by the Bolivian soldiers. According to the Chilean government, the three soldiers were apprehended while driving a military vehicle and in possession of firearms. They were then taken by helicopter to the Northern city of Iquique.

Morales called the arrests “a show of arrogance”, and announced that the soldiers would be decorated upon their return to Bolivia. The Bolivian Minister of Defence, Rubén Saavedra, assured that the Bolivian government would carry out the legal defence of their soldiers.

“As the Bolivian state, we will assume the defence of our three soldiers, and we will take all necessary steps to have them freed. They were carrying out a constitutional mission, fighting a crime that affects all neighbouring countries,” said Saavedra.

Saavedra also accused the Chilean government of not abiding by two international agreements signed by both countries. The first is the Mercosur Asunción Agreement signed in 1999, it stipulates that countries signing the agreement would confiscate any vehicles that enter their territory illegally. The second, dating back to 1937, is a bilateral agreement between the two countries that defines contraband as an international crime. “If Chile is incapable of showing us the seized vehicles, and if they can’t prove where the detained smugglers are, then I am entitled to think that the Chilean government is fomenting contraband,” said Morales.

Uruguayan President José Mujica has sent a letter of apology to the people of Haití following the release of a video that showed Uruguayan militia abusing a young Haitian. He assured that the case will be investigated “up to the most extreme consequences.”

Mujica also confirmed that “those responsible will be subject to the highest form of punishment,” in his letter to Haitian President Michael Martelly.

The leaked video revealed the abuse and harassment of a young Haitian boy by four Uruguayan soldiers. The detained officers are members of the United Nation Mission to Stabilise Haiti (Minustah).

Uruguay’s Minister of Defense, Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro, also expressed his regret.

The official revealed that Minustah have authorized the return of the implicated soldiers to Uruguay. In a statement made in the House of Representatives, Fernández Huidobro added that the defendants are now isolated from each other.

There are currently three judicial cases under way, one held by the United Nation, one by the leaders of the Mission itself, and one by Uruguay’s Ministry of Defense.

A treaty between the UN and countries with externally based troops states that this kind of crime should be judged in the soldiers’ home country.

Fernández Huidobro further stated that they will not permit defendants to refer to the case as “a joke.”

He said: “The use of that word is already disgraceful and shameful on our Armed Forces.”

Story courtesy of Agencia Pulsar, the news agency of AMARC ALC