"We have to live together on the foundations of truth, without
deceiving, with respect, without aggression. Special interests must give
way to the common good, especially for the most vulnerable: prisoners,
the disabled, the sick and those living in extreme poverty": is the
exhortation of the Bishops of Bolivia in the message published at the
end of the Assembly of the Bishops' Conference held last week.
"We need to live mercy in the practice of justice, sometimes manipulated
by political interests and corruption. The use of detention without
trial and for an extended period of time, violates the right to the
presumption of innocence, resulting in inhumane conditions in prisons.
We join the cry of the Bolivian people for a reliable, fast and
impartial justice", says the document, which will be distributed in
parishes this weekend as a "Message to the people of God" and responds
directly to the reality the people in Bolivia live, as stated in the
note sent to Fides by the Bolivian Episcopal Conference.
The message ends with an appeal for life and denounces everything that
goes against it, such as "femicide, lynchings, smuggling and human
trafficking, abortion and all existing forms of violence in society".
Only in the last three weeks there have been several cases of citizen
violence: in Beni a group of residents in a neighborhood hanged a
robber, another group of people on the outskirts of Cochabamba burned
the alleged leader of a gang of thieves alive.
According to the office
of the Defensoria del Pueblo, in 2015 there were 32 registered
lynchings, but we know that there were also other cases. The theme of
"community justice", recognized by the Bolivian Constitution in 2009, is
misinterpreted by most of the population who interprets it as taking
justice in their own hands. The authorities and the police in many cases
are unable to stop this kind of hasty justice.