NAME OF MECHANISM

Comisión Nacional de Investigación de Desaparecidos - National Commission of Inquiry into Disappearances

YEARS OF OPERATION

1982-1984

MANDATE AND OPERATIONS

Mandate: Established by President Hernán Siles Zuazo just days after the country's return to democracy, in order to investigate disappearances between 1967-1982. This was the first truth commission to be established in Latin America.

Staff: Made of 8 Commissioners and 6 additional staff. The Commissioners were chosen carefully to include a cross-section of society, and included representatives from the criminal justice system, the Government, the Armed Forces, the Labour and Peasant's Federations and human rights organisations.

Results: 155 cases of disappearances documented, and in some cases the Commission was able to locate the remains of missing persons. However no cases were investigated conclusively due to the fact that the Commission's mandate was limited to disappearances and therefore had no authority to investigate incidents of torture or other abuses.

Funding: Limited resources from the Bolivian government resulted in the commission’s early disbandment.

FINAL REPORT

Lack of funding and political will led the Commission to be disbanded before a final report could be produced.

The work of the Commission was overshadowed by trials in the mid-1980s of Luis Garcia Meza Tejada’s official and military agents.

LATEST UPDATE

January 2008: In 2005, there were efforts underway by Loyola Guzman (the Executive Secretary of Commission) to re-open the Commission's materials in order to publish a report, but these have so far been unsuccessful.