Bolivia
Introduction
On 20 October 2019, Bolivia held general elections. The results, which anticipated the renewal
of the already thirteen years of Evo Morales’ government, were followed by nineteen days of
violent mass protests, prompted by allegations of electoral fraud. On 10 November, the
Organization of American States (OAS) published a preliminary report where it stated there
were signs of fraud and that a new election should be held. Although Evo Morales accepted a
new round of elections, the opposition and the military and police demanded his resignation.
He stepped down a day later. Subsequently, Jeanine Áñez, second Vice president in the Senate,
proclaimed herself as interim president. Although the elections were scheduled for 3 May 2020,
they were postponed to 6 September due to COVID-19.
Since Jeanine Áñez took office, concerns about incidents of violence and repression, as well
as threats to freedom of expression have become increasingly prevalent. The Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (also known as the Comisión Interamericana de Derechos
Humanos (CIDH)) released a preliminary report in which it stated that during the October and
November protests there were at least fifty journalists who were assaulted by the military and
the police (Organization of American States, 2019).
With COVID-19 spreading across the country, in March 2020 the government announced that
it would identify people who were spreading online disinformation regarding the pandemic
(«Bolivia anuncia “ciberpatrullajes” contra la desinformación sobre el COVID-19», 2020). In
May the president signed the Executive Decree 4231 aimed at punishing “people who spread
fake news about Covid-19”, but after criticisms over threats to freedom of expression the
government annulled the decision (BBC Monitoring, 2020b). Nevertheless, at least sixty-seven
people accused of spreading disinformation were arrested during the pandemic. Although
cyberpatrolling is not regulated and enforced in Bolivia, this technique was used to identify
them («Preocupación por 67 detenciones en aplicación de decretos presidenciales que
criminalizaban con prisión por “desinformación” en Bolivia», 2020). In response, the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights, along with other international and local
organizations, such as Internet Bolivia, not only called for clarifications of their status, but also
began investigations into the matter. Additionally, another person was arrested on charges of
being a so-called “digital warrior” and committing the crime of "sedition" (Farfán, 2020).
An Overview of Cyber Troop Activity in Bolivia.
Organizational Form
In 2016 the Bolivian government – under Morales’ presidency – created the National Direction
of Networks within the Ministry of Communication. The aim was not only to have a greater
online presence, but also to identify fake accounts and news (Zegada Claure, 2019). According
to Zegada Claure (2019), the Direction created Facebook profiles to support the government
and later trained young people to present a positive image of the government in social media
discussions and favour Morales during the 2019 elections («Analysis: Fires, fake news and
“digital warriors” roil Bolivia election race», 2019; Díaz Arnau, 2020a)
In addition to this, there is evidence that the government hired the Mexican agency Neurona,
which “specialises in fake news and smear campaigns” (BBC Monitoring, 2020a). The agency
and the ex-minister of Communications are being investigated for irregularity in the direct
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