III 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 35 

Supporting democratic principles and standards in Bolivia and throughout 

Latin America. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 31, 2019 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. CRUZ, and Mr. COONS) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations 

APRIL 4, 2019 

Reported by Mr. RISCH, without amendment and with an amendment to the 

preamble 

APRIL 10, 2019 

Considered and agreed to with an amended preamble 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting democratic principles and standards in Bolivia 

and throughout Latin America. 

Whereas the nation of Bolivia proclaimed independence from 

Spain on August 6, 1825, with Simo ́n Bolı ́var as its 

president; 

Whereas Bolivia endured more than a century of fragile governance and instability, with more than 150 changes of 

leadership since it gained independence; 

Whereas Bolivia experienced a succession of military coups 

that resulted in the irregular transfer of power between 


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presidents and military juntas during the period of 1964 

to 1982; 

Whereas a transition to civilian democracy occurred in 1982, 

after the ruling military junta handed over power to a civilian government, which managed to maintain control 

despite major economic upheavals and painful market reforms; 

Whereas elected President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and 

his successor Carlos Mesa both resigned in the face of destabilizing protests in 2003 and 2005, respectively; 

Whereas, in 2005, Evo Morales won his first term as president, becoming Bolivia’s first indigenous citizen elected to 

the office; 

Whereas Bolivia’s historically marginalized indigenous peoples represent approximately 41 percent of the country’s 

population, according to the 2012 Bolivian census; 

Whereas, in 2006, the people of Bolivia elected a constituent 

assembly to write a new constitution recognizing greater 

political and economic rights for the country’s indigenous 

population, while key opposition parties boycotted the 

constituent assembly election; 

Whereas, in 2008, a recall referendum on President Morales 

was rejected by 67 percent of voters in Bolivia; 

Whereas, in 2008, amidst growing protests in the country 

and rising tensions between Bolivia and the United 

States, President Morales expelled the United States ambassador to Bolivia; 

Whereas, in 2009, Bolivians approved, by a vote of more than 

60 percent in a nationwide referendum, a new constitution that included a limit of two five-year presidential 

terms; 


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Whereas, in 2009, President Morales won re-election to a second term with more than 60 percent of the vote; 

Whereas, in 2013, President Morales’ loyalists in Bolivia’s 

Legislative Assembly approved legislation allowing him to 

run for a third term—a law that President Morales’ political allies in the Bolivian Constitutional Tribunal affirmed, ruling that the two-term limit in the country’s 

new constitution did not apply because President Morales’ first term was under the old constitution; 

Whereas, in 2013, President Morales expelled the United 

States Agency for International Development for trying 

to ‘‘conspire against Bolivia’’; 

Whereas, in 2014, President Morales won his third term as 

president, with 60 percent of the vote; 

Whereas, in 2016, the Government of Bolivia called a national referendum to modify the constitution in order to 

allow for an additional term for Morales; 

Whereas, that same year, more than half of voters in Bolivia 

rejected the proposed lifting of presidential term limits 

that would have allowed President Morales to run for a 

fourth term and serve at least 19 years in office; 

Whereas, after the referendum, the Morales Administration 

increased its troubling rhetoric against opposition media 

and advanced a narrative suggesting a plot to prevent 

President Morales from staying in power; 

Whereas, in 2017, President Morales’ loyalists on the Bolivian Constitutional Tribunal lifted constitutional term limits arguing that they violated the candidates’ human 

rights, citing the American Convention of Human Rights, 

adopted at San Jose November 22, 1969, the main 


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human rights treaty in the Americas, as the legal foundation for its decision; 

Whereas the Convention states that political rights can only 

be limited under very specific circumstances, a provision 

which, when drafted in 1969, was intended to prevent 

abusive governments from arbitrarily barring opposition 

candidates and not to impede constitutional re-election 

limits designed to reduce corruption and abuse of power 

given Latin America’s long history of violent and prolonged dictatorship; 

Whereas the Bolivian Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling rendered Bolivia one of a very small number of countries in 

the Western Hemisphere that does not place limits on 

presidential re-election; 

Whereas the Secretary General of the Organization of American States said the cited clause ‘‘does not mean the right 

to perpetual power . . . Besides, presidential re-election 

was rejected by popular will in a referendum in 2016.’’; 

Whereas, in March 2018, a report commissioned by the Organization of American States specifically related to this 

issue stated that— 

(1) ‘‘There is no specific and distinct human right 

to re-election.’’; 

(2) ‘‘Term limits . . . are a reasonable limit to the 

right to be elected because they prevent an unlimited exercise of power in the hands of the President.’’; and 

(3) ‘‘The limits on a president’s re-election do not 

therefore unduly restrict his/her human and political 

rights.’’; and 

Whereas the Morales era has seen many social and economic 

gains, but also a weakening and undermining of key 


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democratic institutions in order to favor the ruling party: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) supports the important transitions to de3 mocracy and the regular peaceful transfers of power 

4 through elections that have taken place in the ma5 jority of Latin American and Caribbean countries in 

6 recent decades; 

7 (2) recognizes the historic significance of Boliv8 ia’s 2005 election; 

9 (3) expresses concern for efforts to circumvent 

10 presidential term limits in the Bolivian constitution; 

11 (4) supports presidential term limits prevalent 

12 in Latin America as reasonable checks against a his13 tory of coups, corruption, and abuses of power; 

14 (5) expresses the belief that the 2016 ref15 erendum vote to maintain presidential term limits 

16 reflected the legitimate will of the majority of voters 

17 in Bolivia; 

18 (6) agrees with the Organization of American 

19 States Secretary General’s interpretation of the 

20 American Convention of Human Rights as not appli21 cable to presidential term limits; 

22 (7) calls on the Government of Bolivia to re23 spect, and where necessary restore, the independence 

24 of key electoral and governing bodies and administer 


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1 the October 2019 election in adherence with inter2 national democratic norms and its own constitu3 tional limits on presidential terms; and 

4 (8) calls on Latin American democracies to con5 tinue to uphold democratic norms and standards 

6 among members states. 

Æ 


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