U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

74–635PDF 2012

[ERRATA]

THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT’S INADEQUATE

RESPONSE TO HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS IN

BOLIVIA: THE CASE OF AMERICAN JACOB

OSTREICHER

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, 

AND HUMAN RIGHTS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

JUNE 6, 2012

Serial No. 112–153

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

[ERRATA] 

An error was made on the cover and page 1 of Serial Number 

112–153. The name of Mr. Ostreicher was misspelled in the title. 

(1)

THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT’S INADEQUATE 

RESPONSE TO HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS 

IN BOLIVIA: THE CASE OF AMERICAN 

JACOB OSTREICHER 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2012

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,

AND HUMAN RIGHTS, 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 o’clock a.m., in 

room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H. 

Smith (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. SMITH. The subcommittee will come to order, and I want to 

wish everybody a good morning. Thank you for joining us for this 

extremely important and timely hearing to examine the situation 

of Mr. Jacob Ostreicher, who has been imprisoned for over 1 year 

in Bolivia, and the involvement of the State Department in this 

case. 

Normally this subcommittee focuses on human rights issues in 

the context of whether foreign governments are respecting the 

rights of their own people. But today we are undertaking the sobering task of defending the human rights of one of our own fellow 

citizens. Mr. Ostreicher and his wife, Miriam Ungar, who is here 

with us today to testify on behalf of him, are from New York. His 

daughter, Chaya Weinberger, will also be testifying, and she is 

from New Jersey and a resident of my congressional district. She 

lives in Lakewood. 

They are part of a large family and a close-knit Orthodox Jewish 

community. It was actually Rabbi Aaron Kotler, the chief executive 

officer of Beth Medrash Govoha, the yeshiva, who first brought Mr. 

Ostreicher’s plight to my attention about 3 weeks ago. Human 

rights abuses that are happening to Mr. Ostreicher in Bolivia are 

being felt deeply and personally here in our own country. 

Our distinguished witnesses will provide compelling testimony on 

the facts of Mr. Ostreicher’s case and the abuses that he has suffered and continues to suffer. And we will also examine whether 

Mr. Ostreicher has been receiving the assistance that he should receive as a United States citizen abroad, with the purpose of 

ascertaining what should be done going forward. We will also do 

everything we can to correct the ongoing extreme injustice being 

perpetrated against Mr. Ostreicher and secure his freedom as 

quickly as possible.