European Parliament Officials demand freedom for Cesar Zelada

A number of prominent figures in the European Parliament have addressed a letter to the Bolivian President demanding the freedom of Peruvian activist Cesar Zelada jailed in Bolivia on September 14th.

“European Parliament
Brussels,
September 23, 2004
Dr Carlos Mesa
President of the Republic La Paz Bolivia

Respected Mr President,

We have been informed of the arrest in your country, Bolivia, of the Peruvian student leader Cesar Zelada, on September 14th.

Cesar Zelada is a known student leader, who belongs to the Fuerza de Izquierda Socialista in Perú. He was recently in Europe on a political tour. He has not been arrested in Perú nor in Europe. In fact, it is very surprising to us that once again, as happened with the leader Pacho Cortés, that a social leader who is not persecuted in his own country is arrested in Bolivia.

We learnt of your comments to the international delegation who visited you a few months ago to talk about the case of Colombian peasant leader Francisco Cortés, to the effect that you considered this as a case of arbitrary detention, but were powerless because there was too much pressure on the part of US Embassy in Bolivia.

We are extremely worried that this situation, in which the president of Bolivia thinks that he is not able to guarantee the respect for basic human rights of those who are in Bolivian terrority, might became “normal”.

We appeal to your commitment to human rights and democracy, and we plead you to intervene as soon as possible so that Cesar Zelada is released and that all persecution of national and international social movement representatives ceases.

Yours, Mr President,

Hélène Flautre, EuroMP, president of the European Parliament sub-committee on Human Rights
Luisa Morgantini, Euro MP, president of the European Parliament Commission on Development and Cooperation
Alain Lipietz, Euro MP, president of the delegation for relationships with the countries of the Andean Community of Countries
Vittorio Agnoletto, EuroMP, member of the Foreign Affairs Commission
Tobias Pflüger, EuroMP, member of the Foreign Affairs Commission”