Bolivian ex-president, who fled to US, sentenced to six years prison

Former Bolivian president (1993-1997 and 2002-2003) Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (R) fled to the United States after deadly protests over his plans to export natural gas – Copyright AFP Leila MACOR

A Bolivian court has sentenced ex-president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in absentia to six years and three months in prison for handing out dozens of oil contracts without parliamentary approval, the justice ministry said Tuesday.

Sanchez de Lozada, 94, served as president from 1993 to 1997 and 2002 to 2003 before resigning and fleeing to the United States in 2003 after deadly protests over his plans to export natural gas.

The Supreme Court on Monday night found him guilty of “anti-economic conduct” and “breach of duty” over the awarding of around 100 contracts for oil exploration and commercialization when he was president.

In its ruling in the two-decade-old case, the court found that the contracts violated the constitutional and legal regulations in force at the time.

Former hydrocarbons ministers Jorge Berindoague and Carlos Alberto Contreras and former deputy hydrocarbons minister Carlos Alberto Lopez each received five-year prison sentences.

Justice Minister Cesar Siles hailed the “historic, unprecedented conviction” of Sanchez de Lozada.

He called it a victory for the victims of the so-called 2003 “Gas War” between Sanchez de Lozada’s government and the mostly Indigenous Bolivians who protested the president’s plans to export gas to the United States through Chilean ports. 

The proposal caused anger because the terms were seen as unfavorable to Bolivia and because Chile had cut Bolivia’s access to the sea in an 1879 war.

Sanchez de Lozada, a free-market champion, fled Bolivia in October 2003 after a brutal crackdown on the demonstrations in La Paz and neighboring city of El Alto in which at least 60 people were killed and 400 injured.

Siles said the government would seek his extradition from the US.