Mob in Bolivian town buries alive suspected rapist

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - A mob in a Bolivian town buried alive a teenager alongside the body of a woman they suspected he had raped and murdered, Bolivian media reported on Friday.

The local prosecutor told reporters that he would start criminal proceedings against two people in the town of Colquechaca suspected of instigating the vigilante justice, which is not uncommon in the majority indigenous Andean country.

Townspeople wielding sticks and stones resisted police efforts to recover the body of 17-year-old Santos Ramos, who was thought to have raped and killed Leandra Arias, 35, leading Bolivian daily newspaper La Razon reported.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/06/07/uk-bolivia-mob-idUKBRE9561B520130607

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. As long as they got the right guy....

The news story I read said they tied him up and placed him in the grave, then the coffin was put in grave and everything buried.

[Skittles]

2. no, vigilante justice is wrong

what if wasn't him? Everyone deserves a trial with evidence presented.

[Journeyman]

3. Yes. Vigilante justice, lynching for that matter, is always hunky-dory if "they got the right guy"…

[2ndAmForComputers]

9. Think that through. You're OK with THAT? Are you sure?

Fuck. I wouldn't want that done to Josef fucking Mengele.

[RKP5637]

13. Emotionally it feels good 'if' the right guy, but intellectually/logically it doesn't. Justice

always needs to be served in a lawful manner, but I sure understand your reply. I'm so fed up with people that do sh** like this like this guy and similar.

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. You "get" it....

well stated, RKP5637.

[RKP5637]

16. We always think alike!!!

[Codeine]

22. Jesus jumped-up Christ on a pogo stick,

there is NO situation in which burying a human being alive represents anything like justice. Fuck that.

[Marrah_G]

23. wtf?

[rug]

4. "it’ll be over for me in a little while, but they’ll have to go on rememberin’"

My dear wife, Mr. Davies will tell you what’s happening here tonight. He’s a good man and he’s done everything he can for me. I suppose there are some other good men here too, only they don’t seem to realize what they’re doing. They’re the ones I feel sorry for, because it’ll be over for me in a little while, but they’ll have to go on rememberin’ for the rest of their lives. A man just naturally can’t take the law into his own hands and hang people without hurtin’ everybody in the world, ’cause then he’s just not breakin’ one law, but all laws. Law is a lot more than words you put in a book, or judges or lawyers or sheriffs you hire to carry it out. It’s everything people ever have found out about justice and what’s right and wrong. It’s the very conscience of humanity. There can’t be any such thing as civilization unless people have a conscience, because if people touch God anywhere, where is it except through their conscience? And what is anybody’s conscience except a little piece of the conscience of all men that ever lived? I guess that’s all I’ve got to say except, kiss the babies for me and God bless you. Your husband, Donald.

[freshwest]

11. That's deep. Thanks, rug.

[RKP5637]

14. +++ 1,000 +++, n/t

[nomorenomore08]

21. You're absolutely right. And I'm a little ashamed of an earlier post I made about this case.

[dbackjon]

5. Viva la Bolivarian Revolution!!

Under the glorious leadership of the Bolivarian Republic, the peaceful villagers throughout Bolivia are more enlightened than anywhere else

[rpannier]

6. The vigilanteeism of these people is the fault of the government?

If I read your post correctly, I am baffled by the lack of logic

[dbackjon]

7. Everything is roses in Bolivia now that the capitalist dogs have been kicked to the curb

And least that is what I gather reading stories here on DU.

I must be mistaken

[Nanjing to Seoul]

8. Confused. There aren't vigilantes in Capitalist countries?

Again, where is your logic?

[Judi Lynn]

10. Maybe you should provide a link to one of those posts you've read.

Otherwise someone might think you're a little windy.

I've been reading here for years and have never seen one, yet.

[carla]

12. I think

he is very windy. making political points on a tragedy...really nice. NOT.

[azurnoir]

17. ummm well

Police and judicial workers are scarce in rural areas of Bolivia where residents often take justice into their own hands, making killings and lynchings not uncommon.

In 2009 President Evo Morales approved a law extending institutional recognition of "indigenous justice".

But as The Economist points out, "Community justice can sometime resemble legalised lynching, featuring stoning, strangulation or burning with petrol. The police do not keep separate records of these acts."

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/07/santos-ramos-bolivian-murder-suspect-buried-alive-grave-victim_n_3401013.html

[nomorenomore08]

20. I agree that some people are way too idealistic about this stuff.

Still, your post sounds like a bit of a strawman.

[JoeyT]

18. Key word: "Suspected".

The victim was deceased, so she didn't accuse him. Somehow I doubt a lynch mob bothered with a DNA test. There was probably as much due process as a witch trial involved.

If it turns out they were wrong, are they going to bring in a D9 and shove the whole town into a mass grave?

[underpants]

19. BOoooLIVIA