Activists demand investigation into Pride explosion

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • July 25, 2007 - 12:48

This year gay marchers in Tarija and Cochabamba took to the streets for the first time.

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Human rights advocates are urging the authorities in Bolivia to properly investigate an explosion at a Pride event last month that injured several people.

The incident occurred in the capital city of La Paz on the 30th June, the same day as London Pride.

While celebrating Respect For Sexual Diversities Day in the city, and just before the parade started, one of the floats was attacked with dynamite.

There are conflicting reports as to how many people were hurt, with as many as six people injured.

There were other events in cities across Bolivia on that day which passed off relatively peacefully.

In Santa Cruz, some threw eggs and ice cubes at a car of transvestites.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission said that a rapid and thorough action in response to the incident would make a statement that violence against people based on their sexual preference and expression is not tolerated in Bolivia.

They request that letters be sent immediately to the Bolivian authorities, demanding an investigation of the facts so that all the people responsible for the attack can be identified and punished.

In previous years, in the cities of La Paz and Santa Cruz, people who participated in gay Pride were attacked with rotten tomatoes and eggs by people in the crowd.

This year gay marchers in Tarija and Cochabamba took to the streets for the first time.

Several institutions supported the events, such as the Institute of Human Development.

Last year the Bolivian government, in concert with other South American nations, pledged to include sexual orientation and gender identity within the human rights agenda.

In La Paz, the city's municipal "Vindication of Human Rights" guarantees the right to find the conditions for one's own political, cultural, social, economic, and ecological accomplishment without discrimination due to colour, age, gender, sexual "choices," language, religion, level of income, opinion, or nationality.

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