Brooklyn native held in Bolivia inspires new House human-rights bill

House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Human Rights chairman Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) plans to introduce legislation Friday that bans foreign government officials responsible for violating the due-process rights of imprisoned U.S. citizens abroad from traveling in the United States.

Smith announced the move during a subcommittee hearing Wednesday on Jacob Ostreicher, a Brooklyn native who has been held in Bolivia for alleged money laundering since June 2011.

"The United States cannot stand by and simply ‘monitor’ the case when our citizens are being held hostage to international human rights standards," said Smith, who visited Ostreicher in June and described him as "extremely frail and weak."

Ostreicher, an entrepreneur, went to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in December 2010 to take over the management of a rice business he co-owns from a local manager after investors suspected she was embezzling money from the venture.

The manager had disappeared by the time Ostreicher arrived, but before leaving she had purchased land from alleged Brazilian drug kingpin Maximilliano Dorado, who briefly lived in Bolivia.

Bolivian authorities, upon realizing that Ostreicher’s company was operating on his land, arrested the businessman on June 3, 2011. Since then, 22 hearings have been scheduled for Ostreicher’s case, but each has been postponed due to the successful maneuvering of Bolivian government prosecutors, including demanding the recusal of judges. Ostreicher is being held in the notoriously corrupt Palmasola prison, where he has been denied access to a doctor. He has been on a hunger strike since April 13.

Smith lambasted the State Department, which declined to testify at the hearing, for failing to effectively take up Ostreicher’s case.

"Although our own State Department officials are finally acknowledging that Mr. Ostreicher’s due process rights are being violated, they continue to seem hesitant and uncertain about what action to take on his behalf," he said.

Former FBI special agent Steve Moore, who has also visited Ostreicher in prison, said in heated comments during the hearing that Smith’s proposed legislation addresses a vast government blindspot.

"There are brave people in State, but there are cowards in State too," he said. "If Jacob Ostreicher dies in Palmasola prison, both the Bolivian government and the United States Department of State will have the same blood on their hands."

The State Department responded Wednesday that it continues to work hard on the issue, as U.S. officials have been in "frequent contact" with Bolivian officials to advocate for due process under Bolivian law.

"Mr. Ostreicher’s guilt or innocence will be decided by the Bolivian judicial system," a State Department spokesman said.

"However, the Bolivian government should permit the judicial system to function properly and allow Mr. Ostreicher’s motion be heard on its merits," spokesman Patrick Ventrell continued. "The Bolivian government’s actions are deeply regrettable, and are resulting in unacceptable delays.  We urge the Bolivian government to act swiftly to correct this situation by holding the bail hearing immediately and advancing the judicial process without delay."

Smith, on the other hand, says he is not convinced that Bolivian officials intend to take any action.

"While in Bolivia, I met with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Juan Carlos Alurralde, Minister of Government Carlos Romero Bonifaz, and Minister of Justice Cecilia Ayllón Quinteros to advocate for Mr. Ostreicher’s release," he said. "Each of them have made commitments with respect to this case but have not followed through."

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Yimmy Montano, one of Ostreicher’s Bolivian attorneys, believes his client is "being used by Bolivia to get back at the U.S. after a Miami court last year sentenced Gen. Rene Sanabria, Bolivia’s top-ranking antidrug official, to 14 years in jail for trying to smuggle cocaine into the U.S."

Jerjes Justiniano, Ostreicher’s second attorney, says there is no logical reason for his client’s treatment.

"I do not understand how an American citizen can be treated this way, having invested in Bolivia and given jobs to indigenous Bolivians, reaching higher salaries than the government itself pays to the police," Justiniano said at Wednesday’s hearing. "This approach demonstrates a clear interference by the executive on the judiciary."

Ostreicher’s wife had harsh words for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which she says told her that he husband’s situation is a symptom of a larger problem.

"The U.S. Embassy reported that it is the opinion of the UNCHR office in Bolivia that Jacob is not being persecuted or targeted by the government, but rather he is yet another victim of a brutally slow, inefficient, underfunded, and corrupt judicial system," the wife, Miriam Ungar, told the audience at the hearing. "As our Bolivian attorney will attest, the totality of what Jacob has experienced is not common."

Bolivia has had tense relations with the United States under the administration of President Evo Morales. In 2008, Morales accused U.S. antidrug officials of interfering in Bolivian politics and expelled them from the country.

Several individuals connected to the Morales administration have been convicted for cooperating with cartels in Bolivian and U.S. courts, the Eurasia Review reported in July. Morales himself has headed Bolivia’s coca growers union since 1996. He was reelected chairman in July.