The Conciencia de Patria (CONDEPA) party was founded in Tiahuanaco on 21 September 1988 (CuadCien 11 Jan. 1997). Its original leaders were Carlos Palenque and his wife Monica Medina (ibid.). Between 1988 and 1996, CONDEPA reportedly won every municipal and general election in the cities of El Alto and La Paz; Monica Medina was the first female mayor ever elected in La Paz, serving for the period 1993-1995 (ibid.; Andean Group Report Nov. 1996, 8).

Internal demands for greater democracy and renewal within CONDEPA were apparently perceived by Carlos Palenque as a plot against him; as a result, the party's executive secretary was expelled and Monica Medina distanced herself from the party (CuadCien 11 Jan. 1997). Monica Medina announced on 20 September 1996 that she had been forced from CONDEPA, but stated her intention to remain married and in politics; she had been until then a co-presenter, with her husband and Remedios Loza, of the "Tribuna del Pueblo" programme on the Palenque television channel (Andean Group Report Nov. 1995, 8).

In November 1996 Monica Medina founded the Bolivia Insurgente party and initiated divorce proceedings against Carlos Palenque. On Friday 6 December 1996 Bolivia Insurgente attempted to hold a public rally at Plaza San Francisco in La Paz, but the gathering was disrupted when violence erupted between militants of Bolivia Insurgente and CONDEPA (MCS 9 Dec. 1996; ibid. 11 Dec. 1996). The Bolivian Minister of Government requested an investigation of the violence, which Bolivia Insurgente attributed to CONDEPA (ibid. 9 Dec. 1996). On 12 December 1996 the Bolivian media reported that Aldo Michel, executive secretary of CONDEPA, had denounced a conspiracy against his party's leader by Ricardo Paz of Bolivia Insurgente and two figures from the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) party; the CONDEPA official stated that attributing the "sabotage" of the Bolivian Insurgente to his party was a manifestation of such a conspiracy (ibid. 12 Dec. 1996). Monica Medina later declared before the Judicial Technical Police (PTJ) and a public attorney that Carlos Palenque was the intellectual author of the incident (ibid. 18 Dec. 1996). As a result of the investigation, which looked into the failure of the police to intervene and prevent or stop the violence at the rally, the National Police General Command removed from duty and replaced the Police Departmental Commander for La Paz (ibid. 20 Dec. 1996).

A 7 January 1997 report states that the MNR and CONDEPA parties struck a deal that secured votes from councillors of other parties to overthrow the mayor of La Paz Ronald MacLean, and replace him with Gaby Candia (ERBOL 7 Jan. 1997). Bolivia Insurgente and the Alianza Democrática Nacionalista (AND) party requested a district court to annul the process (ibid.). Monica Medina, at the time a city councillor for La Paz, publicly stated that CONDEPA candidates for the 1995 municipal elections were required by their party to sign blank papers, supposedly to be used for a possible eventual resignation letter (MCS 7 Jan. 1997). The city councillor also accused Carlos Palenque of using such CONDEPA papers to involve her fellow Bolivia Insurgente city councillor Rolando Enriquez in criminal activities, with the intention of influencing his vote (ibid.). A few days later a deputy of CONDEPA, German Monrroy Chazarreta, accused former CONDEPA deputy3/4turned Bolivia Insurgente deputy3/4Mario Paz Ballivian of pressuring politicians to sign blank papers to secure "party loyalty," and announced that penal charges would be pressed against Paz (ERBOL 10 Jan. 1997).

In April 1997 the Bolivian news agency ERBOL named Ricardo Paz, former executive secretary of CONDEPA, as the leader of Bolivia Insurgente (22 Apr. 1997). The report states that Paz was expelled from CONDEPA, triggering a crisis within this party, which aggravated with the separation of the Palenque couple (leading figures of CONDEPA), and later the death of Mr. Carlos Palenque Aviles (ibid.). Paz distanced himself temporarily from public life after the death of Mr. Palenque, and reappeared in April 1997 (ibid.).

CONDEPA won 3 seats in the Senate and 19 in the Chamber of Deputies in the 1997 general elections. The list of its representatives for the 1997-2002 legislature is as follows (Congreso de Bolivia 1999):

Senators:

Félix Alanoca Gonzales (Head of Senate Party Block)
Reynaldo Venegas Iporre
Carlos Garcia Suarez

Deputies:

Eduardo Paz Rada (Head of Chamber of Deputies Party Block)
Jaime Gonzáles López
Daniel Santalla Tórrez
Pedro Rubín de Celis
Luis Llerena Gámez
Moisés Tórres Ramirez
Toribio Tapia Valencia
Verónica Palenque Yanguas
Leonor Alcón de Morales
Remedios Loza Alvarado
Miguel Magne Saire
Gonzalo Ruiz Paz
Magin Roque Humérez
Facundo Hurtado Castellón
Jhonny Plata Chalar
Andrés Solíz Rada
Juan Huanca Colque
Carlos Chambi Ramos
Claudio Florencio Loza Alvarado

In January 1999 a Bolivian newspaper reported that Monica Medina was preparing a return to politics and would attempt to assume the leadership of CONDEPA; she reportedly did not intent to use Bolivia Insurgente as a vehicle for reaching the grassroots supporters of CONDEPA (La Prensa 6 January 1999).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Congreso de Bolivia. 1999. Legislatura 1997-2002. "Cámara de Senadores" and "Cámara de Diputados." http://www.congreso.gov.bo/indexv3.html [Accessed 30 July 1999]

Cuadernos de Ciencias Sociales (CuadCien) [San José, Costa Rica]. 11 January 1997. Fernando Mayorgal. "Padrinos: El rol del neopopulismo en la consolidación democrática y la reforma estatal en Bolivia." http://ladb.unm.edu/aux/econ/ cuadcien/1997/january/compadres.html [Accessed 30 July 1999]

ERBOL-Agencia de Noticias, La Paz. 10 January 1997. "CONDEPA acusa a Ricardo Paz de hacer firmar papeles en blanco." http://jaguar.pg.cc.md.us/noticias/01-97/ erb1001.html [Accessed 30 July 1999]

_____. 7 January 1997. "Lo anunció Hoy: Golpe a MacLean, Gaby alcaldesa." http:// jaguar.pg.cc.md.us/noticias/01-97/erb0701.html [Accessed 30 July 1999]

La Prensa [La Paz]. 6 January 1999. "Monica habla de recuperar CONDEPA." http:// www.laprensa-bolivia.com/Anteriores/990106/ [Accessed 3 Aug. 1999]

Ministerio de Comunicacion Social (MCS), La Paz. Edicion Matutina [Bolivian media daily summary]. 7 January 1997. "Mónica Medina admite que en CONDEPA se firmaron papeles en blanco." http://jaguar.pg.cc.md.us/noticias/01-97/ mat0701.html [Accessed 30 July 1999]

_____. 20 December 1996. "Confirmado cambio de Comandante de la Policía de La Paz por caso 'Monicazo'." http://jaguar.pg.cc.md.us/noticias/12-96/mat2012.html [Accessed 30 July 1999]

_____. 18 December 1996. "Mónica Medina declaró ante la PTJ sobre denuncia de disturbios en el 'Monicazo'." http://jaguar.pg.cc.md.us/noticias/12-96/ mat1812.html [Accessed 30 July 1999]

_____. Edición Vespertina. 12 December 1996. "CONDEPA: Sánchez, San Martín, y Paz conspiran contra Palenque." http://jaguar.pg.cc.md.us/noticias/12-96/ ves1212.html [Accessed 30 July 1999]