Inca justice system eyed by Morales may use whipping

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THE HAGUE -- Bolivian President Evo Morales, on a state visit to the Netherlands, said he is searching for a new model of democracy that could include reviving the ancient tradition of whipping petty criminals as an alternative to jail.

"When I was a kid I was punished several times, being whipped and lashed," the leftist president said Monday in a speech to an audience of businessmen and government officials from both Bolivia and the Netherlands.

"Whenever I did something wrong, I received punishment with a chicote [the loose end of a rope], and always believed that the system our ancestors used was better than the system in the northern justice system. It's much more democratic," he said.

Meanwhile, some 5,000 Indians from across Bolivia converged on La Paz, the capital, yesterday to demand that opposition lawmakers approve a sweeping land reform bill proposed by Mr. Morales.

Some demonstrators had walked as far as 300 miles in marches begun several weeks ago from the Andean mountains and plains of Bolivia, culminating in yesterday's rally in the capital.

The demonstrators were seeking to put pressure on Mr. Morales' conservative opponents in the Senate who have blocked his proposal to redistribute millions of acres of unproductive land to the country's landless poor.

Mr. Morales, elected with strong backing from his Andean nation's Indian community at the end of last year, promised during the campaign that he would look to traditional practices to make the justice system more equitable.

Several Bolivians attending his address at the Institute for Social Sciences in The Hague said indigenous and traditional community justice was not only sanctioned now in Bolivia, but making a strong comeback.

One Morales supporter said Western-trained lawyers and judges in Bolivia put all criminals behind bars for 20 years or more, even if they committed only minor crimes. Defendants who can afford good lawyers, however, generally avoid any punishment at all.

The use of whipping to punish petty crimes in Bolivia dates back to the days of the Incas, when men were known to have walked around carrying colorful ropes in baskets.

"During the Inca empire," Mr. Morales said with a broad smile, "a community-based court system led by the village elders punished vandals and other criminals for their wrongdoings and determined how and when they would be punished.

"It mostly ended in a few lashes, like the one I received when I was a kid. They did it for my own good. Look where I am today."

Mr. Morales, who has irritated the Bush administration by allying himself with Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Fidel Castro of Cuba, was invited by the Dutch government and was formally received by Queen Beatrix and her daughter-in-law, Princess Maxima.

The princess, a U.S.-trained international manager for Latin American banking and financial affairs, was born in Argentina and worked in New York before she married a Dutch prince.

Mr. Morales, who has moved to nationalize foreign oil and gas holdings in his country, was to conclude a deal while in the Netherlands with Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil company. But Princess Maxima was thought to be more interested in talking to the Bolivian about her personal interest in the use of micro-credit to reduce poverty.

Bolivian Energy Minister Carlos Villegas, in The Hague with Mr. Morales, declared that foreign investors are more than welcome in his country.

Asked by The Washington Times whether that applied to U.S. investors, Mr. Villegas said yes, "as long as they play the game our way. That means a 15 percent profit for them and 85 percent for the state."

The minister said his government was looking for heavy direct investment in the mining, construction and agriculture sectors.

"Brazil's Petrobras and Spain's Repsol have both cut their investments after we reversed the rules of the game, leaving plenty of opportunity for the others in the fields of gas and oil, petrochemicals and iron or steel," he said.