Bolivian villagers bury suspected killer alive
Teenager had been identified as the possible culprit in the rape and murder of a 35-year-old woman.
By CARLOS VALDEZ
The Associated Press
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Villagers in Bolivia’s southern highlands buried a teenager alive in the grave of the woman he is suspected of having raped and murdered, an official said Thursday.
Police had identified Santos Ramos, 17, as the possible culprit in the attack on Leandra Arias Janco, 35, on Sunday in a Quechua community near the municipality of Colquechaca, said Jose Luis Barrios, the chief prosecutor in Potosi province where the community is located.
More than 200 enraged community members seized Ramos and buried him alive alongside his alleged victim Wednesday night, according to Barrios. He said residents on Thursday blocked the road to the community, preventing police and prosecutors from reaching it.
A reporter for an indigenous radio station, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ramos was tied up at the woman’s funeral. Mourners threw him into the open grave, placed the woman’s coffin in it and filled the grave with earth.
Colquechaca is a town of 5,000 inhabitants 207 miles southeast of Bolivia’s capital, La Paz.
Also in Potosi, residents of the Quechua indigenous community of Tres Cruces on Wednesday stoned to death a suspected thief and burned his accomplice alive, Barrios said. The official said the two had earlier robbed a car and killed its driver.
Lynchings sometimes occur in rural and poor parts of Bolivia where police and other authorities are scarce.
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2021136019_boliviaburiedxml.html