Former Bolivian President Eduardo Rodriguez Veltze will spend Summer term at the College as a Montgomery Fellow, according to government department chair John Carey. Rodriguez, who also served as Bolivian Supreme Court Chief Justice, will share his political experiences and knowledge of Latin America's governmental structures with students by teaching a seminar in the government department, Carey said.
Veltze's seminar, The Rule of Law in Latin America, will address constitutional trends and democracy in Latin America, and will analyze the existence of free elections and independent justice, according to the online course description. The curriculum will be multidisciplinary in nature, according to Carey.
"The class is expected to straddle political science and law," he said.
Richard Stamelman, executive director of the Montgomery Endowment, approached Carey earlier in the year about bringing a prominent figure in international politics to the College as a Montgomery Fellow, Carey said. At first, they considered former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. The first female Chilean president, Bachelet recently accepted a position as the United Nations' Under-Secretary General for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, according to Carey.
Since Bachelet was no longer a possibility, Carey said he then thought of asking Rodriguez.
"I met [Veltze] in the past and I had an inkling he was available, so I wrote to him," Carey said. "I guess we got lucky."
Although he served as president of Bolivia from 2005 to 2006, Veltze is not a politician with lofty aspirations, Carey said. Veltze currently serves as the dean of the Law and Political Science School of the Universidad Catolica Boliviana in La Paz, Bolivia, according to an email sent to campus from the government department.
"He's at first a law professor, a lawyer, a judge, an academic not a politician" he said.
Veltze became president through a "series of political and social events," Carey said. Former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and former Vice President Carlos Mesa who were both elected in 2003 were forced to step down following mass street protests in 2005. The next two congressmen in the succession of power declined the position, so the presidency passed to the Veltze, who was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at the time, Carey said.
During the year he spent as interim president, Veltze negotiated a deal between "warring" domestic parties in Boliva and established a "universally acknowledged, clean and fair election," Carey said. Although Veltze's reigns as president and Supreme Court justice were perceived as successful, he was charged with committing treason after the current Bolivian President Evo Morales was sworn into office in 2006, according to Carey. Although the charge was widely known as treason, Veltze was formally charged with "subordinating the country to a foreign power," Carey said.
"I know a lot about this case and my take on it was that those charges were completely politically motivated," Carey said.
During Veltze's rule, Bolivia's air defense was limited to 31 Chinese-made, portable surface-to-air missiles. Although those missiles became obsolete, the United States was interested in obtaining and de-commissioning them because they were potentially dangerous if handled by terrorists, according to Carey. Although Veltze neither approved nor disapproved of the transfer of the missiles to the United States, the sale occurred after the U.S. Department of Defense paid the Bolivian government $400,000 without Veltze's knowledge, Carey said. Due to this transaction, the current regime accused him of disloyalty, according to Carey.
Carey said Veltze was not the sole target of such legal accusations after the new administration assumed power. Morales' government has not yet brought the charges against Veltze to a courtroom to date but if charged and found guilty, Veltze could spend up to 30 years in prison, Carey said.
"I've known him for quite a while and he's a very neutral and even-handed guy," Carey said. "I hope word gets out [about his seminar] because it's a unique opportunity for our students."
