Senkata and Sacaba massacres

The Sacaba and Senkata massacres occurred during Bolivia's political crisis in November 2019. A day before the first event, the interim government issued Supreme Decree 4078 concerning armed-forces participation in public-order operations. On November 15, police and military personnel blocked a march near the Huayllani bridge in Sacaba, Cochabamba Department. International human-rights investigators documented deaths and many injuries there.

On November 19, another security operation took place around the state fuel plant at Senkata in El Alto, La Paz Department. International reports documented additional gunshot deaths and injuries. When the later death of a person wounded at Sacaba is included, the site-specific GIEI and OHCHR accounting supports at least 20 deaths across Sacaba and Senkata. A figure of 22 used in later reporting concerns a broader proceeding or affected-case scope and is not substituted for the two-site toll here.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights described both events as massacres and called for an independent investigation. The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts for Bolivia later found serious human-rights violations and excessive use of force and recommended criminal investigation, reparations, and institutional reforms. Those are international investigative findings, not individual criminal convictions. No official or officer is assigned a charged or convicted role.

IACHR and UN Human Rights warned in August 2025 of a risk of impunity after domestic proceedings were annulled or redirected. Bolivia's Ombudsman issued a 2026 follow-up on implementation of the GIEI recommendations and integral reparation. Accountability and reparation are therefore classified as ongoing at the audit cutoff.