E/CN.4/1995/34 page 16 Bolivia Information transmitted to the Government 61. By letter dated 3 May 1994 the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information concerning cases of torture reported to have occurred in the country. These cases are described in the following paragraphs. 62. Juan Carlos Octavio Pinto Quintanilla was arrested on 13 April 1992 by members of the security forces in Cochabamba on charges of belonging to the Tupac Katari guerilla army (EGTK). He was taken to a "safe house" where he was allegedly hung up by his feet and beaten on the soles of his feet with a metallic rod for half-hour periods, after which he was forced to run. He was also allegedly suffocated with a plastic bag, beaten, deprived of sleep for three days and subjected to a torture method known as "la campana" (the bell), by which a metallic container was placed over his head and struck repeatedly. 63. Silvia María Renée De Alarcón and her husband José Raúl García Linera were arrested on 9 March 1992 in La Paz by security agents on suspicion of belonging to the EGTK. During 17 hours in incommunicado detention they were allegedly tortured, which included being beaten and forced to remain for hours in a contorted position. Follow-up of cases previously transmitted 64. With respect to the alleged ill-treatment in April 1992 of Alvaro García Linera, Raquel Gutiérrez de García, Víctor Ortíz and Macario Tola (E/CN.4/1994/31, paras. 52-54), the Special Rapporteur informed the Government that recently received information reinforced the claim that these persons had been tortured. In the case of Raquel Gutiérrez de García, it was reported that she had attempted to electrocute herself; however, the burns on her body were in fact caused by electric shocks inflicted during the torture sessions. Urgent appeals 65. The Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government on 26 September 1994 on behalf of Marcela Alejandra Porco, an Argentine national, who was reportedly detained on 2 June 1994 at Viru Viru airport, accused of drug trafficking. She was held incommunicado at the Palmasola Women’s Prison in Santa Cruz, without access to the medical treatment necessary to treat her chronic mental illness, and her health was said to have had deteriorated considerably in the following months. Brazil Information transmitted to the Government 66. By letter dated 26 October 1994 the Special Rapporteur transmitted to the Government the cases summarized in the following paragraphs.