Impunity Watch: South America

Caracas Mayor resumes opposition to Hugo Chavez

2009-07-14T03:23:21-04:00

By Don Anque
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela - Earlier this month, Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma held a hunger strike for six days in protest of the political dealings of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Ledezma carried out theprotest inside the offices of the Organization of American States and demanded for the inter-American body to investigate allegations of illegal power-grabbing moves by the Venezuelan government.

Ledezma pictured here. Photo by AFP.

Ledezma called on the Organization of American States to investigate Chavez’s regulations that Ledezma claims infringes upon the office of mayor.

“This country doesn’t tolerate authoritarian governments,” Ledezma commented. “That’s why we declare ourselves slaves, but of our national constitution, because we will never be slaves of the whims of a political or military leader.”

At the end of the hunger strike, Ledezma was wheeled out of the Organization of American States office on a stretcher, displaying a Venezuelan flag on his chest, and was taken to a hospital.

The largest complaint Ledezma’s complaints was the creation in April of a “head of government,” appointed by Chavez, who took over many of the metropolitan mayor’s duties, in addition to offices and budget.

Ledezma supporters also complain about Chavez’s move in March to place seaports and airports under federal control and that the new laws restrict governors by reducing their authority and state revenue. President Chavez says it was needed for national security.

As a result of President Chavez’s new regulations, Ledezma commented that his office does not have enough money left to pay all of his staff.

According to Ledezma’s spokesman, Ledezma will meet with party governors this week to set an agenda for an expected meeting with the Organization of American States.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Venezuelan mayor resumes opposition – 13 July 2009

Miami Herald – Anti-Chavez mayor of Caracas ends hunger strike – 07 July 2009

Associated Press – Chavez opponents to meet with OAS chief – 13 July 2009

CNN – Mayor ends hunger strike against Venezuelan president – 08 July 2009

Dictator’s Enforcer To Join Former Boss in Prison

2009-07-11T18:21:41-04:00

By Mario A. Flores
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LA PAZ, Bolivia – Former Bolivian Interior Minister Luis Arce Gomez was deported earlier this week from the United States. He had been released in November 2007 after serving a fifteen year sentence in Miami for drug trafficking.

Arce Gomez arrived in Bolivia to serve a 30-year sentence for rights abuses in the same prison as his former boss, Gen. Luis Garcia Meza, also sentenced to thirty years on the same charges. Garcia Meza, 79, has been locked up at Chonchocoro since 1995 after he was caught in Brazil.

Backed by drug traffickers, Garcia Meza toppled President Lidia Gueiler Tejada in July 1980 and presided over a brutal dictatorship during 1980-1981. Arce Gomez, known as "the minister of cocaine," took part in the coup and, as interior minister, gained a reputation for ruthlessness for personally torturing political prisoners. The regime also became heavily involved in drug-trafficking activities.

After his release from the U.S. prison, a federal judge denied him political asylum and Arce Gomez unsuccessfully tried to avoid deportation by appealing the judge’s ruling.

"I want to recognize the work of the U.S. justice system," President Evo Morales told a news conference. "It is a historic day for human rights."

Bolivia’s current deputy interior minister, Marcos Farfan, said that Arce Gomez was behind the murder of Spanish Jesuit priest Luis Espinal and of Socialist Party leader Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz, who were killed during Meza’s far-right dictatorship.

“He has a 30-year prison sentence that he’s now coming to serve based on court rulings,” Farfan said.

An estimated 1,000 people were killed by the Bolivian army and security forces during the thirteen months that Garcia Meza’s regime was in power.

The gaunt-looking, 71-year-old former minister got off the aircraft with the help of Bolivian police officers, who took him by wheelchair to a clinic at the airport. From there, he will be transferred to the Chonchocoro prison in the Bolivian Altiplano.

Arce Gomez is escorted by police in Bolivia. Photograph: Diego Valero/AP

For more information, please see:

Guardian – US deports 'minister for cocaine' Luis Arce-Gómez to Bolivia – 10 July 2009

Associated Press - US extradites former coup leader to Bolivia – 09 July 2009

Latin American Herald Tribune - Dictatorship-Era Repressor Arrives in Bolivia After Deportation – 09 July 2009

Venezuela Restricts Media

2009-07-10T21:59:07-04:00

By Don Anque
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – The Venezuelan government took dozens of radio stations off the air while putting stricter rules on cable and satellite television. The move is part of President Hugo Chavez's battle with private media firms.

President Hugo Chavez pictured here. Photo by AP.

The new media regulations will also require certain cable and satellite TV channels to carry speeches by President Hugo Chavez on a regular basis. The new measures will apply to those stations that produce more than 70% of their content inside Venezuela.

Since taking office over a decade ago, President Chavez has broken up large farms and nationalized important economic sectors including the oil industry. Chavez and his supporters describe their drive to broadcast a pro-government message as a "media war" with private news companies. Venezuela’s media is highly polarized with biased coverage the norm on both government and private networks.

Earlier in June, the Venezuelan government claimed that the new channel Globovisión had broken the law of “social responsibility” on some programs on certain dates. The channel was subsequently investigated for social matters.

“This is not a judicial matter,” said Alberto Federico Ravell, the general director of Globovisión, the only 24-hour news and information channel in Venezuela. “This is not a matter of rules. This is not a matter of laws. This is a political issue.”

In 2007, President Chavez denied the renewal for the concession for a widely watched critical private TV station called RCTV.

The 2007 regulations for cable television seemed to be aimed specifically at RCTV, which now broadcasts only on cable. RCTV was Venezuela’s most popular television station. The station was highly critical of Chavez and played an active role in a failed coup against him in 2002.

For more information, please see:

BBC News - Venezuela imposes new media curbs – 10 July 2009

Reuters - Venezuela steps up control of television, radio – 09 July 2009

CNN - Venezuela opens new probe against TV station – 16 June 2009

'False positives' scandal continues to plague Colombian army

2009-07-09T23:04:34-04:00

By Mario A. Flores
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombian prosecutors have been conducting criminal investigations into the activities of 1,603 military personnel involved in the 'false positives' scandal for six years. The investigations are related to the execution of more than 800 people.

The probe is outlined in a report prepared by a special oversight commission, and delivered to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, Philip Alston.

'False positives' refers to the army’s alleged institutionalized practice of executing civilians and then presenting them as rebels killed in combat. The soldiers then claimed credit for the “kills” and received weekend passes and other benefits.

The scandal burst open last October with the discovery in northeastern Colombia of the bodies of a score of young men who had disappeared from Soacha, a poor town in the outskirts of Bogota. The men had been buried in common graves as if they were guerrillas killed in combat.

Prosecutors contend that the soldiers’ actions were condoned and promoted by officers "fully aware of what they were doing," in order to show successful operational results. According to the report, the investigations include a total of 301 officers.

The report also provides the modus operandi of the soldiers involved in the killings and sketches out profiles for the targeted victims.

In some cases, civilian accomplices lured the victims with promises of employment or sharing in a crime.

The people killed knew or were friends of their recruiter and were usually unemployed or addicted to drugs, and many had a criminal record.

In other cases, the victims had been detained by army patrols. Some victims were trade union leaders or community leaders.

The victims’ identities and locations were provided by former military or by a network of informants created by the government in the fight against crime.

Other victims were targeted for “social cleansing,” which involved rounding up vagrants, homeless, or strangers. They were then taken to a set location for a bogus skirmish and killed.

Yet another class of victims consisted of people slain or kidnapped by rightist militias and handed over to the army. Other times, it was the army who handed over people to the paramilitary groups to be killed, the document says.

Most of the troops caught up in the probe are assigned to the army’s Fifth Division, created by the government nine years ago and headquartered in Bogota.

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports - Army Colonel was 'essential element' of 'false positives': Prosecution – 08 July 2009

Latin American Herald Tribune - More than 1,600 Colombian Troops Implicated in Unlawful Killings – 07 July 2009

El Tiempo – En el mapa de los falsos positivos de la Procuraduría hay 1.603 militares investigados desde el 2003 – 07 Julio 2009

Caracas Mayor Ends Hunger Strike

2009-07-09T01:04:45-04:00

By Don Anque
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela - Earlier today, Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma ended a hunger strike after the head of the Organization of American States agreed to meet with him and other Venezuelan opposition leaders to discuss political actions by the Venezuelan government, which they claim erode their authority. Mayor Ledezma’s hunger strike lasted five days.

Mayor Ledezma pictured here. Photo by the New York Times.

Mayor Ledezma and other Venezuelan leaders claim that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s policies have taken away powers and funding from the mayor and other politicians who oppose his leftist policies.

With a new passage of law on April 30 by the Venezuelan National Assembly of the District Capital Law, Ledezma was legally obliged to hand over state funds allotted to his office, along with control over city employees, buildings and other assets to a new, unelected city boss Jacqueline Farías.

Chief among Mayor Ledezma’s complaints was the creation of the office of “head of government” for the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas. Head of government, Jacqueline Farías, was appointed by Chavez and took over many of the Ledezma’s duties in addition to offices and the city budget. Farías was the former regional director of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela in Caracas.

During press remarks, Ledezma held a copy of a law that dictates the duties that his office is supposed to hold.

“This law has been violated over and over again by the current government,” Ledezma claimed.

Many Ledezma supporters claim that President Chavez’s appointment of a head of government for Caracas negated the result of last year’s vote. Additionally, many allegations have surfaced claiming that the office of head of government was created simply in response to Chavez’s party losing the election for mayor.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press - Anti-Chavez mayor of Caracas ends hunger strike – 08 July 2009

CNN - Caracas mayor protests Chavez with hunger strike – 07 July 2009

Latin American Herald Tribune - Caracas Metromayor’s ‘Political Defenestration’ All But Complete in Venezuela – 08 July 2009

10,000 Victims of Colombia’s Violence To Receive Compensation Payments

2009-07-07T23:14:07-04:00

By Mario A. Flores
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – 10,000 Colombians who were victims of the 45-year old violent conflict or their families will receive compensation for their suffering before the end of the year as part of the Colombian Government Reparations Program, a high government official said.

According to Eduardo Pizarro, director of the National Committee for Reparations and Reconciliation, sixty percent of the recipients are victims of paramilitary groups, thirty percent of guerrilla groups and five percent victims of state violence.

A first group of 2,000 victims of illegal armed groups will receive compensation on Sunday as part of the reparation program, which is supported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a United Nations agency.

IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya said that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe will deliver compensation in person to 300 victims in the northwestern city of Popayan this weekend.

The remaining 1,700 people will receive their money in other locations across the country.

Beneficiaries must prove a family member was killed or went missing due to actions of illegal combatants or show evidence they themselves were kidnapped or endured physical or psychological abuse that caused a permanent disability.

In those cases, the person will receive $10,400 in compensation.

Victims of torture or physical or psychological abuse that did not cause permanent disability will receive $7,850, while those who demonstrate they were forcibly displaced will get $7,050.

“The government expects to pay compensation to some 10,000 victims or their family members through the end of 2009 and has set aside $90 million for that purpose,” Pandya said.

Some $3.4 billion will be paid out in total over the next 10 years, the IOM said.

The IOM plans to launch an awareness-raising campaign that will include printing and distributing some 200,000 claims forms, 150,000 posters and 400,000 pamphlets, as well as placing spots on radio and television.

It also has designed a computer program to process claims and helped hired staff both to review them and to man a telephone hotline where victims can receive information about the program.

The Reparations Program began in August 2008. To date, 235,000 people have registered to receive the claims forms.

While the U.N.-backed program does not provide compensation for victims of violence committed by state security forces, a bill recently came before Congress that would have allowed such payments in cases where an agent was acting in the line of duty and had been convicted in court.

President Uribe said the bill would cause “irreparable trauma to state finances” and represent a “grave threat” to “democratic security.” The Colombian Senate, acting on a request from Uribe, voted to kill the measure.

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports - 12,000 victims of Colombia's violence receive reparation this year – 06 July 2009

Latin American Herald Tribune - First Group of Colombian Conflict Victims to Receive Compensation – 04 July 2009

International Organization for Migration – First Compensation Payments for Victims of Illegal Armed Groups in Colombia – 03 July 2009

Guyanese Nationals Face Deportation

2009-07-07T00:34:26-04:00

By Don Anque
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - 53 Guyanese were deported from Barbados since May as the result of a change in Barbadian immigration policy. The new immigration policy stipulates that undocumented immigrants living in Barbados must leave the country willingly or face deportation. For years, many Guyanese nationals and other non-Barbadians have enjoyed living in the country without immigration papers.

Barbadian Prime Minister David Thompson pictured here. Photo by the Foreign Affairs Office of Barbados.

Many now claim that government forces have raided homes in an attempt to drive out undocumented immigrants. Donville Inniss, the Barbadian Health Minister, dismissed these claims.

“If you are living in a country illegally and it is the determination of the immigration office that you are to be deported, what are we to do?” Inniss questioned. “Give you a phone call and tell you that we are coming for you next Thursday at 2 a.m.? You do not make an appointment with an individual to deport them.”

Aside from being deported, another problem faces Guyanese nationals who decide to remain in Barbados. The prohibition on undocumented immigrants to attend public Barbadian grade schools has prevented children from gaining an education.

“This is one of the Government’s biggest concern…the fact that there are children involved who are not going to school. In fact, it is one of the issues that propels the managed migration policy so that families could be drawn together more,” the Prime Minister Thompson claimed.

At the recent meeting of the Caribbean Community governments (CARICOM), Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson claimed that the community’s credibility had been wounded by the failure to implement decisions year after year.

“The litmus test for effective governance is not measured by the decisions taken when heads meet, it is whether action follows.” Patterson commented, adding that he himself could not be absolved of this flaw. “The greatest threat to the credibility of CARICOM lies clearly in the failure to implement solemn declarations and decisions made conference after conference.”

While diplomatic talks continue, the deportation of Guyanese nationals is on the rise. In June, the Barbadian Prime Minister David Thompson had denied any knowledge that the homes of Guyanese were being raided while implementing his government’s immigration policy.

“The police move around in the nights and they raid mostly the Guyanese East Indian residences because they are easily identifiable. I don’t know if President Jagdeo has any teeth,” Benn Rajkumar commented, an eight year resident of Barbados and Guyanese national.

For more information, please see:

Starbroek News – Caricom governance proposals for further discussion – 06 July 2009

Jamaica Gleaner – Fifty-three Guyanese deported from Barbados – 01 July 2009

Guyana Chronicle – New Barbados immigration policy disrupts a number of families – 04 July 2009

Kaieteur News – Guyanese in Barbados plead for President Jagdeo’s intervention – 18 May 2009

Caribbean Leaders Meet to Discuss Immigration and Economic Questions

2009-07-04T20:51:39-04:00

By Don Anque
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

GEORGETOWN, Guyana-This week, Caribbean Community leaders formally opened their 30th summit with a focus on the global economic crisis, immigration and questions about one Caricom member’s affiliation with the Venezuelan-Alternativa Bolivariana para las Américas (ALBA) ALBA began as an agreement between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Cuban mentor, Fidel Castro.

ALBA initially called for cooperation based on socialist principles. Some of the other members include Bolivia and Nicaragua.

"I feel confident in speaking not only for myself," PJ Patterson, Jamaica's former prime minister, commented at the opening ceremony of the Caribbean conference at the Guyana National Cultural Centre. "But also for all the others who have received your highest accolade that the Caribbean Community is at liberty to call upon each and all of us to give our experience, or share our expertise in any way that will serve to move our fellow citizens on the path of economic progress and social mobility."

Guyanian president Bharrat Jagdeo condemned Barbados, Antigua, and Barbuda for taking steps to deport undocumented Guyanese, Trinidadian and Vincentian workers.

“As I have said publicly, our countries have a sovereign right to determine our own immigration policies. However, maltreatment of Caricom citizens is repugnant to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and to human decency, and must be deplored. If we treat our own people badly, how can we then expect third countries to receive them with respect,” Jagdeo commented.

Barbadian Premier David Thompson commented that the thousands of Guyanese illegally residing in Barbados are straining health, education and other services. He also claimed that workers from Guyana are exploited in Barbados.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Bolivian leader berates Obama over trade benefits – 01 July 2009

Latin American Herald – Caricom Leaders Begin Summit in Guyana – 04 July 2009

Associated Press – Caribbean leaders voice concern on ALBA alliance – 04 July 2009

US blocks trade benefits to Bolivia

2009-07-03T20:10:01-04:00

By Don Anque
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Bolivian President Evo Morales criticized United States President Barack Obama on Wednesday for blocking US trade benefits to Bolivia, citing that the US decision was based on
"slander and lies." On Tuesday, officials in Washington DC claimed they had ended import duty waivers on Bolivia because the Bolivia government was not doing enough to control the cultivation of coca.

President Evo Morales pictured here. Photo by AP.

After his initial remarks, President Morales accused the Obama administration of lying when the Obama administration pledged to change America's historically heavy-handed relationship with Latin America. However, the US recently halted $25 million in annual trade benefits for Bolivia.

"I'm disappointed ... because the Obama administration has used slander, lies and false accusations to suspend the preferential tariffs," commented Morales.

In April, President Morales he joined fellow leftists South American Presidents in welcoming Obama's promise to make a new start on regional ties. However, Morales later claimed he had been wrong to trust Obama, a day after Washington maintained Bolivia's suspension from a program of trade benefits that rewards Andean countries for helping fight cocaine trafficking.

Bolivia considers coca a sacred crop that has many traditional uses other than cocaine. The US halt in trade benefits will will cost the impoverished country about 20,000 jobs, particularly in textiles and leather. Gary Rodriguez of Bolivian Foreign Trade Institute commented that Bolivia has only limited success in developing alternatives to U.S. markets and expects that the US announcement will lead to layoffs.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Bolivian leader berates Obama over trade benefits - 1 July 2009

The New York Times – Bolivia: President Denounces Obama Over Trade - 1 July 2009

Associated Press – Bolivia leader says Obama 'lied' about cooperation - 1 July 2009

Venezuela’s Chavez Uses Ally’s Crisis As Stage

2009-07-02T23:38:40-04:00

By Mario A. Flores
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – The Venezuelan-led ALBA bloc, which includes Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela, recalled their ambassadors from Honduras until President Mel Zelaya, who was forced out by a military coup over the weekend, is reinstated.

Chavez has been exerting oil-fueled influence on behalf of Zelaya since he was ousted into exile by the military earlier this week. Chavez is spreading his vision of Latin America and calling for Hondurans to rise up against those who deposed Zelaya.

Human rights organizations groups have expressed concern over human rights after the coup in Honduras and have called for suspension of U.S. aid as the situation seems to be getting increasingly violent.

According to the Washington Office on Latin America, an organization that promotes human rights, democracy and social and economic justice in Latin America and the Caribbean, there are reports of people being injured, illegally detained and transferred to military bases, and of people whose whereabouts are unknown. They also report that some social leaders, fearing arrest, are in hiding.

The crisis could not be better for Chavez, according to Luis Vicente León, a pollster and political analyst in Caracas.

Chavez has taken to characterize Zelaya as a leftist fighting for the poor and said those who overthrew him hail from an oligarchy intent on maintaining the status quo. Chavez has even taken to mockingly calling Roberto Micheletti, the lawmaker who has replaced Zelaya as president, a "gorilla."

"I swear as president: We are going to make your life impossible," Chávez said in one speech, directing his anger at Micheletti.

According to Milos Alcalay, Venezuela's former ambassador to the United Nations until falling out with the Venezuelan leader in 2004, Chavez has quickly taken advantage of the crisis to cast himself as the leader of progressive countries battling the dark forces of Latin America's establishment. Chavez has been Zelaya's most forceful advocate and could win international accolades if the Honduran eventually succeeds in regaining power.

Some political analysts say that with the United States, Europe and big regional players such as Brazil and Mexico condemning the coup, Chavez’s role in propelling Zelaya's possible comeback may be marginal.

Carlos Sosa, Zelaya's ambassador at the Organization of American States, said the demands made on Micheletti by other Latin American leaders have been vital.

Mark Schneider of the International Crisis Group, a Washington-based policy organization that studies countries in crisis, said: "Chavez is clearly taking advantage of the opportunity, but he is not calling the shots."

Chavez has gone as far as placing his military on alert over an apparent affront to the Venezuelan ambassador in Honduras, a step that drew a measured response from the Obama administration.

The Honduran Congress has justified Zelaya’s removal from office on the grounds that he threatened the constitutional order by trying to go ahead and hold a non-binding referendum that Congress and the Supreme Court had both declared as illegal.

The referendum included a proposal that, among other things, would have allowed Zelaya to run for the presidency again, something the current constitution forbids.

For more information, please see:

Washington Post – Ally's Ouster Gives Venezuela's Chávez a Stage, an Opportunity – 02 July 2009

Washington Office on Latin America - WOLA Strongly Condemns Suspension of Civil Liberties in Honduras – 02 July 2009

Latin American Herald Tribune - Venezuela & Allies Pull Envoys from Honduras to Protest Coup – 30 June 2009

The New York Times – Rare Hemisphere Unity in Assailing Honduran Coup - 28 June 2009