Impunity Watch: South America

Venezuela Talks of War With Colombia

2009-11-09T11:25:03-05:00

By Ryan C. Kossler

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made direct implications that Venezuela is preparing for a war against neighboring country Colombia. In one of President Chavez’s weekly radio and television broadcasts he said “let’s not waste a day on our main aim: to prepare for war and to help the people prepare for war, because it is everyone’s responsibility. Students, revolutionaries, workers, women: all are ready to defend this sacred homeland called Venezuela.” President Chavez further said that the best way to avoid war “is to prepare for it.”

The tension between Venezuela and Colombia has been building since Colombia’s August military agreement with the United States, which granted the United States access to seven military bases in Colombia. The purpose of the Colombian-United States agreement was to combine the two countries efforts in eliminating the rampant drug trade that had plagued the nation of Colombia for decades.

President Chavez is convinced that the underlying purpose of the agreement was to give the United States a footing for an eventual invasion of Venezuela. In response to the agreement Venezuela purchased over two billion dollars worth of weapons from Russia, sparking fears of a South American arms race.

Since the August agreement, many deaths along the border between Colombia and Venezuela have occurred, and have only added to the increasing tension. The most recent murders occurred last week, when two Venezuelan National Guard members were killed. This incident led to the complete shutdown of all border crossings between the two countries. President Chavez also took the opportunity to increase the feud between his country and Colombia by insinuating that the two guards were assassinated by paramilitary gangs with the intent of taking over the Tachira region on the border.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has tried to seek a peaceful resolution of the dispute. President Uribe has said that his government would seek help from the UN Security Council and the Organization of American States. Uribe said “Colombia has not made nor will it make any bellicose move towards the international community, even less so towards fellow Latin American nations.”

Colombia is ready for talks of a peaceful resolution; however, Venezuela seems poised for war.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Chavez steps up Colombia war talk - 9 November 2009

Reuters – Colombia turns to U.N., OAS after Venezuela war talk - 9 November 2009

SMH – Talk turns to war as tensions mount between Colombia and Venezuela - 10 November 2009

Trial Begins for Argentina's Last Dictator

2009-11-07T21:47:57-05:00

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Human rights activists hold up portraits of missing people as Argentina's last dictator, Gen. Reynaldo Bignone and seven other army officers, seen in the background, stand trial for human rights abuses (Photo Courtesy of AP)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Trial began for General Bignone, Argentina's last dictator, and five former generals who are accused of kidnappings and murders during the early 1980's. Court papers charge Bignone with "ultimate responsibility" for fifty-six cases of torture and illegal searches during this period.

As head of a military junta from 1982 to 1983, General Bignone protected the military during Argentina's transition to democracy. He granted amnesty to human rights violators and oversaw the destruction of documents containing evidence of torture and disappearances of political opponents. Five former generals, a former colonel, and a former police commissioner are on trial with Bignone. All of the defendants deny the charges against them.

Argentine courts overthrew the amnesty law, and Bignone was formally charged in 2003. The trail was delayed until now. The trial is taking place in a small indoor stadium to accommodate a large crowd, including witnesses, federal officials, members of activist groups, and family members of the disappeared.

More than one hundred family members attended the first proceeding on Monday, some of them held photos of victims as the defendants entered the court room. Around one hundred and thirty witnesses, many of them survivors of torture, will testify.

The fifty-six cases of torture and kidnapping allegedly took place at Campo de Mayo, a military installation. General Santiago Omar Riveros, the base's intelligence chief, is suspected of giving orders to kill some of the kidnapped individuals.

Bignone is eighty-one and has been under house arrest. He faces two other trials: one in the abduction and disappearance of doctors and nurses at a hospital and another in the case of two soldiers when he was head of the military college. The current trial is expected to last through February.

An estimated 5,000 people were held at the Campo de Mayo, one of the largest death camps in operation during the Argentine dictatorship. An official report lists 13,000 people as being killed during the 1976 to 1983 dictatorship era. Human rights groups estimate the number of dead to be closer to 30,000.

For more information, please see:

BBC-Argentine Ex-Leader Goes on Trial-3 November 2009

AP-Last Argentine Dictator, Ex-Generals go on Trial-2 November 2009

CNN-Former Argentina Dictator, 5 Others on Trial, Accused of Rights Abuses-2 November 2009

New York Times-Trial Begins for a Former President of Argentina-2 November 2009

14 Year Old Boy Tortured by Guyanese Police

2009-11-05T19:01:43-05:00

By Ryan C. Kossler

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – A fourteen year old boy was detained and tortured Saturday by Guyanese police in relation to a murder investigation. The boy was one of three men arrested for the murder of Ramenauth Bisram, a local government official who died of multiple stab wounds on October 26.

The police officers involved arrested the boy on October 27 and attempted to beat a confession out of him. When the boy refused to sign a confession, the police officers doused his genitals with flammable liquid and set him on fire. The boy was held without proper medical care or access to legal representation until October 31, despite several attempts by his lawyer and family to see him.

Amnesty International has pressured the Guyanese authorities to charge the police officers involved in the incident. Kerrie Howard, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Americas Programme, said “these appalling acts of brutality by members of the Guyana Police Force must not go unpunished.” Howard further said “there must be a full investigation into how officers were allowed to blatantly flout Guyanese and international laws by refusing access to family, lawyers, and medical treatment for several days. The Guyana Human Rights Association also issued a statement to the media regarding the incident.

Along with the boy, two other men were arrested and tortured in connection with Bisram’s murder. Deonarine Rafick was beaten with a piece of wood on his back, legs, buttocks, face, and scalp, by police officers who forced him to sign a confession. Police officers also burned the inside of Rafick’s mouth with cigarettes. Rafick remains in custody, without medical attention, and his lawyers have only recently been granted access to him.

A third suspect, Nouravie Wilfred has had the charges against him dropped, however, he was held incommunicado for seven days, in violation of Guyanese law. Under Guyanese law, a suspect may only be held for 72 hours before being brought before a court.

This incident is not the first of such character to take place in Guyana. Guyana’s president Bharrat Jagdeo and his security forces have been accused many times in the past of violating Guyanese citizens’ human rights. In March, security forces placed a suspect on an ants’ nest in order to obtain information about cocaine trafficking. Citizens have claimed that Jagdeo and his security forces avoid all civil liberties in order to get what they want.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Acts of torture by Guyanese police must be punished - 4 November 2009

Digital Journal – Guyana police accused of setting boy’s genitals on fire - 1 November 2009

Reuters – Guyana police accused of burning boy’s genitals - 31 October 2009

Ecuador's Indigenous Protest Water Privatization

2009-11-05T04:07:00-05:00

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

(Photo Courtesy of Getty Images)

QUITO, Ecuador-The Confederation of Ecuadoran Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE) are expressing opposition to a new water law by protesting and blocking roadways. The movement argues that the Hydraulic Resources Law allows for the development of mining projects in areas occupied by springs that are major sources of water. Leaders also argue that the law ensures water provisions for mining companies but not for indigenous and campesino communities and does not attend to the issue of contamination of waterways.

Under the new plan, all water systems in Ecuador will be brought under centralized state authority, thus ending a system of community control over water resources. Ecological Action, a non profit organization, found that the law "contains elements of privatization for both water and land usage in as much as those resources become the sole property of the benefiting industry or business for other uses." This is because the law allows for water resources to be acquired in the purchase of land and permits the owner to use the water however he or she sees fit.

Forty-five percent of water resources have been privatized through legal concessions, but one percent of those using water resources consume sixty-four percent of the water available and eighty-six percent of Ecuadorians consume just thirteen percent of the country's water. Critics argue that the new law "does nothing in regard to these points and the National Development Plan favors the mining companies and flower growers." There are no sanctions in the law for contamination or water quality control.

Indigenous communities have played a large role in the construction of water system networks, constructing irrigation canals and consumer water systems. They view the new "sole authority" provision as a direct threat to their water council system.

Responses to protests resulted in the death of a bilingual professor, who was shot by police when he joined a group of 500 that blocked a bridge over the Upano River. Protesters argue that it was a "trap" because the leaders were called to a dialogue "in order to distract the leadership and the local media."

Currently, CONAIE has suspended protest actions because the government has opened a negotiation period. The government and indigenous leaders agreed to six points during their most recent negotiation. This included, permanent duologue between the parties, government consideration of the CONAIE water initiative, and the government will receive a mining law proposal from the indigenous movement.

Other grassroots movements continue to stage road blocks and to shut down markets. There is disagreement among grassroots organizations on what is the best strategy. While the CONAIE and Euarunari have called off protests, the Shuar and Achuar people of the southern Amazon continue to demonstrate against mining. One indigenous lawmaker remarked, "the dialogue doesn't go anywhere. I don't believe in them anymore."

For more information, please see:

AP-Indian Political Awakening Stirs Latin America-2 November 2009

Daily Press-Bolivia the Standard-Bearer as Latin American Natives Fight to Protect Lands, Culture-2 November 2009

Latin American Press-Indigenous Movement Continues to Weaken-23 October 2009

Witness in Human Rights Trial Mysteriously Dies

2009-11-02T20:15:08-05:00

By Ryan C. Kossler

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CORDOBA, Argentina – Jesus Gonzalez, a key witness in an Argentina human rights trial, was found dead in the bathroom of his home with a fatal stab wound to his chest. Gonzalez was scheduled to testify against former Argentinean army general, Luciano Benjamin Menendez. Menendez is accused of human rights violations during Argentina’s military dictatorship, from 1976 to 1983. More specifically, Menendez is accused of illegal detention, torturing prisoners, and aggravated homicide.

Gonzalez’s death was initially thought to have been a suicide, however, when it was discovered that he was linked to the trial of Menendez, officials say that the suspicious circumstances lead them to believe that there may have been a malicious motive behind Gonzalez’s death.

Gonzalez was a key witness to the trial of Menendez because he had been a guard at a detention center in Cordoba during Menendez’s reign. It was there that Gonzalez witnessed the torture and homicide of his countrymen under the direction of Menendez. The prisoners at the detention centers like the one that Gonzalez had worked at, were mostly students, labor leaders, intellectuals, and left wing individuals whose political views did not line up with the governments. Most of the people who were held in Menendez’s secret jails were arrested off the street and held without trials proving their alleged crimes.

Menendez had previously been accused of almost 800 human rights violations in connection with his dictatorship, however, due to a special amnesty law, he was immune from prosecution. It was not until 2006 that the amnesty law was lifted and Menendez was held accountable for his actions.

This particular case which Gonzalez was supposed to testify in centered around the torture and death of Fermin Albareda, who was a member of the People’s Revolutionary Army, Argentina’s communist party during Menendez’s dictatorship.

It has been estimated that approximately 30,000 people disappeared or were held in these secret jails during Argentina’s military dictatorship.

For more information, please see:

UPI - Witness in Argentine torture trial dies - 21 October 2009

V MAS V - Autoridades argentinas investigan la muerte de un testigo clave - 21 October 2009

CNN – Police probe death of witness in Argentina human rights trial - 20 October 2009

Mining Company Sued for Human Rights Abuse in Peru

2009-11-01T00:29:58-04:00

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

(All photos courtesy of The Guardian)

LONDON, United Kingdom-The high court in London is going to hear testimony from subsistence farmers from Peru who claim that they were detained and severely tortured after a protest at a British-owned mine. The multi-million pound suit was filed against Monterrico Metals for damages arising from the alleged torture.

The allegations of torture stem from a protest in 2005. By law mine construction is allowed only with consent of two-thirds of the local population. Local farmers were protesting because construction began without local consent. Protesters were confronted by police at the mine.

Under the direction of mine managers, the police fired teargas at protesters. Twenty-eight of the protesters say that they were detained, hooded with hands tied behind their backs, beaten with sticks, and whipped. Detainees claim that noxious substances were sprayed in their faces before they were hooded, beaten with sticks and whipped. Two of the protesters were women who say they were sexually assaulted and threatened with rape.

Three protesters were shot and wounded by police, and the protesters claim one of those shot was left to bleed to death at the mine site. A postmortem examination found that he took about thirty-six hours to die.

A journalist who was apprehended with the protesters was given photographs of the arrest that were taken by a Monterrico supervisor. The photographs show bloodied protesters with their hands bound other show groups of blindfolded or hooded protesters being removed from police property. Some of the photographs show grinning police officers waving the female protesters' underwear. Melanio Garcia, a protester is photographed in one picture alive, though severely injured and then in another photograph he is shown dead thirty hours later.

Richard Meeran, a lawyer with Leigh Day, the London law firm bringing the case, has obtained an injunction freezing five million pounds of Monterrico's assets in the UK.

Monterrico claims that the arrests occurred because a protester shot a police officer. All claims of abuse are said to be "without merit." Monterrico further says that it had no control over the police operation. However, lawyers for the protesters have taken statements from eyewitnesses alleging that the mine's manager was directing the police, and say that two of the corporation's executives had been in the area shortly before and after the police operation.

Monterrico is building Peru's second largest copper mine at Rio Blanco in the Northwestern region of Peru. Monterrico has been in conflict with local farmers since its arrival in the region in 2001. The mining concession covers 18,858 acres, much of it covered by forest that collects rainwater and feeds it into rivers flowing into the agricultural basins below. Farmers and environmentalists fear that mining would lead to pollution and depletion of rivers, damage eco-systems, and endanger farmlands.

For more information, please see:

Telegraph-Claims Police Tortured Peruvian Protesters Outside British-Owned Mine-19 October 2009

The Guardian-Abuse Claims Against Peru Police Guarding British Firm Monterrico-18 October 2009

The Guardian-British Mining Company Faces Damages Claim After Allegations of Torture in Peru-18 October 2009

Border Massacre Sparks Tension Between Venezuela and Colombia

2009-10-29T21:38:55-04:00

By Ryan C. Kossler

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia - Venezuelan authorities uncovered the body of the eleventh and final victim in a brutal kidnapping and execution style massacre that recently took place in the state of Tachira, along the border of Venezuela and Colombia. The victims were said to have been held for several days after being kidnapped at gunpoint by twenty five unknown assailants. In all, twelve people, consisting of ten Colombians, one Peruvian, and one Venezuelan, were kidnapped while playing a game of soccer. Only one victim survived, Manuel Junior Cortes, who is now a patient in a hospital in Caracas, Venezuela. The unknown assailants have been speculated by many to be either drug traffickers, paramilitaries, or one of several Colombian guerilla groups, including the FARC, however, the Venezuelan and Colombian governments have refused to officially accuse and particular group.

Tension between Venezuela and Colombia has increased because of this incident. The Venezuelan government has denied Colombian officials from gaining access in order to collect the bodies of the slain Colombians. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe issued a statement asking Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for cooperation between the two countries in order to ensure the protection of citizens on both sides of the border. President Uribe said, “I’m calling on the Venezuelan government, on its president, that above any differences we find a way to coordinate activities to protect Colombian citizens and Venezuelan citizens in their right to life.”

President Uribe’s request was met with the refusal by President Chavez to allow a Colombian administration plane to land in Venezuela to bring the bodies home, in order for the families of the victims to be able to perform proper burials.

President Chavez, on the other hand, has suggested that the slain Colombians were in fact spies who were sent to Venezuela on the authority of the Colombian government. President Chavez revealed that his government had captured a Colombian spy last month and that he would continue to look into the possibility of espionage in this situation.

In response, General Freddy Padilla, the commander of the Colombian military, said that “Colombian authorities have clear orders never to send agents into Venezuela and on occasions where there [have] been agents inside other nations, it has always been authorized by the governments of both countries.”

In the end, however, the real victims of this latest dispute between the Colombian and Venezuelan governments are the families who lost their loved ones in this brutal slaying, and are being denied closure and peace.

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Times - Venezuela Blocks Colombian Mission to Collect Bodies - 29 October 2009

Los Angeles Times - Venezuela Finds 11th Body in Massacre - 29 October 2009

Colombia Reports - Venezuela Refuses to Cooperate on Massacre Investigation: Colombia - 28 September 2009

Colombia's Security Policy Compromises Human Rights

2009-10-28T20:58:24-04:00

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

(Photo Courtesy of redsolsur.com)

BOGOTA,Colombia-Colombia's National Planning Council blames the government's "Democratic Security" policy and fight against drugs for the systematic increase in human rights violations. The National Planning Council is a constitutionally mandated body tasked with formulating, monitoring, and evaluating government policy.

President of the council, Adolfo Atehortua, called Colombia's anti-drug policy a failure. He pointed out that drug production has not decreased and spraying to kill illicit crops has increased poverty in rural areas. "The general and indiscriminate aerial spraying of crops damages farmers who have no other options, the helpless producers . . . but does not eliminate the persistency of the drug plantations," Atehortua said.

Atehortua further stressed that Colombia has become a consumer of drugs in addition to its exporting role. He recommended that soft drugs be legalized as part of an international campaign. Atehortua argued that legalizing the production of soft drugs, such as marijuana, would provide an opportunity for many farmers to "come out of hiding to develop real centers of agricultural production."

Atehortua denounced the government's security policy and the collaboration with the U.S. State Department. The main point of criticism was the large number of "false positive cases", where members of the armed forces have executed civilians and then presented them as guerrillas killed in combat in order to boost success figures. These acts have been denounced by the United Nations.

Atehortua called the "humanitarian crisis" the "dark side" of the Democratic Security Policy. Colombia is slated to sign a controversial security pact with the United States to enhance its war on "narcoterrorism" this week.

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports-Council:Government Security Policy Caused Increase in Human Rights Violations-27 October 2009

El Pais-Colombia Avanza en Seguridad, pero no en derechos humanos-27 October 2009

El Espectador-Consejo Nacional de Planeación insiste en legalización de la droga-27 October 2009

Uruguayan Dictator Sentenced to 25 Years

2009-10-24T21:28:31-04:00

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

(Photo Courtesy of AP)

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay-Former dictator, Gregorio "Goyo" Alvarez was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison Thursday for thirty-seven homicides committed as a part of "Operation Condor" between 1973-1985. Alvarez was commander-in-chief of the army during the period and de facto president of Uruguay from late 1980 until shortly before the restoration of democracy.

Alvarez was accused of disappearing dozens of Uruguayan political prisoners seized in Argentina and secretly returned home as part of a cooperative effort by South America's right-wing regimes to crush dissent. Alvarez said that he knew nothing about illegal abductions or forced disappearances. He has been detained by Uruguayan authorities since 2007.

The Court gave Navy Captain Juan Larcebeau twenty years in prison for twenty-nine homicides related to secret prisoner transfers in 1978. Although the defense can still appeal the ruling, it is being hailed as "a very important step in clarifying" Uruguay's past. The sentence came after an appeal successfully argued that charges for disappearances can be converted into murder charges, thus warranting heavier sentencing.

The sentence comes just days before a national election that includes a referendum on repealing a law that shielded members and agents of the military regime from prosecution for crimes such as kidnapping, torture and murder. The Supreme Court of Uruguay recently found those laws to be unconstitutional.

The prosecutor in Alvarez' case persuaded judges that the crimes were not covered by the amnesty law because they stemmed from actions carried out under Plan Condor, a collaboration among various South American regimes to eliminate political enemies. It is estimated that about 150 Uruguayans disappeared in the secret flights from Argentina in the late 1970s and an additional twenty-nine people went missing in Uruguay. The U.S. intelligence services provided help in "operation condor."

Current Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez has made human rights prosecutions a top priority and courts have detained a number of suspects. Juan Marie Bordaberry, in office from 1973-1976 is awaiting his sentence. "Goyo" Alvarez is considered one of the most representative figures of the military regime in Uruguay.

For more information, please see:

AP-Last Uruguayan Dictator Sentenced to 25 Years-23 October 2009

BBC News-Uruguay's Ex-ruler Alvarez Jailed-22 October 2009

Latin-American Herald Tribune-Ex-Dictator Sentenced to 25 Years in Uruguay-24 October 2009

Abortion Rights Activists Clash in Peru

2009-10-22T21:25:08-04:00

By Ryan C. Kossler

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru - Thousands of protestors gathered outside Congress in Lima, Peru on Tuesday to protest the Peruvian Legislators’ proposal of a bill which would legalize abortion in certain defined instances. The bill under consideration would permit a woman to have an abortion in cases of rape, incest, fetal deformity, and when the mother’s health or life is at jeopardy. The bill, which expands on the current law passed in 1924, previously allowing abortion only when the mother’s health or life was at jeopardy, was approved by a legislative panel and now moves to be debated in Congress at an as of yet undetermined date.

Pro-life demonstrators clashed with groups in favor of a woman’s right to choose over whether the current abortion law should be extended to encompass the proposed bill with both sides shouting slogans and insults at each other.

One woman protesting in favor of the bill said “the basic human right of deciding about our bodies is not given by the state.” Another woman said that “women were dying every day while getting clandestine abortions,” referring to the fact that every year approximately 376,000 illegal abortions are performed in Peru. This figure is objected to by anti-abortion activists.

On the other side the proposed bill has been strongly opposed by the Catholic Church, which has openly lobbied lawmakers to drop the legislation. This opposition is spearheaded by Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani who has referred to the proposed bill as a death penalty for the innocent.

Riot police had to be called to intervene after a man supporting the pro-abortion groups physically assaulted a group of pro-life protestors consisting of nuns and mothers. The riot police used tear gas to break up the confrontation.

The country is deeply divided on the issue of a woman’s right to choose. An Ipsos-Apoyo poll released on Sunday revealed that a slight majority of Peru’s population are against the abortion bill. If Peru were to pass the proposed abortion bill it would join only a small group of Latin American countries that allow abortions.

For more information, please see:

AFP - Abortion debate heats up in Peru - 21 October 2009

BBC News - Clashes over Peru abortion move - 21 October 2009

Catholic News Agency - Peruvian Congress continues forward with measure to legalize abortion - 21 September 2009