Impunity Watch: South America

Paraguay President Sacks Head of the Armed Forces

By Ryan C. Kossler

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

ASUNCION, Paraguay – After receiving warnings of a possible coup, Paraguay’s president, Fernando Lugo, dismissed Rear Admiral Ciber Benitez, head of the armed forces, in what has become a highly controversial decision.  Benitez’s removal comes just days after President Lugo replaced the heads of the army, navy, and air force.  President Lugo warned that there were “pockets of coup-plotters” in the military. 

 

This latest move by President Lugo makes for four separate senior military changes since he took office fifteen months ago.  The President’s office issued a statement saying that the changes were part of a “normal and legal administrative process,” and that the President had the authority to make these changes and that “there [was] no reason [the changes] should be the subject of speculation.”

 

Local media have reported that the dismissal of Benitez stemmed from rumors of a meeting between senior military figures and the political opposition.  Opposition to President Lugo have speculated that Benitez’s dismissal is yet another attempted power grab by President Lugo in order to stay in office. 

 

In an interview by Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo, President Lugo responded to his opposition by stating that “the change in the military [is to give] an opportunity to the exceptional young officers that should also have chance [to be senior officers].  We don’t want to interfere in their chances to participate in the changes in the country.  Those are the essential motivations behind the changes that took place in the military structure here in Paraguay.”  President Lugo’s stated reasoning however, does not seem to be based on solid ground, as Benitez was already set to retire in December. 

 

President Lugo also acknowledged in the same interview that a coup was highly unlikely.  President Lugo stated that while a coup was highly unlikely “there are a few people that continue to have a relationship with politicians nostalgic of the past that could adventure into something like that, even if I think it impossible.”

 

There is rising opposition in congress to Lugo’s presidency, with politicians critical of his policy hoping to get a two-thirds majority to constitutionally remove Lugo from office.

 

For more information, please see:

 

AFP – Paraguay army chief sacked amid coup rumors - 6 November 2009

 

Al Jazeera – Paraguay armed forces chief sacked - 6 November 2009

 

BBC – Paraguay leader sacks army head - 6 November 2009

 

New Compensation Opportunity for Pinochet's Victims

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

Lorena Pizarro, president of the Family Members of the Detained and Disappeared, lobbied for the new institute to be "able to seek truth, enforce justice, and become a safeguard for human rights in the future." (Photo courtesy of lanaction.com)

SANTIAGO,Chile-President Michelle Bachelet created a new agency this week to protect human rights in Chile. A special committee from the institution will investigate claims for compensation based on Pinochet-era abuses. 

The National Human Rights Institute will be able to recommend charges in cases where human rights are found to have been violated. Leaders of the National Human Rights Institute can be removed only by the Supreme Court, giving the institute "considerable independence."

An official tally estimates that over 28,000 people suffered under the Pinochet government. In 2003, thousands of people received government compensation after proving they or their relatives went missing, were executed, or tortured under the Pinochet regime. Those who failed in their claims will now have a second chance to prove their case.

The agency will be given six months to build on the work of the 2003 investigative efforts. It is unclear whether torturers will be publicly identified, something that victims and their families have lobbied for. Furthermore, under the new law, victims have no right to effect prosecutions- only to seek compensation.

Estimates of Pinochet-era abuses include 3,197 political killings by the government. Of those, 1,192 people were disappeared, less than eight percent located or identified after twenty years of democracy.

President Bachelet stated that Chile needs the agency to defend its democratic institutions and prevent a repeat of Chile's "painful history."  Batchulet stated that the goal is to "promote a culture of peace and education about human rights principles in present and future generations."

For more information, please see:

Brunei News-New Claims of Compensation Arise from Pinochet Era-24 November 2009

Taiwan News-Chile Creates Human Rights Watchdog Agency-24 November 2009

Radio Netherlands-Pinochet's Victims Get Second Chance to Claim-24 November 2009

Colombian Ex-General Jailed for Role in 1997 Massacre

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

Jaimi Uscategui, pictured above, was sentenced to forty years in prison for his role in a 1997 village massacre (Photo courtesy of semana.com)

BOGOTA, Colombia-Jaime Uscategui, a retired general, was sentenced to forty years in prison on Wednesday for his involvement in a massacre by right wing paramilitaries. A court ruled that Uscategui, who was a commander of the eighth brigade in 1997, was complicit in the murder of forty-nine civilians by paramilitaries.

In July of 1997, over 100 armed members of a right wing paramilitary groups entered the village of Mapiripzán, despite being officially banned from activity. The paramilitaries commenced a five-day killing spree, where civilians were tortured and murdered. 

The military failed to stop the massacre or stop the paramilitaries at one of the many checkpoints on their way into the village. A pair of chartered planes full of right wing gunmen landed and were dispatched to oversee the mass killings form Uscategui's area.

During the five-day massacre, the town's judge, Ivan Cortes, repeatedly called Uscategui for help, with no response. Bodies were "hacked up and many were thrown into a river." Hundreds of suspected leftist rebel sympathizers were killed during the 1990s.

The court overruled an earlier acquittal, finding that Uscategui abandoned the people and had knowledge that some of his officers were collaborating with paramilitaries. The forty year sentence is the highest ever to be imposed in Colombia on an officer of Uscategui's ranking. Uscategui was also ordered to pay a fine of 10 million pesos. 

The killings were committed predominantly by the Self Defense Forces of Cordoba and Uraba (ACCU), a paramilitary group organized by landowners. Another former army general, Rito Alejo del Rio, is in jail until a civilian court tries him on charges of murder for death squad killings during the mid-1990s.

Uscategui was initially arrested in 1999 and tried by a military court, where he was sentenced to forty months in prison for "omission." A battalion commander who did not stop the Mapiripán massacre was convicted of murder in 2007 and sentenced to forty years in prison.

For more information, please see:

AP-Court Convicts Ex-General in Colombian Massacre-26 November 2009

The Guardian-Former Colombian General Jailed for Rule in Maripiripán Massacre-26 November 2009

BBC-Colombia Jails Death Squad General Over Massacre-26 November 2009

Bolivian Presidential Candidate’s Home Attacked

By Ryan C. Kossler

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

LA PAZ, Bolivia – Bolivian presidential candidate Manfred Reyes Villa said that his home was attacked last night.  Reyes Villa will be challenging current Bolivian President Evo Morales in the upcoming December 6 elections.  Reyes Villas accused supporters of Morales’s Movement Toward Socialism party, also known as MAS, of being the attackers.  Two men were detained in the incident by Reyes Villa’s body guards and held until local authorities arrived.

 

Reyes Villa is the former governor of Cochabamba, Bolivia, and is running on a platform that is pledging to boost national security and seek new markets for the country’s natural gas.  Reyes Villa said late last night in an interview, “it’s too much persecution what they’re doing.  It’s people from MAS, from the government,” referring to the current presidential regime. 

 

The motive behind the attack is still unknown.  Jorge Silva, the lead spokesman for the Morales campaign said that MAS was not involved in the attack.  Silva said “we don’t condone violence, and we don’t have the resources to invest in this type of activity.”

 

Critics have criticized Morales’s government as being the end to democracy in Bolivia.  President Morales is expected to easily win in the upcoming election, however, it remains to be seen if he will win fairly.  Morales has been accused of escorting voters to the polling booths to make sure that voters cast their vote for him.  Morales is regarded as a “dictator” by many, due to his alleged tactics both prior to gaining office and during.

 

According to a recent La Paz based Ipsos Apoyo, Reyes Villa is trailing Morales in the presidential polls.  Reyes Villa holds a mere twenty one percent to Morales’s fifty two percent. 

 

For more information, please see:

 

Bloomberg – Bolivia Candidate Reyes Villa Says Home Was Attacked - 23 November 2009

 

BBC News – Coca casts shadow on Bolivian election - 22 November 2009

 

WSJ – The End of Bolivian Democracy - 22 November 2009

Soy Growers Spray Paraguayan Indigenous with Pesticide

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

Aerial spraying of pesticide, as shown above, reportedly occurred over the homes of indigenous people after they refused to vacate their ancestral lands. (photo courtesy of Roughstock Studios)

DEPARTMENT OF ALTO PARANÁ, Paraguay-217 indigenous Guarani were sprayed with pesticide last week after refusing to vacate their ancestral land. The government confirmed that there were no crops present where the pesticide spraying took place.

A formal eviction of the indigenous people was set for the same day, but a district prosecutor canceled the mandate right before execution. The local government's refusal to evict the Guarani apparently led the soy growers to take matters into their own hands. 

Over fifty men claiming ownership of the land arrived on November 6th and tried to remove the Guarani by force. The people resisted, using their bows and arrows. Later that day, an airplane sprayed pesticide directly above their homes. The pesticide is thought to be the same as that which is regularly used on soy crops. Over 200 people reported sickness and fainting. At least seven people were taken to the hospital. One person remains in critical condition.

Amnesty International has condemned the "use of apparently toxic pesticides to intimidate an indigenous community after they resisted being forcibly evicted from their ancestral lands." Amnesty International noted the "worrying precedent" set by the Human Rights Commission of the Paraguayan State, who rejected a draft bill returning ancestral lands to another indigenous group, leaving ninety families homeless. 

 

The department of Alto Paraná is the red region, to the left. (Map courtesy of BioCrawler)

Amnesty International finds that even the most isolated indigenous groups are at risk due to deforestation. Satellite imagery shows that deforestation in the north of Paraguay occurs uninterrupted despite government regulation.

Paraguayan indigenous groups complain that they are not sufficiently protected against private commercial interests. An expert from the University of Maryland stated that the "economics and politics of Paraguay make sustained improvement unlikely." Paraguayan researchers for Amnesty International say that "indigenous peoples' lives are being put in jeopardy by those who should protect them," calling the acts against the Guarani, "predictable."

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered Paraguay to return ancestral lands to two indigenous communities. It is not clear whether that order has been carried out. Amnesty International has urged Paraguay to recognize international human rights standards, which recognize the right to traditional lands as crucial to indigenous peoples because they are a vital element of their sense of identity, livelihood, and way of life.

For more information, please see:

Global Voices-Paraguay:Indigenous Group Sprayed Aerially with Pesticides-12 November 2009

CNN-More than 200 Paraguayan Villagers Thought Sprayed with Pesticide-11 November 2009

Amnesty International-Paraguay Indigenous Community Threatened by Illegal Eviction and Pesticide Attack-10 November 2009

Indigenous Political Prisoners Tortured in Chile

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

(Photo Courtesy of Mapu Express)

CONCEPCIÓN, Chile-Imprisoned Mapuche activists told members of the press that they were torture, framed, and discriminated against by police and persecuted by prosecutors. The activists were arrested under a national security and anti-terrorism law adopted during the period of military dictatorship in Chile.

Charges against the activists range from "terrorist association" to attempted homicide against the prosecutor and two detectives who formed part of a team that entered a Mapuche community in 2008. One prisoner claims that the prosecutor tortured him to make him confess that he was the leader of the ambush where the two detectives were killed.

The Chilean government denies all allegations of wrongdoing. President Bachelet, who lived in exile during the military dictatorship said, "nothing, absolutely nothing justifies violence in the region of La Araucania." The Mapuche has staged land seizures, burned vehicles, and agricultural machinery in protest of what they consider to be unauthorized land use. One government official pointed out that the violence has resulted in a significant decrease in foreign investment. 

Since center-left government of Michelle Bachelet took office, thirty five percent of the disputed land has been returned to the Mapuche. However, many say that not enough progress has been made in the restoration of the ancestral land, which was taken in a government offensive that began in the late 19th century.

A 2007 international mission by the Observatory for Indigenous Peoples' Rights found dozens of complaints of abuses, such as violent raids of Mapuche homes where police destroyed household goods and objects of cultural value, mistreated elderly people, women and children, and made racist epithets. This was allegedly done in search of activists wanted by the justice system. The Mapuche gave UNICEF the names of thirty-seven children they say were asphyxiated by tear gas. 

There are nearly one million Mapuche living in Chile. Non-governmental organizations estimate that there are more than fifty Mapuche political prisoners in different prisons in Southern Chile. In September the Ethical Commission Against Torture put that number closer to 100.

The Mapuche resisted over 300 years of Spanish rule and then oppression by the Chilean state, until they were defeated militarily and cornered in the South. In the last few months, conflict has increased between the Mapuche communities and the state. This was primarily fueled by a new wave of land occupations, leading to confrontations with police. 

For more information, please see:

Mapu Express-Hablan Presos Mapuche Desde la cárcel del Manzano, Concepción-19 November 2009

IPS-CHILE: Mapuche Voices from Prison-16 November 2009

Univision-Chile Utiliza Ley de la dictadura para juzgar a mapuches-16 November 2009

Update: Guyana President Breaks Silence on 14 Year Old Boy Tortured by Guyanese Police

By Ryan C. Kossler

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana’s president Bharrat Jagdeo spoke out on Thursday about the torture of a fourteen year old boy by Guyanese police, breaking his long silence over the issue.  In a media press conference at the Office of the President, Jagdeo said that the police officer’s actions were a “terrible stain on the country’s police force,” and that “such a callous incident, if committed against anyone, must be unequivocally condemned.” 

 

The boy was detained and tortured in late October 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.

 

President Jagdeo has given police officials two weeks to investigate the allegation of police brutality.  He said that a report issued at the end of the investigation would be made public, and that those who directly participated in the torture would face the consequences.  So far, two police officers have been arrested in connection with the incident.

 

All charges have been dropped against the boy and he has since been released from custody.  Another suspect, Deonarine Rafick, arrested in connection to the same incident, however, still remains in prison.

 

President Jagdeo has urged citizens to not to view every policeman and soldier in the same light as those who were involved in the boy’s torture.  He said about the police of Guyana that “hundreds of them every day, they are the frontline against criminals, these are the people we call on when something happens and many of them in spite of very difficult situations; remunerations not great, sometimes the conditions of service are not great but they go out there and put their lives many days on the line for all of us and the recent incident where they were targeted would show that.  So we can’t allow the actions of a few to cause us to forget the hundreds out there who do their work professionally and with decency.”

 

Although President Jagdeo has publicly condemned this action of police brutality, he and his security forces have been accused many times in the past of violating Guyanese citizens’ human rights.  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:

 

Carib World News – Guyana President Speaks Up On Teen Torture – 6 November 2009

 

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

Peru's Vice President Charged for Illicit Arms Deals

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

(Photo Courtesy of Comunión Tradicionalista)

LIMA, Peru-Peru's Vice President, Luis Giampietri is facing criminal charges for alleged irregular arms deals and faces a motion that he be removed from office. A five year investigation revealed that Giampietri was responsible for questionable arms purchases for the Peruvian Navy in 1994 and 1995.

Giampietri is a retired vice admiral in Peru's Navy. The accusations are from the period where Giampietri was in charge of arms procurement for the Navy, when Alberto Fujimori was in office. Giampietri is accused of using his position to favor supply companies belonging to members of a corrupt network headed by then presidential security adviser Vladimiro Montesinos.

Giampietri is accused of collusion and conspiracy to commit a crime. Allegations detail how Giampietri approved purchases of military equipment from companies specifically selected by Montesinos, who then received millions of dollars in commissions in return. The money was found in his name in Switzerland. The allegedly illicit deals total 49.9 million dollars.

Giampietri denies all charges against him and insists that the arms deals did not do the state any harm, "because equipment . . . was used for national defense." However, prosecutors are most concerned that the bidding procedure was rigged to favor companies owned by Israeli citizen Moshe Rothschild and Peruvians Enrique Benavides and Claus Corpancho.

Rothschild and Benavides have been fugitives from justice since 2001, and Corpancho has been in prison in Lima since 2007, when he was extradited from Spain. Fujimori admitted that Montesinos accepted a bribe for the sale to Peru of thirty-six MiG-29 warplanes from Belarus. Rothschild, Benavides, and Corpancho organized the sale.

The charges are the reason for the recent motion to remove Giampietri as first vice president. "We view it as improper that a person accused by a prosecutor should be acting president," said a spokesman for the opposition Peruvian Nationalist Party.

Giampietri was also a part of the trial for those responsible for the 1986 massacre committed by naval forces during a Sendero Luminoso riot. 118 people were killed. Giampietri is among those said to be responsible for the massacre. 

For more information, please see:

IPS-Peru: Vice President Accused of Corruption-14 November 2009

Defense News-Peruvian Navy Officials Probed for Contract Fraud-6 November 2009

Radio Programas del Peru-Giampietri califica de "insostenible e infundada" denuncia en su contra-5 November 2009

Nine Colombian Soldiers Killed in Clash with Rebels

By Ryan C. Kossler

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

BOGOTA, Colombia – Early on Tuesday, Colombian soldiers clashed with members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in a bloody confrontation that ended with nine dead soldiers and three more who were injured.  The battle took place near Corinto, a town of largely populated by indigenous people, located in the western foothills of Colombia's central mountain range.

 

There have been several theories on why the FARC rebels choose to attack the soldiers.  Analysts believe that the attack may be part of a campaign by the FARC to increase its actions prior to next year's presidential election.  President Uribe, who is expected to seek a third term, has implemented policies that have had a damaging effect on the FARC.

 

Another theory is that the attack may have been intended to divert the Colombian army from its recent attacks on the FARC leadership.  The military claims to have killed several FARC leaders over the past few months.

 

Governor Guillermo Gonzales, governor of the state of Cuaca, said that he "thinks the rebels were preparing to take the town."  General Freddy Padilla, the Colombian armed forces’ chief of staff met with Gonzales in response to complaints of the rising rebel presence in the region.  President Uribe promised to send more troops. 

 

Corinto is near a mountain pass used by the FARC and drug traffickers to ship cocaine west toward smugglers’ ports on the Pacific coast.  Also, the rebels used the mountain passes to ship weapons and supplies to their encampments.

 

The Corinto area is home to many indigenous communities who frequently get caught in the crossfire when the military and the rebels clash.  Also, the FARC recruit new members from the communities.

 

For more information, please see:

 

Al Jaseera - Colombian troops die in Farc attack – 11 November 2009

 

LA Times – 9 Colombia troops killed in clash with rebels - 11 November 2009

 

Reuters – Surprising rebel attack kills 9 Colombian soldiers - 10 November 2009

 

BP Oil Pipeline Threatens Colombian Farmers

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 

(Courtesy of Enbridge.com)

LONDON, England-Colombian farmers are suing the oil company BP for damages arising from the construction of a 450-mile pipeline. The lawsuit alleges that the Ocensa pipeline caused landslides and damage to soil and groundwater, caused crops to fail, livestock to die, contaminated water supplies and made fish ponds unsustainable.

The pipeline was laid from the Cusian-Cupiagua oilfields, to the port of Covenas. The region has a significant amount of paramilitary activity. Farmers say that they have been harassed and intimidated by paramilitaries employed by the Colombian government to guard the pipeline. Colombian lawyers who initially were a part of the lawsuit claim that they were intimidated by paramilitaries as well.  One lawyer fled to Britain when she found out that her name was on a paramilitary hit list. She was granted asylum in 2002.

In this case, the environmental impact assessment, which BP conducted prior to pipeline construction, allegedly showed significant risk of damage to the land. However, mostly illiterate farmers were not informed about the risk. BP expressly promised compensation to the farmers for damages caused by the pipeline and that there would be no long-term environmental damage.

The lawsuit claims damages for breach of contract and negligence. If the court accepts evidence of environmental damage, advocates believe that that would allow similar claims by other communities in developing countries who say they have been adversely affected by oil pipelines. 

One farmer stated, "Now that my land has been destroyed I realize that the money I was paid for the pipeline to be build across my farm was a mere pittance and that BP took advantage of my inability to read and write and my lack of understanding of technical language."

BP denies all of the farmers' allegations. It argues that the main cause of soil erosion and sediment is the removal of forests by farmers for cattle grazing. BP settled outside of court in a similar lawsuit in 2002. A court hearing date has not yet been set.

For more information, please see:

Business and Human Rights Resource Center-Case Profile:BP Lawsuit(Re: Colombia)-11 November 2009

Colombia Solidarity Campaign-BP and Pipeline Damage in Colombia-11 November 2009

The Guardian-BP Faces Damages Claim Over Pipeline Through Colombia Farmland-11 November 2009