U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Victims of Philippine Dictator; Congress Responds to Southeast Humanitarian Crisis; U.S. Groups Urge Mexico to Respond to Human Rights Violations in Guerrero

By Gabrielle Meury
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, U.S.- On June 12, The US Supreme Court overturned lower court rulings that gave restitution to 9,500 victims of human rights abuses during the regime of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The victims are claiming $35 million in a Marcos shell company as part of a $2 billion judgment by a Hawaii court in 1995 against the Marcos estate as compensation for executions, disappearances and torture during the Marcos regime. The award has nearly doubled with interest, with no payment has been made to the plaintiffs.
The victims and the Philippine government are fighting over $2 million Marcos funneled out of the country in 1972 to Arelma S.A., a Panamanian shell corporation that invested the money with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. in New York. By 2000, the amount had grown to $35 million. Merrill Lynch filed a case with U.S. courts to sort out the dispute. 
A federal judge in Hawaii ruled in the victims’ favor, as did the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court reversed these decisions. Former Rep. Etta Rosales, one of the victims, said, “The Philippine government succeeded in blocking the release of money to the human rights victims.”

For more information, please see:

AP- US Ruling May Delay Compensation For Marcos Victims- 13 June 2008

Taipei Times- U.S. Supreme Court Decides Against Philippine Victims- 14 June 2008
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WASHINGTON, U.S.- On June 12, bipartisan legislation opposing human rights violations in Southeast Asia was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The proposed legislation is a response to the humanitarian crisis facing Lao and Hmong refugees.
The legislation seeks to urge the Lao government and military to stop the ethnic cleansing campaign and mass starvation of thousands of unarmed Lao and Hmong civilians as well as to appeal to the King of Thailand and the Royal Thai government to stop the forced repatriation of nearly 8,000 Lao and Hmong refugees from Thailand back to the communist regime in Laos from which they fled. The legislation also urges the military regime in Laos to release the leaders of the Lao Student Movement for Democracy jailed in October of 1999 for their peaceful, pro-democracy protests.
Vaughn Van, Director of the Lao Human Rights Council, stated that “This new legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress sends a powerful and symbolic message of hope and truth regarding the terrible killing, mass starvation and persecution of innocent and unarmed Hmong people in Laos and urges the Lao government to immediately cease its massacre and attacks against the Hmong.”

For more information, please see:
Rush PR- U.S. Congress Appeals to King of Thailand to Help Save Hmong Refugees- 14 June 2008

Fox News- Laos, Hmong Crisis: Thailand’s Samak Uses Troops, Tear Gas- 24 May 2008
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WASHINGTON, U.S.- The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Latin American Working Group (LAWG) have sent a letter to the governor of the Mexican state of Guerrero expressing concern about recent reports of human rights violations. The letter is specifically concerned with the criminalization of social protest, and the indigenous communities targeted by the government. Five leaders of the Me Phaa Indigenous People Organization were arrested on April 18 for a homicide committed in January. The five detainees have received death threats and have been tortured prior to their imprisonment.
WOLA and LAWG urge the state to guarantee the security and safety of the prisoners and requests that the government respect their rights of due process. Members of the Me Phaa Indigenous People Organization received similar threats by members of the military for denouncing the rapes of Inez Fernandez and Valentine Rosendo Cantu, which were committed by soldiers

For more information, please see:
Upside Down World- WOLA, LAWG Voice Concern Over Rights Violations In Guerrero, Mexico- 12 June 2008

Amnesty International- Mexico: Indigenous Human Rights Defenders at Risk- 27 February 2008