Impunity Watch: South America

Brazil's Lula Defends Indigenous From Attacks; FARC Accused of Attempting an Attack in Spain; Historical Arrest for High Numbers of Chile's Military in Connection with Killings

By Oscar J Barbosa
Impunity Watch - South America Desk Reporter

BRASILIA, Brazil - The indigenous population in Brazil has been target of harassment and discrimination, which President Lula defended in protection of the pro-indigenous policies the government has taken. Lula also backed the indigenous in the latest uprisings in Raposa do Sol in the state of Roraima.
   In that State, the military affirmed that the indigenous contest the legitimacy of sovereignty, but Lula adds that it was the indigenous the ones that defended the sovereignty of the country when no military was present in those remote lands.
    In that dispute, the rice growers refuse to give land to the indigenous given by the federal government.

For more information please see:

AnsaLatina.com - LULA DEFENDIO INDIGENAS Y CARGO CONTRA ARROCEROS Y MILITARES - May 08 2008
Diario Buenos Aires - Brasil: Indigenas Desplazados por Arroceros - May 09 2008

------

BOGOTA, Colombia - The Colombian government has disclosed information from the laptops obtained form the raid in the Ecuadorian territory with information about international attacks led by the FARC.
These emails instructed the high command, and others to carry on the attacks against Colombian vice president and others while in Madrid.
These reports have raised concern in Europe about the FARC possibilities and capabilities of creating a global conflict.

For more information please see:
CM& - Intensifican Operativos en Contra de Alfonso Cano - May 27, 2008
Los Andes Online - Supuesto Plan de Atentado en Madrid - May 29, 2008

------

SANTIAGO, Chile -  Judge Víctor Montiglio ordered the arrest of 98 former members of the military in connection with the abduction and killing of 42 leftists in 1974. These militants faced charges of "aggravated kidnapping" in cases involving 42 victims of "Operation Colombo", carried out in 1974. "Operation Colombo" was a disinformation ploy created by the regime’s police, the DINA, to cover up the disappearance and murder of 119 leftists, people who belonged to the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), also referred to as "Miristas".

For More Information Please See:

IPS - RIGHTS-CHILE:  Historic Mass Arrest of Soldiers - May 29, 2008

Paramilitary Member Pleads Not Guilty to United States Charges; Prosecutor Seeks Former Argentine President’s Arrest; Former Officer Begins Trial for Dirty War Crimes

By Jessalyn Mastrianni
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

HOUSTON, United States – Diego Alberto Ruiz Arroyave, a Colombian member of a right-wing paramilitary group who was extradited to the United States to face charges, has entered a plea of not guilty.  He is charged with supporting a terrorist organization and drug trafficking in an attempted $25 million deal to trade cocaine for arms.

Ruiz has one Colombian attorney and one American lawyer for the trial scheduled to begin July 22, 2008.  He is one of fourteen members of AUC extradited recently due to accusations of crimes from within their detentions.

If convicted, he will face 15 years and a fine of up to $250,000.  He was held without bond as a flight risk.

For more information, please see:
AP- Colombian Paramilitary Member Pleads Not Guilty – 23 May 2008
AP – Colombian paramilitary member appears in US court- 16 May 2008
------------------
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina- Prosecutor Alberto Nisman is seeking the arrests of former President Carlos Menem and his brother as well as four other men for allegedly aiding in the cover-up of the terrorist attack on the embassy in Buenos Aires in 1994.

In 1994, a car-bomb near the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association Buenos Aires killed 85 people and injured 200.  This was the bloodiest terrorist attack in Argentina’s history. 

The charges are that the potential defendants tried to cover up the possible involvement of Alberto Jacinto Kanoore Edul, a Syrian-Argentine businessman who has been tied to the President’s family, in the attack.

The Prosecutor is asking the Senate to remove the President’s immunity.  Victims has suspected his involvement in a cover-up for years, but this is the first time he has been linked.

For more information, please see:
AP – Presecutor seeks arrest of ex-President Menem for alleged cover up in Jewish center bombing – 23 May 2008
AP – Argentine prosecutor seeks ex-president’s arrest – 22 May 2008
---------------

CORBODA, Argentina - Former Argentine army chief Luciano Benjamin Menendez, 80, commanded the regional Third Arm Corps for five years during the military dictatorship.  Menendez and seven other former officers are charged with the kidnaps and killings of four men who were later found by the military.

Prosecutors allege that the victims were tortured and killed and then dumped to make it look like they died in a shootout.  This was a common tactic during the Dirty War.

For more information, please see:
AP – Argentine Dirty War suspect goes on trial – 27 May 2008

BBC – Argentine ex-army chief on trial – 27 May 2008

Leader of FARC Dead; Fujimori Trial May Be Affected By Cancer; Colombian Prosecutors Open Probe to Find Ties to FARC

By Christopher Gehrke
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – The leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is dead.  Pedro Antonio Marin, a.k.a. Manuel Marulanda Velez, died in the arms his companion, said FARC rebel commander Timoleon Jimenez.  He died March 26 in a hideout in the jungle.

The cause of his death was a heart attack, said Jimenez.

“We say goodbye physically, in the name of thousands of FARC guerillas,” Jimenez said.  “A great leader marched away.”

Marulanda, a Marxist devotee, joined FARC in the 1940s.  He was viewed as a revolutionary leader by freedom fighters, who also called him “Sure Shot,” promising equality in the poor regions of Colombia.

According to the U.S. State Department, Marulanda approved FARC’s decision to expand into cocaine trafficking.

Marulanda’s death is believed to be a huge blow for FARC, who have lost other top commanders– Raul Reyes and Ivan Rios – who were killed in military operations.  He has been replaced by Alfonso Cano, described by CNN as “a longtime ideologue” for FARC.

For more information, please see:

CNN – FARC says its leader is dead – 25 May 2008

AP – Colombian rebels say leader dies of a heart attack – 25 May 2008

------

LIMA, Peru – The human rights trial of Alberto Fujimori may be on hold.  Cesar San Martin, the head of Peru’s Supreme Court hearing Fujimori’s case, announced that the former president will have tests done to determine the cause of pain in his mouth.

Fujimori’s daughter Keiko explained that the open wounds in her father’s mother could be a sign that he is coming down with leukoplakia, a disorder he was diagnosed with 10 years ago, for which he has already undergone surgery.

Fujimori is currently being held under maximum security, a status Keiko has asked to be downgraded to normal so that his health would not deteriorate further. 

Although his wounds may be precancerous, Luis Bromley, the head of the Legal Medecine Institute, said that the wounds were only millimeters in size, and not worth stopping the hearings over.

Keiko Fujimori said that it was very probably that Fujimori would undergo a surgery and check if the wounds were was benign or malignant.

“My father will still be facing the trial, but within a just cause and his medical condition should be respected.  We are not asking for any favor, only justice,” she said.

For more information, please see:

Living In Peru – Peru judge approves precancerous tests for Alberto Fujimori – 21 May 2008

Xinhua – Fujimori diagnosed with precancerous lesion – 21 May 2008

------

BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombian prosecutors asked the Supreme Court to probe three lawmakers Thursday for suspected ties to rebels based on files found on a rebel commander’s laptop.  The probe includes an ally of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

Mario Iguaran, the Attorney General, said prosecutors also opened an inquiry into two Colombian journalists, an American academic, and Ecuadorean politician, and a Venezuelan lawmaker to determine links to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

“After an analysis and a police report, there are indications of presumed ties between the FARC and three Colombian lawmakers, five Colombian citizens, and four foreigners,” Iguaran told a news conference.

Both Chavez and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa have dismissed the computer documents as a plan by the U.S. to discredit their governments

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Colombia probes FARC ties to lawmakers, foreigners – 23 May 2008

Al Jazeera – Colombia probe targets politicians – 24 May 2008

Fourteen Colombian Paramilitary Leaders Extradited to the US for Drug Charges; Chile Welcomes Palestinian Refugees; Top Female FARC Commander Surrenders

By Jessalyn Mastrianni
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America    

BOGOTA, Colombia – Fourteen top warlords, alleged members of the paramilitary and drug-trafficking group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), were extradited to the United States on Wednesday.  Their charges include possession, manufacture, or distribution of cocaine, money laundering, and providing material support to a terrorist organization.

Although the United States has publicly assured Colombia that it will not seek a life sentence for any of the defendants, Colombians are up in arms over the extradition.  Families of more than 530 victims are upset that the 14 defendants are facing drug charges rather than murder.  Sending them to stand trial in the United States is the equivalent of extraditing the truth according to the leader of Mothers of La Candelaria, a group of the victims’ families. The controversy is whether the defendants will have incentive to cooperate with Colombian authorities investigating the massacres. 

The extradition was a surprise move in order to cut off criminal networks within the prisons.  Human Rights Watch has called the extradition “good news” because the sentences will be 30 years under American law rather than the 8 under other law.

For more information, please see:

Christian Science Monitor – Colombia extradites paramilitary leader to US: victims angry - 15 May 2008
FBI Press Release – Fourteen Members of Colombian Paramilitary Group Extradited to the United States to Face U.S. Drug Charges – 13 May 2008

----------

SANTIAGO, Chile – About 117 Palestinian refugees arrived in Chile on Thursday from the border of Iraq and Syria.  Chilean President Michelle Bachelet led a welcoming event at the government palace in Santiago and stated she hopes that Chile will become a ‘second fatherland’ for these refugees.

Bachelet, having been a refugee during Chile’s dictatorship, personally related to the newcomers who will have to “rebuild a life from zero.”  The Palestinians will settle in Santiago and two nearby cities, La Calera and San Felipe, with help from the government, according to the Associated Press.

The large group’s placement was organized by the Permanent Program of Solidary Transfer.  According to Bachelet, Chile received international solidarity when thousands of people had to leave, and now it is Chile’s turn to return the favor.

For more information, please see:
Xinhua – Chilean president welcomes Palestinian refugees – 16 May 2008
PressTV – Chile to host Palestinian refugees – 16 May 2008
AP – Chile’s Bachelet welcomes Palestinian refugees fleeing violence in Iraq – 16 May 2008

-----------------------

BOGOTA, Colombia – Nelly Avila Moreno, 45, surrendered to the Colombian secret police, the DAS on Sunday along with her bodyguard.  They were both nearly starved, and Moreno said she was under a lot of pressure from her family to turn herself in before she was killed.

Moreno, better known as “Karina,” was the most senior of all the female members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which make up one third of the Marxist group.  She took over the command of the guerrillas when Ivan Rios was killed by his own bodyguard to collect the government reward.

Karina faces murder, extortion, and kidnapping charges.  She has been linked to massacres in the banana-growing region of Uraba and the province of Caldas where she was responsible for an attack that resulted in the deaths of 13 policemen, 3 civilians, and one policeman’s wife who was burned alive.  Karina was known to have executed at least twelve of her own troops as well, due to accusations of betrayal. 

Under the government amnesty legislation known as the Peace and Justice law, even with the array of charges against Karina, she can only face eight years in prison.

For more information, please see:

Scotsman – FARC’s female Rambo surrenders to resurgent Colombian police – 20 May 2008
Guardian News and Media Ltd. – Blow to FARC as top female commander surrenders – 20 May 2008

Chavez Ridicules Interpol; Fujimori Accused of Leading Death Squad; FARC Members Granted Asylum

 By Christopher Gehrke
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – Interpol verified Thursday that Colombia did not alter computer files it claims indicates Venezuelan support for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a leftist rebel group.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez labeled the Interpol report “a clown show” and called Interpol Secretary General a “gringo” policeman and “a tremendous actor.”  Noble said that his organization is “absolutely certain” that the materials – three laptop computers, three USB drives and two external hard disks – came from a FARC camp.

The items were seized during a March 1 raid on a FARC camp that killed 25 people, including Raul Reyes, second-in-command of FARC.

According to Colombia’s top police officer, the materials taken from the computers showed that Chavez had given $300 million to FARC.  Chavez denies these claims and accused Interpol of attempting to give “the clown show the character of scientific seriousness.”

White House drug czar John Walters told Colombian newspaper El Tiempo that Chavez “has a lot of explaining to do,” adding “The[re] were fluid contacts from both sides.  [FARC] is a group that wants to violently overthrow a democratic government.  This is very serious and requires more than just a simple denial.”

For more information, please see:
Reuters – Chavez must explain FARC rebel files – 18 May 2008

CNN – Chavez: Interpol report ‘a clown show’ – 15 May 2008

------

LIMA, Peru – Rodolfo Robles, a retired general, accused former president Alberto Fujimori of leading the Colina group, a death squad, on Wednesday.  Fujimori is on trial for 25 murders committed by the group in 1991 and 1992.

Robles also testified that the Peruvian army was not implicated in the Colina group, which he said was formed as a secret state-sanctioned terror group to counteract the Maoist Shining Path organization.

Fujimori was seen napping at times during the general’s testimony.  A week ago, the former president had a laughing fit a minute long in response to testimony from former military aides, who stated that they used to peek through his keyhole to see what he was wearing in order to prepare themselves for top-secret trips.

Robles told the court that two cars have been following his eight-year-old grandson since he began testifying at Fujimori’s trial.

“It’s not right that they should use these intimidation tactics and threaten the life of my grandson to keep me from talking,” Rojas told the judge.

For more information, please see:
AFP – Peru general says Fujimori was death squad leader – 15 May 2008

Xinhua – Fujimori has laughing fit in court – 6 May 2008

------

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua, has granted asylum to two Colombian women who survived a March 1 raid by the Colombian armed forces on a FARC camp.

Doris Torres Bohorquez and Martha Perez Gutierrez were in the camp when it was bomb.  Ortega had already given asylum to Lucia Morett, a Mexican university student who also survived the raid.  The Colombian women said they carried out domestic tasks in the FARC camp.

Right wing opposition criticized Ortega for granting the women asylum, declaring that the move made Nicaragua “a sanctuary for terrorists.”  Jose Pallais, a chairmen of the legislative Justice Committee, labeled these women “terrorists.”  Ortega has referred to members of FARC as “brothers” in the past.

Rosario Murillo, Ortega’s wife, told Sandinista National Liberation Front radio that the government “reiterates its decision…to take in, for humanitarian reasons, those who present a well-founded request for the rights and benefits of asylum in line with the International Convention on Human Rights.”

For more information, please see:
IPS – NICARAGUA:  Asylum for Survivors of Attack on FARC Camp – 14 May 2008

International Herald Tribune (AP) – Nicaragua grants asylum to 2 survivors of raid on Colombian rebels – 13 May 2008

BRIEF: After Mistrial, U.S. Will Dismiss Cocaine Charges against FARC Member

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – On Tuesday, prosecutors in the cocaine case against Ricardo Palmera filed a document to drop the charges. This action followed the second hung jury result for the trial.

Ricardo Palmera, known as Simón Trinidad, is already serving a 60-year sentence for a hostage charge, and therefore a victory in the trial would have little effect on his future. His first trial on terrorism and hostage-taking resulted in a hung jury and the second jury was deadlocked on all the charged except conspiracy for which he is now serving his sentence.

According to AP, the United States was pursuing the charges seeking a symbolic victory against drug-trafficking in Colombia. Jurors were at an impasse as to whether Palmera was in fact a drug trafficker. 

Palmera was the first member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia extradited to the United States three years ago; the Drug Enforcement Administration stated that extradition was the only consequence traffickers feared due to the corruption in Colombia.

For more information, please see: 

AP- Judge declares mistrial drug case against Colombian rebel – 21 April 2008

AP- US to dismiss cocaine charges against Colombian rebel – 6 May 2008

Fight Back News – Bush administration admits defeat in Ricardo Palmera case – May 2008

BRIEF: Computer Files Link Colombian Rebel Group to Venezuelan Officials; Chavez Claims Colombia Wants War

BOGOTA, Colombia - More than a dozen electronic documents found in a killed rebel’s computer indicate that senior Venezuelan officials attempted to help arm the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), says Colombia’s government.

The documents show alleged meetings between Venezuela’s chief of military intelligence and interior minister and other senior officials with top leaders of FARC.  Some discuss acquiring weapons, and others detail training for the rebels.

The Venezuelan ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, believes that Colombian officials are wrong.

“The whole thing is like a movie.  Fiction is fiction, reality is reality,” he said.

Chavez has claimed that Colombia wants to go to war with Venezuela.

“The government of Colombia is capable of provoking a war with Venezuela to justify a US intervention in Venezuela,” said Chavez.  “Think closely about how far you can go,” he said, addressing Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, “I publicly urge you a moment of reflection.”

“I issue an alert to the continent, the Venezuelan people, the armed forces over the Colombian government’s intention to provoke a war against us,” Chavez declared.

For more information, please see:
AFP – Chavez says Colombia seeks war with Venezuela – 11 May 2008

AP – Colombia shows new rebel documents that link Venezuela – 11 May 2008

Farmer Arrested for Guard Opening Fire on Indigenous Brazilians

By Jessalyn Mastrianni
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Brazilian police have arrested Paulo Cesar Quartiero, mayor and farm leader of the town of Pacaraima after his guards opened fire on and wounded 10 Indians in a land conflict.

According to Reuters, “[t]he dispute began in April when police tried to evict rice farmers from an Indian reservation in … Brazil’s northernmost state.”  Farmers have claimed the same land and protested the eviction through blocking roads and blowing up bridges.  The reservation was created three years ago by President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva.

Paulo Cesar Quartiero is the leader of the rice farmers.  On Monday night his armed guards, hooded on motorbikes, fired shotguns and threw homemade explosives at the indigenous people because they were building homes on the reservation the farmers claim as their own.  Three of the ten wounded Indians were hospitalized.

There are two accounts of the conflict; Quartiero claims his men asked the Indians to stop building and leave “his property” before resorting to the violent methods.  The farmers claim the Indians attacked the farmers with bows and arrows in response to the request.  Therefore the farmers would only have shot in self-defense.  Investigations are ongoing to determine which story is closer to the truth.

Quartiero has been arrested for illegal possession of farms, racketeering and attempted murder. 

The government has ordered troops of the national security force and police to “set up camp” in the reservation.  All of this occurred after a Supreme Court ruling last month suspending the operation to remove settlers from the reservation in fear of “a veritable civil war.”

For more information, please see:

Times Internet Limited – Armed Guards Open Fire on 10 Indians in Brazil – 5 May 2008
AP – Shooting heightens tensions in Brazil Indian conflict – 6 May 2008
Reuters – Brazil police arrest farmer after Indians shot – 6 May 2008
AP – Armed guards open fire on Indian reservation in northern Brazil, wounding 10 – 5 May 2008
AP – Brazil arrests influential rice farmer after 10 Indians shot, wounded in land dispute – 7 May 2008

BRIEF: Colombian Military Jailed for Massacre

Former Lt Col Bayron Carvajal given 54 years for ordering the ambush of the Elite Police near the town of Jamundi in Colombia. Officials announced that Carvajal's troops might have links with drug gangs and these wanted the anti drug police force death.

Lt Harrison Castro, was sentenced to 52 years. The other soldiers involved were each given 50 years.

The dead officers belonged to an elite unit of Colombia's judicial investigative police, and had trained in the US.

There were numerous attempts to subvert the trial, including an auxiliary prosecutor's offer to help the defense in exchange for more than US$400,000 (euro260,000), senior police officials and prosecutors familiar with the case told The Associated Press.

The Case when for over a year and two months.

For more information, please see:

BBC - Colombia massacre troops jailed - 08 May 2008
AP - Former colonel gets 54-year term for massacre in Colombia - 08 May 2008
El Tiempo - Suspenden lectura de sentencia contra militares por muertes - 08 May 2008

BRIEF: Five Colombian Soldiers Killed by Rebel Land Mines

NORTH SANTANDER, Colombia- Saturday, as Colombian soldiers pushed into rebel territory near the Venezuelan border, they encountered a minefield prepared by rebels that killed five men and injured eleven more. 

The operation was a search for a top leader of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who had been tracked down in the province where the minefield was located.  The operation was a part of a larger operation within the region to capture Ivan Marquez, a rebel chief of FARC.  This operation was launched in February and has resulted in the deaths of 50 members of FARC.  The military statement about the minefield reiterated its determination to complete the mission against Marquez.

The minefield ambush occurred only four days after FARC attacked an oil pipeline in the same region, triggering an environmental crisis in the area because of lack of potable water. 

The war between the Colombian government and FARC has maimed, displaced, or killed thousands of people, not just soldiers, via landmines; there seems to be no evidence of relief from this 40-year-old war.

For more information, please see:

India eNews – Five Colombian Soldiers killed during anti-rebel operation – 4 May 2008

Xinhua – Rebel landmines kill five Colombian soldiers – 4 May 2008

Reuters – Rebel land mines kill sex Colombian soldiers – 3 May 2008

AP – Five Colombian soldiers killed in clash with leftist rebels – 4 May 2008