Chile Remembers Killing of Allende; Bolivia Strong with Indigenous and Agricultural Reforms; Rio de Janeiro Militia Accused of Torture

By Oscar J Barbosa
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile-  South American people remember and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Salvador Allende’s birth. Current Chile’s President Bachelet opened the ceremony by calling Mr. Allende the first Socialist leader, “comrade and colleague, President” forerunner of a new America.

President Allende was considered part of the "Chilean road to socialism" but he was also aware of the U.S. ideals and objectives to impede any socialist government from flourishing in Latin America.

Cuban News Paper Granma also remembers Allende “not as a utopian or a dreamer, he was a revolutionary entirely committed to the cause of the working class in Chile, to which he devoted and sacrificed his heroic life”. (Photo:  La Nacion)

Allende was killed on September 11th 1973. It wasn’t Pinochet alone, US President Richard Nixon, Kissinger and the Central Intelligence Agency had also been linked to the assassination. After Allende’s death and the US engineered coup, one of the darkest periods in South American History began, with the Operation Condor, the systematic and institutionalized disappearances and mass killings thought out South America. Killings sponsored by fascist governments against its people.

For more information please see:

Granma International - Allende: a predecessor – 26 June, 2008

La Nacion - Bachelet encabezó el principal acto por natalicio de Allende – 27 June, 2008  -------------------------

LA PAZ, Bolivia – The Santa Cruz movement for independence that attempts to alienate its resources and capital from the central Government in La Paz, has caused more incidents and confrontations.

The opposition protesters launched a strike against Morales over his attempt to control a national assembly in charge of rewriting the country's constitution. Also, the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista (Cruz’s Youth Union), accused of killings of indigenous, vandalism and an attempt of assassination of President Morales, has lead multiple incidents, including the attack on a Police Station in Viru Viru. This group burned police cars and stroke in the roadways. Upon detention of some members, its leaders proceeded to attack the detention center and police officers.

Those strikers "are against the policies of nationalization of hydrocarbons, against the new land policies and the agricultural revolution," Morales said. President Morales accused the US of being behind the opposition’s efforts against stability in Bolivia. The media has also stated that US driven efforts against Morales, resemble the attacks made against Allende’s government in Chile.

Morales was making a one-day stopover in Guatemala to push for indigenous rights and political power before continuing his to Cuba and later New York.

For more information please see:

Radio Fides Virtual - Unionistas intentan tomar retén en Viru Viru y queman una patrulla policial – 26 June, 2008

Times NOW - Bolivian Pres slams the US – 27 June, 2008
-------------------------

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – A group of journalist moved into the neighborhood of Batan to cover the situation lived there. The group believed that an area controlled by a militia (which included off-duty police), would be safer than an area controlled by drug dealers.

In May 14^th, masked men entered the rented house where the journalist, photographer and driver were staying; they were kidnapped and tortured for over Six hours. 

The New York Times reported that the group was forced to play Russian roulette, were nearly suffocated with plastic bags, suffered electric shocks and slapped and kicked. The female reported was also threatened to be sexually assaulted.

The Minister of the Brazilian Secretariat of Human Rights has expressed the intentions of judging the involved militants for torture. 

For more information please see:

The New York Times - In Rio Slum, Armed Militia Replaces Drug Gang’s Criminality With Its Own – 13 June, 2008

O Globo Online - Justiça Militar fará primeira acareação com os militares envolvidos na morte de jovens da Providência - 26 June, 2008