By Nima Nayebi

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Europe
ARRIVACA, United States – Shawna Forde, an outspoken anti-immigration activist, has be arrested in connection with the 30th May home invasion killings of Raul Flores and his daughter. Forde, 41, and two fellow members of her Minuteman American Defense group (MAD), stand charged with “two counts of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree burglary and one count of aggravated assault,” according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona. The killings are said to have been premeditated and designed to steal money and drugs to fund MAD. According to her family, Forde had discussed using robbery as a fund-raising strategy for her anti-immigration group, but Forde denies this allegation. The Green Valley News and Sun reports that she stated: “No, I did not do it.” Forde’s mother, Rena Caudle, who lives in California, said she was not surprised to hear of her daughter’s arrest. Forde visited Caudle before going to Arizona, telling her she planned to stage home invasions.

The victims, Raul Flores, 29, and his daughter, nine-year-old Brisenia, were killed when armed intruders invaded their home. Brisenia’s mother, who traded gun-fire with the suspects, survived the attack, but required hospitalization due to gun shot wounds. Authorities said the threesome dressed as Border Patrol Officers and broke into the Flores’ home, looking for money or drugs to sell. The Pima Count Sheriff’s office revealed that Flores had been connected to Mexican drug cartels, and that the US Drug Enforcement Agency knew this. According to police, the intruders intended to kill the Flores’ other daughter, but failed to locate her in the residence.  According to Dawn Barkman, the Sheriff’s Spokesperson, Forde “was the ringleader of this group and of this attack. She made the order for Bush to go in and shoot these individuals. She’s just truly an evil person to do something like this.”

Forde’s group, MAD, claims that they conduct surveillance and investigations aimed at curtailing illegal immigration and drug-smuggling into the United States. According to the group’s website, “MAD is not responsible for the independent actions or the private agenda by Shawna Forde and her cohorts…. Shawna acted totally on her own person [sic] agenda and has caused a lot of pain embarrassment and humiliation to the total Minuteman movement and fellow members of MAD. MAD will cooperate totally and fully with any and all Law Enforcement agencies and the appropriate judicial system to bring this most terrifying event to a close.” Chris Simcox, the founder of the original Minuteman group, said, “We knew that Shawna Forde was not just an unsavory character but pretty unbalanced as well.”

In the past few weeks, a white supremacist allegedly killed a black guard at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and anti-abortion activist allegedly killed a Kansas doctor who performed abortions.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors hate groups through its “Intelligence Project,” estimates that the number of hate groups in the US has risen 54% since 2000. The increase has been fueled partly by the opposition to Hispanic immigration and the election of Mr. Barack Obama, America’s first black president.

Forde had been active in MAD for several years, but prior to heading to Arizona for another season of border patrolling, she e-mailed supporters, telling them: “I will stay the course and lead in this fight with every once [sic] of strength and conviction I have…. It is time for Americans to lock and load.”

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – 10,000 Central American migrants crossing the border into Mexico have been abducted in the last six months according to a survey by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission.  The survey was conducted in migrant health and detention centers.

According to the report, migrants were kidnapped in Mexico between September and February predominantly by drug gangs. The report identified 5, 723 people abducted by polleros or smugglers, 3,000 from different bands of kidnappers, 44 by gangs, and 427 by kidnappers claiming to be from the mercenary group known as “zetas”.  Authorities were also reportedly involved in 91 abductions.

70 percent of those abducted were from Honduras, however there were abductions reported from El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru.  The ransoms range from $1,500 to $ 5,000, with an estimated total of $25 million over the six month period. Some of those abducted are forced into slavery.

Abductions detailed in the report include 157 women, four pregnant, of which two were killed.  Many women were reportedly raped.  The report highlighted the lack of official figures on this issue, blaming the “inefficiency” of the justice system in preventing and investigating the cases.  The states with the most abductions were Veracruz and Tabasco.

It is estimated that 500,000 Central American undocumented immigrants try to enter Mexico each year across the southern border. According to Jose Luis Soberanes, the commission’s head, “the kidnapping of migrants has become a constant practice, on a worrying scale, generally unpunished and with characteristics of extreme cruelty.”

By Nima Nayebi

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Europe

WASHINGTON D.C., United States – The US Department of State has unveiled its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which assesses the efforts of over 170 countries in curtailing human trafficking. The report was followed by a Washington Post op-ed by Mrs. Clinton on Wednesday, in which she emphasized that the US has an obligation to fight human trafficking.

“To some, human trafficking may seem like a problem limited to other parts of the world. In fact, it occurs in every country, including the United States, and we have a responsibility to fight it just as others do. The destructive effects of trafficking have an impact on all of us. Trafficking weakens legitimate economies, breaks up families, fuels violence, threatens public health and safety, and shreds the social fabric that is necessary for progress. It undermines our long-term efforts to promote peace and prosperity worldwide. And it is an affront to our values and our commitment to human rights,” wrote Secretary Clinton.

She went on to say that the Obama administration considers the issue of human trafficking a priority in its foreign policy agenda: “The United States funds 140 anti-trafficking programs in nearly 70 countries, as well as 42 domestic task forces that bring state and local authorities together with nongovernmental organizations to combat trafficking. But there is so much more to do.”

According to the Secretary, the problem is more urgent than ever as the world struggles through the current financial climate. “People are increasingly desperate for the chance to support their families, making them more susceptible to the tricks of ruthless criminals,” she wrote.

The TIP Report estimates that 12.3 million people worldwide are victims of sexual slavery, forced labour, and organ theft, at a time where demand for cheap labour, services, and even human organs is on the rise. The report describes human trafficking as “a crime that deprives people of their human rights and freedoms, increases global heath risks, fuels growing networks of organized crime, and can sustain levels of poverty and impede development in certain areas.”

Since 2000, the majority of countries have enacted laws against human trafficking, but much work remains to be done, according to the State Department. Secretary Clinton summed up the Obama administration’s policy by writing: “The United States is committed to building partnerships with governments and organizations around the world, to finding new and more effective ways to take on the scourge of human trafficking. We want to support our partners in their efforts and find ways to improve our own. Human trafficking flourishes in the shadows and demands attention, commitment and passion from all of us. We are determined to build on our past success and advance progress in the weeks, months and years ahead. Together, we must hold a light to every corner of the globe and help build a world in which no one is enslaved.”

The TIP Report, which has been published since 2000, failed to address the trafficking record of the Unites States. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United States is a large importer of sex trafficking victims, with Atlanta, Georgia, as its main hub. Mrs. Clinton promised that in the 2010 report, the US will “rank its own efforts at combating trafficking along with the rest of the world.”

By Sovereign Hager

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Human Rights Watch (HRW) released its 4 year report on Mexico’s human rights record on Thursday.  The Mexican Military was found to be ineffectively investigating reports of rapes, killings, and torture.  In particular, HRW criticized the military’s use of only “dysfunctional” military tribunals to investigate allegations against soldiers, rather than civilian courts.

HRW researchers said that Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, an autonomous government agency, received 1,230 abuse complaints against the military in 2008, as compared with 182 in 2006.  HRW pointed out that until two months ago the government could not provide a single example of a soldier being convicted of human rights violations for the past 10 years.

Since 2006, President Felipe Calderon has deployed more than 45,000 soldiers in his fight against drug cartels which supply the U.S. drug market.  The U.S. Government has supplied Mexico with $700 million dollars in training and equipment. Some of the aid is conditioned on State Department confirmation that Mexico meet human rights and police corruption goals.

Local sentiment in areas with high military presence appears increasingly hostile to the military.  Three months after the military surge in the border town of Juarez, the military have been blamed for at least four deaths, eight disappearances, and the torture of many more.

Individuals who claim to have been abused by soldiers have similar stories.  Among the dead is 21 year old Javier Rosales who was picked up by the military with his friend while walking to buy beer. The men were blindfolded, taken to a building, stripped, beaten with boards and dumped on a dirt road.  Rosales was found dead from the beating the next day.

There have been more than 500 abuse complaints against federal forces since March, and all from individuals who are not on any arrest list.  A lawyer who represents abused citizens says that the more impoverished areas are those most affected by abuse, as the military presence is greatest there.  In these areas homes have been ransacked and possessions stolen by military.

As far south as Michoacan state authorities are furious that the federal government has arrested a slew of state officials and community members, including the mayor of Apatzingan without consulting the governor.  Protesters have occupied the town hall and are demanding that the mayor be released.  Protest signs read ” We demand the authorities respect individual rights”.

A military spokesman claims that 85 percent of the complaints have been resolved, though no details or time frame has been provided.