22 March 2009

American Soldier Seeks Asylum in Germany

18 March 2009

United States Delays Gun Smuggling Control Laws into Mexico

By Maria E. Molina
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Ninety percent of the guns that are used in Mexico to commit heinous crimes come from the United States.  Machine guns get smuggled into Mexico from the United States all the time.  While the United States has just begun to consider the violence in Mexico a threat to United States safety, the threat of lax United States gun laws have affected Mexico’s fight against drug cartels for the past year.  The United States maintains a staunch immigration policy but a loose gun control policy. These policies not only affect the violence in Mexico but human smuggling into the United States.

With the death count last year in Mexico at 6,290, more than the United States has lost in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Mexican officials are pleading with United States counterparts to help stop the southbound gun smuggling and focus.  Yet, the United States government has delayed any proliferation of new laws that would help gun smuggling.  In 2007, there were 7,600 federally licensed arms dealers in United States border states and 50,000 nationwide, but the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms inspected just 5 percent of them. As well an assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004 has not been renewed by Congress.

Lawmakers are not sure how high-powered weapons get in the hands of drug traffickers, but some come from the United States military.  The Department of Defense doesn’t track what it purchases, so the possibility that United States military guns end up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels is extremely feasible.  Also, the weapons are becoming more sophisticated and now include .50-caliber rifles with five-inch shells capable of penetrating walls.  A law that speaks to tracking of military weapons would also assist in controlling gun smuggling into Mexico.

Federal United States efforts to stop the smuggling of weapons were clearly not enough.

For more information, please see:

Alternet – Mexico’s Drug War Bloodbath: Guns from the U.S. Are Destabilizing the Country – 18 March 2009

Los Angeles Times – U.S. shares blame in Mexico drug violence, senators say – 18 March 2009

San Francisco Chronicle – Focus shifts to flow of cash, arms into Mexico – 18 March 2009

The Washington Post – U.S. Efforts Against Mexican Cartels Called Lacking – 18 March 2009

15 March 2009

U.S. Continues to Withhold Money from Nicaragua

By Karla E General
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – United States Ambassador Robert Callahan has warned Nicaragua’s Sandinista government that it will freeze $62 million in development aid until the controversy surrounding the disputed municipal elections held in Nicaragua last November is resolved. Callahan has provided a three month window for the Sandinista government to redress grievances of the alleged unfair election.

The ruling Sandinista party governed by President Daniel Ortega claimed an overwhelming victory in November’s elections. Opponents and international human rights groups have criticized the Sandinista Party of conducting fraudulent elections to secure an outcome in their favor. For instance, Ethics and Transparency, an electoral watchdog group, claims that the election was riddled with “systemic fraud.” The group found that more than ten articles of Nicaragua’s Electoral Code were violated in the electoral process. According to Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) acting Chief Executive Officer Rodney Bent, the $62 million in development aid, which is to come from the MCC, will likely be withheld because “[t]he government of Nicaragua has failed to reaffirm its commitment to democratic principles and practices since its suspension in December.”

Ortega has accused the U.S. of “taking bread” from the poor of Nicaragua by holding back the MCC aid. He attests that the election was fair and refuses to negotiate the mayorships won by his Sandinista party.

The MCC will meet in June to make its final determination of whether to award the $62 million for infrastructure and landtitling programs.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Nicaragua Blasts U.S.’s Decision to Hold Back Aid – 14 March 2009

Miami Herald – U.S. Warns Nicaragua Over Disputed Elections – 14 March 2009

Tico Times – U.S. Maintains Aid Suspension to Nicaragua – 12 March 2009

15 March 2009

U.S. Continues to Withhold Money from Nicaragua

By Karla E General
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – United States Ambassador Robert Callahan has warned Nicaragua’s Sandinista government that it will freeze $62 million in development aid until the controversy surrounding the disputed municipal elections held in Nicaragua last November is resolved. Callahan has provided a three month window for the Sandinista government to redress grievances of the alleged unfair election.

The ruling Sandinista party governed by President Daniel Ortega claimed an overwhelming victory in November’s elections. Opponents and international human rights groups have criticized the Sandinista Party of conducting fraudulent elections to secure an outcome in their favor. For instance, Ethics and Transparency, an electoral watchdog group, claims that the election was riddled with “systemic fraud.” The group found that more than ten articles of Nicaragua’s Electoral Code were violated in the electoral process. According to Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) acting Chief Executive Officer Rodney Bent, the $62 million in development aid, which is to come from the MCC, will likely be withheld because “[t]he government of Nicaragua has failed to reaffirm its commitment to democratic principles and practices since its suspension in December.”

Ortega has accused the U.S. of “taking bread” from the poor of Nicaragua by holding back the MCC aid. He attests that the election was fair and refuses to negotiate the mayorships won by his Sandinista party.

The MCC will meet in June to make its final determination of whether to award the $62 million for infrastructure and landtitling programs.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Nicaragua Blasts U.S.’s Decision to Hold Back Aid – 14 March 2009

Miami Herald – U.S. Warns Nicaragua Over Disputed Elections – 14 March 2009

Tico Times – U.S. Maintains Aid Suspension to Nicaragua – 12 March 2009

13 March 2009

Five Mexican Indigenous Human Rights Activists Remain Unfairly Detained

By Maria E. Molina
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUERRO, Mexico – Despite insufficient evidence against them five indigenous human rights activists in Mexico are still being held in prison nearly a year after their arrest.

The activists are members of the Guerrero-based Me’ phaa Indigenous People’s Organization (OPIM). They are being held in a Guerrero state prison on charges of murder. Manuel Cruz, Orlando Manzanarez, Natalio Ortega, Romualdo Santiago and Raúl Hernández were detained on 17 April 2008. They were charged with the murder of Alejandro Feliciano García on 1 January 2008 in the town of El Camalote, Guerrero.

A federal review judge ordered the release of four of them on 20 October 2008, after ruling that the evidence presented did not implicate them. However the four remain in prison after Mexico’s Federal Attorney General’s Office filed an appeal against the ruling, despite not providing further evidence in the case.

The fifth detainee, Raúl Hernández, was denied an injunction by the federal judge because two witnesses testified that he was present at the time of the murder.
Other eyewitness have testified, however, that Hernández was not present have been disregarded.

Most likely the five activists are still being detained as reprisal for their work promoting the rights of their community and exposing abuses by a local political boss and local authorities.  There has been a documented a pattern of harassment and intimidation in Guerrero state against members of Indigenous rights organizations such as the OPIM. These groups highlight cases of violations of human rights by members of the Mexican Army.

Most recently, both the Secretary and President of the Organization for the Future of Mixtec Indigenous Peoples (Organizacion para el Futuro de los Pueblos Mixtecos, OFPM) were found murdered late at night on 20 February in Tecoanapa municipality, Guerrero State.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Indigenous human rights activists unfairly detained in Mexico – 12 March 2009

Source News – Mexico: Indigenous human rights defenders still unfairly imprisoned despite government promises to UN – 12 March 2009

Upside Down World – Mapping Controversy in Oaxaca: Interview with Aldo Gonzalez, Director of UNOSJO – 12 March 2009