By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – Francisco Ferney Tapasco and Dixon Ferney Tapasco, father and son politicians, will be charged with the planning of the 2002 murder of Orlando Sierra Hernandez, a Colombian journalist, according to the Colombian Attorney General’s Office. Sierra Hernandez was the assistant editor of La Patria newspaper; he was gunned down in January 2002 outside the newspaper’s offices in Manizales.

According to the prosecution, several key witnesses have linked Ferney Tapasco, the former director of the Liberals in the Caldas department, and Dixon Tapasco, his ex-congressman son  with the murder. The murder came shortly after Sierra Hernandez published allegations of corruption against the father and son.

Luis Fernando Soto Zapata, the confessed shooter, was sentenced to 29 years in prison, but was subsequently released after only six years on good behavior. The early release spurred large-scale protests by journalists across Colombia. Zapata ultimately was killed in a June 2008 gunfight with police in the southwestern city of Cali.

Francisco Ferney Tapasco is already serving jail time in connection with an investigation of his alleged ties to a violent right-wing rebel group in Colombia. His son is also previously served a seven-year prison sentence for paramilitary links, but left prison earlier this month.

The arrests of these politicians support the fears initially expressed by the Colombian journalistic community that the murder was politically motivated. Sierra Hernandez had been outspoken against what he perceived as corrupt politicians for years prior to his murder. In face, he the journalist was assigned bodyguards following death threats that he had received in 1998.

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports –Liberal Party Politicians Indicted for Journalist Murder – 29 March 2011

Latin American Herald Tribune –Colombia Politicians Accused of Journalist’s Murder – 29 March 2011

Committee to Protect Journalists – Journalist Killed: Colombia – February 2002

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – According to the association of judicial employees in Colombia, 287 Colombian judicial officials have been assassinated and hundreds more were subjected to violence and intimidation over the past 20 years. Within the past two decades, 750 judiciary officers have been threatened, including 220 in the last four years, 42 officials have been kidnapped, 39 are missing, 39 more have been forced into exile and 31 were forced to relocate.

On March 22, 2011, the most recent murder of Judge Gloria Constanza Gaona prompted the National Association of Employees of the Judicial Branch to hold a public demonstration in the nation’s capital. Over 41,000 judicial workers attended the demonstration, which was held on March 25 at the Paloquemao Judicial Complex in downtown Bogota. Judiciary officers hung black banners from buildings as a sign of mourning along with displaying images of 160 victims in the square of the complex.

Judge Gaona was presiding over a case involving three murdered siblings in which Colombian army members are the primary suspects. Judge Gaona was shot and killed on her way to a municipal court. According to reports, the family of the murdered children have received many death threats and will enter a protection and relocation program.

Nelson Cantillo, president of the National Association of Employees of the Judicial Branch, said “if we take into account that 287 homicides of judicial employees have been committed in the last 20 years, that gives us an average of one murder per month. These are outrageous figures, figures that may not move the government but they move us, which is why we called this day of protest.”

Last week, the Supreme Judicial Council of Colombia called being a judge in the country a “high risk” job. According to Supreme Judicial Council President Hernando Torres, Colombian judges “are very concerned that in the past five years six judges have been murdered. Being a judge is becoming a high risk profession.”

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports – One Judicial Official Murdered Every Month in Colombia – 26 March 2011

Latin American Herald Tribune – More than 1 Judicial Official Killed Every Month in Colombia – 26 March 2011

Colombia Reports – Colombia Judges at “high risk”: Court – 23 March 2011

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela—A hunger strike in Venezuela has escalated as four university students sewed their lips together while demonstrating to demand more funding for public universities.

The initial hunger strike began on February 23; it was started by five students and quickly grew to about 55 protesters.  The hunger strikers argue that Venezuelan universities are in danger of shutting down and that the government should give satisfactory funding to keep them in operation.

Administrators from various universities in the country have announced that by early next month, over two dozen public universities may be financially unable to continue operating cafeterias or buying supplies.

Government officials have responded by denying the claims.  They have stated that the protesting students are being influenced by President Hugo Chavez’s political opponents.

During a program televised in Bolivar state, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said: “If they want to walk naked through the street, let them do it.  If they want to sew whatever they want to sew, let them sew it, but . . . we’re going to keep working for our homeland.”  Maduro went on to attribute the hunger strike to the Venezuelan right wing, which “continues with its madness.”

One protester, 18-year-old Gabriela Torrijos, took the hunger strike to an alarming level on Friday as she and other students demonstrated near the United Nations Development Program office in Caracas.  Torrijos, a political science student at the Central University of Venezuela, sewed the left corner of her mouth shut.  Following her example, three other students partially stitched their mouths shut as well.

Enduring the pain of the improvised stitching, Torrijos told the Associated Press, “After seeing my friends take this action, I did it in solidarity with them.”

28-year-old Villca Fernandez had a more sever reaction to his stitching: his face ballooned out and remained puffy for three days.  He said he had not eaten solid food for 30 days and would not resume regular eating habits until the government increased the universities’ budgets.  “I’m willing to die for my university,” he declared.  “I’m willing to die for my country.”

On Tuesday, President Chavez stated that he would increase students’ stipends and review universities’ budgets.  The striking students, however, have not yet taken those promises seriously.

For more information, please see:

Press Association-Students stitch lips in protest-26 March 2011

AP-4 Venezuelan students partially sew lips together demanding university funding-25 March 2011

Seattle Times-Venezuelan students stitch lips in protest-25 March 2011

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – According to a Colombian radio report, aid, including food, for nearly 40,000 families impacted by last year’s flooding will soon perish. A local chamber of commerce has suspended delivery to victims due to apparent cost overruns in aid spending, causing the food to spoil.

The suspension order came after Sandra Morelli, Colombia’s comptroller general, warned that some of the food products, along with hygiene kits, might be being bought at unnecessarily high prices. Gustavo Marin Rincon, the owner of the site where the aid is being stored has asked the chamber of commerce to lift the suspension, at least temporarily. Rincon fears that any delay in delivering supplies could risk worsening the humanitarian situation in the region.

According to Morelli, the department has seen a 39% excess in the price of basic necessities, such as food and toiletry kits, to the region to help flood victims. Recently, research into corrupt practices found significant differences in the costs of goods as recorded in the contracts and those for the goods which were actually included in the food and bathroom kits.

In one example, the research found that a pound of rolled oats costs about $1.20 according to the contract, but the oats included in the food kits cost just $0.3 per pound. Morelli has also requested that the origin and quality of the products be tested, as many of the products are apparently Chinese and low quality.

Following the floods, which impacted over a million people, the Colombian government claimed that over $500 million would be necessary to aid the flood relief. Since that time, the aid project has been riddled with problems over the distribution of money.

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports –Aid Supplies to Flood Victims not Reaching 40,000 Families – 22 March 2011

Colombia Reports – Flood Aid Misused in North Colombia: Comptroller – 14 March 2011

The Korea Herald – Colombia Requests Aid for Rain, Flood Victims – 13 March 2011

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

PARAMARIBO, Suriname—According to a human rights expert from the United Nations, Suriname’s government and authorities have not been engaging in enough dialogue with indigenous citizens.  The expert is seeking to encourage necessary dialogue between officials and indigenous groups.  It is hoped that this communication will strengthen indigenous communities’ rights to resources and land in certain forested areas within Suriname.

The UN expert is James Anaya, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.  Anaya recently ended a four-day visit to Suriname where he attended meetings with indigenous and tribal groups, senior officials in President Desi Bouterse’s government, and UN staff members.  This trip marked the first time an independent expert designated by the UN Human Rights Council ever visited Suriname.

On Thursday, Anaya released a statement in Paramaribo, Suriname’s capital, noting that increased dialogue between indigenous groups and government officials should facilitate “practical steps necessary to move forward with securing indigenous and tribal land rights, in accordance with relevant international treaties to which Suriname is a part.”

The UN expert commented that his visit had been “fruitful and constituted a unique and valuable opportunity for dialogue and consultation.”  He promised to collaborate with both Suriname’s government and the indigenous groups to aid their communication with regards to land and resource rights.  There has been no immediate official comment by Suriname’s government.

Several years ago, the Saramaka indigenous people brought a case against Suriname to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.  In 2007, the Court ruled in the Saramaka group’s favor, giving them collective rights to ancestral lands where they had lived for many years.  The Court also granted the indigenous group other rights to resources in the area.

For more information, please see:

Modern Ghana-UN rights expert urges greater dialogue between Suriname and indigenous groups-18 March 2011

Taiwan News-Expert: Suriname, tribal groups must engage more-18 March 2011

UN News Centre-UN rights expert urges greater dialogue between Suriname and indigenous groups-17 March 2011