By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru – A Peruvian military court has imposed suspended prison sentences for three senior police and army officers in connection with the deaths of 24 cops and 10 civilians during the June 2009 protests in the Amazonian town of Bagua. The conflict, which came to be known as “Baguazo,” was Lima’s deadliest class in a decade.

Among those receiving suspended sentences are retired police Generals Luis Murguruza and Javier Uribe and army General Raul Silva Alban, who were convicted of dereliction of duty. In addition to their prison sentences, the men also were ordered to pay fines.

The Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (Aidesep), who organized the original demonstration in 2009, touted the verdicts as confirmation that official misconduct can no longer be “swept under the rug.”

There is; however, still controversy surrounding the confrontation. Alberto Pizango, leader of Aidesep, was critical of President Alan Garcia’s decision to shield his Cabinet ministers from any accountability, in contrast to the actions of the military court. Although then-Premier Yehude Simon and the rest of the Cabinet resigned after the Baguazo, no member of the government has faced any judicial consequences.

The events leading up to the Baguazo began in April 2009, when indigenous people were opposed to laws giving Lima power to grant mining, logging and drilling concessions on Indian lands without consulting residents disrupted transport links and seized control of oil-industry installations, effectively shutting down a pipeline that carries crude oil from the Amazon interior to Peru’s northern coast.

The clashes began in June 2009 when police tried to clear a road blocked by thousands of indigenous people an quickly became bloody.

For more information, please see:

Peruvian Times –Indigenous Leaders Criticize Sentence of Bagua Conflict – 17 March 2011

Latin American Herald Tribune – Peru Police, Army Brass Convicted of Deadly Clash with Indians – 15 March 2011

Living in Peru – Police and Military Receive Sentences Two Years After Bagua Violence – 15 March 2011

By Mario A. Flores
Senior Desk Officer, South America

LIMA, Peru — Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in teen Natalee Holloway’s 2005 suspect disappearance in Aruba may soon attempt to enter a plea of guilty by temporary insanity to his confessed murder of a young woman in Peru.

Holloway’s presumed murder has gone unresolved for more than five years. Van der Sloot, the person last seen with her, remains the only suspect. The teen’s disappearance occurred during a high school graduation trip to the Dutch island, where van der Sloot’s late father had been a prominent judge.

Van der Sloot was questioned repeatedly by Aruban authorities. He was twice arrested but released and never charged for lack of evidence.

At one point, Dutch crime reporters got a series of sensational “confessions” from van der Sloot, which he later denied, disproved or dismissed as lies. And last year, Van der Sloot was indicted in the United States on charges of extorting $25,000 from Holloway’s parents in exchange for revealing how Holloway died and the location of her body.

In June of 2010, van der Sloot was arrested in Chile in connection with the murder of Stephany Flores in Peru. Her body was found in his hotel room in Lima after he escaped to Chile. Van der Sloot apparently killed the young Peruvian student five years to the day after Holloway disappeared.

Chilean authorities extradited van der Sloot to Peru, where he subsequently confessed that he killed Flores in a rage when she found material regarding Holloway on his laptop. His defense team recently said that the homicide of Flores was a crime of passion provoked when the young woman began digging through van der Sloot’s laptop.

Oscar Gonzalez, Peru’s police chief of the Division of High Technology Investigations said that the laptop found in the possession of van der Sloot contained “additional information that could be of interest” to the Holloway case. This week, the FBI is sending agents to Peru to examine the laptop hoping that it will shed light into Holloway’s disappearance, considering that it may have prompted van der Sloot to slain Flores.

In the meantime, Maximo Altez, van der Sloot’s attorney, said that his client is considering pleading guilty to killing the young Peruvian woman and argue temporary insanity in a bid to significantly shorten his sentence. Temporary insanity or “violent emotion” is a plea specific to Peru, where van der Sloot could spend just 20 months in jail if the court accepts the argument.

Michael Griffith, senior partner at the International Legal Defense Counsel, stated that even in the unlikely event that van der Sloot gets a lesser sentence, he is going to be extradited to the United States on the outstanding warrant in Alabama for his alleged extortion in the Holloway case. There, van der Sloot would probably face a five-to-10-year sentence for the alleged extortion, according to Griffith.

However, Griffith believes that the chance a judge accepts the temporary insanity plea is slim. “This is such a big case in Peru that I don’t see them accepting a violent emotion insanity defense,” he said. “It would get the populace in an uproar.” As things stand, Van der Sloot is accused of first-degree murder, and faces a 15- to 35-year sentence if his plea is not accepted.

For more information, please see:

Daily Mail – FBI flies to Peru to scour Dutch murder suspect’s laptop in bid to end mother’s five-year agony over missing Natalee Holloway – 15 March 2011

Living in Peru – Peru police hands over copy of disc from van der Sloot’s laptop to FBI – 15 March 2011

AOL News – Expert: Van der Sloot Free in 5 Years? ‘So What? – 8 March 2011

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia—According to Colombian officials, all but one of 23 abducted oil workers have been released by leftist rebel soldiers.  The workers are Colombian contractors who were taken against their will on Monday while working in an isolated jungle area.  They had been employed by a Canadian oil company named Talisman Energy.  The one remaining oil worker is still being held by the rebels, who are suspected guerrillas from the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).  Colombian authorities are concerned that the last hostage is being kept for use later as a human shield.

Colombian Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera reported that the kidnapped workers were released early on Tuesday morning.  They had been taken captive the previous day while searching for crude in Vichada, an eastern province of the country.  Reports have concluded that the FARC unit that probably abducted the workers was relatively small and that the workers were kidnapped from their own camp.

President Manuel Santos has initiated a military operation in order to combat kidnappings in Colombia.  In the mission, codenamed Minotaur, the Colombian army, air force, and marines have been searching Vichada province in hopes of rescuing the final hostage.  President Santos considers this operation strong evidence that his military will soon triumph over hostage takers.  “We are not going to rest until all hostages are freed and the country is free of kidnapping,” Santos vowed.  He speculated that the FARC rebels were holding onto the last hostage to use as a human shield to repel military raids.

Talisman Energy has announced that each of the contractors was working for a firm called South American Exploration that conducts seismic studies in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.  The company also reported that all of the hostages taken on Monday were Colombian citizens and the majority of them were members of local indigenous groups.

For more information, please see:

Washington Post-22 abducted oil workers freed in Colombia-8 March 2011

Guardian-Colombian troops rescue 22 kidnapped oil workers-8 March 2011

Wall Street Journal-Colombia Rebels Free 22 Oil Workers-8 March 2011

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – Last week, Colombia’s Constitutional Court announced that it needs more time to rule on the legality of same-sex couples adopting children. The court was asked to analyze the case of a lesbian couple who want one partner to be recognized as the legal guardian of the other partner’s child. According to Juan Carlos Henao, President of the Constitutional Court, many of the magistrate judges have asked for more time to study this case.

According to media reports, the Colombian ambassador to the Vatican has voiced his opposition to the same-sex adoption issue. Ambassador Cesar Mauricio Velasquez has been quoted as saying that “the criteria of a family is man, woman and child.” Velasquez also said that allowing gays to adopt children would oblige a “change of the concept of family in Colombia.”

The Bishops’ Conference of Colombia has also come out publicly opposing same-sex adoption rights, calling on the Constitutional Court to reject the case. According to the Bishops’ Conference, “the rights of children should be placed above the affective and emotional needs of same-sex couples.”

The Bishops’ Conference claims that the purpose of adoption is to “replace what was lost, namely, the child’s biological mother and father, and the child is given a substitute mother and father so he can have a new home.” Although the bishops are affiliated with the Catholic church, they claim that faith has nothing to do with their stance against same-sex adoption rights. Rather, the bishops claim this is a matter of “natural law” and “anthropology.”

A recent poll carried out in Colombia showed that “82 percent of Colombians do not support the adoption of children by same-sex couples,” a statistic that the bishops have been quick to rely on. Bishop Juan Vicent Cordoba claims that children who are raised in same-sex households will face “great difficulties.” Although he does not provide proof of such difficulties, Cordoba says that these children are more likely to “grow up to become homosexuals, bisexuals or they will have identity problems that will affect their ability to sustain a relationship.”

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports – Colombian Ambassador to Vatican Opposes Gay Adoption – 3 March 2011

Colombia Reports – Court Needs More Time for Gay Adoption Ruling – 2 March 2011

Catholic News Agency – Colombian Bishops Stress Protection of Adopted Children – 26 February 2011