By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia—An investigation into Colombia’s former president Alvaro Uribe has been opened by the Accusation Commission of the Colombian House of Representatives.  The investigation, which began on Tuesday, will discover any role Uribe may have played in the illegal wiretapping of political opponents.  The scandal has been called “far worse than Watergate” by the Washington Office on Latin America.

Numerous  officials who served under Uribe have also been under fire.  Bernardo Moreno, who was Uribe’s personal secretary, was convicted of illegally wiretapping politicians, journalists, human rights organizations, and Supreme Court magistrates.  Moreno was banned from holding any public office for 18 years.

Andres Felipe Arias, who served under Uribe as agricultural minister, is also being investigated for allegedly funneling millions of dollars in state subsidies for impoverished farmers into affluent families.  It is believed that the money went to landowners and agro-industrial companies that supported Uribe in his 2006 presidential campaign.  Arias is a familiar name to many Colombians as he recently ran for president against the current President Santos.

Although Uribe has admitted responsibility for Moreno’s acts, he has fervently defended his administration.  “We avoided allowing the guerrillas and paramilitaries who took the country to turn Colombia into a failing state,” he recently posted on the social networking website Twitter.  Uribe also Tweeted about the accomplishments of his presidency, such as battling poverty and extraditing drug traffickers.

Uribe is now teaching at Georgetown University and continues to be an object of controversy.  Last month, while giving a lecture, Uribe was protested by demonstrators outside; inside, a student approached the former president and confronted him about his poor human rights record.

“This was Uribe trying to clean his image, basically, in front of our future leaders,” the student later told Newsweek.  “He needs to be put in front of a criminal court.”

More than 150 scholars, including 10 Georgetown professors, have signed a petition calling for Uribe’s termination from his Georgetown post.  The accompanying letter, composed by a priest, stated that Uribe’s position at the institution “is not only deeply offensive to those Colombians who still maintain moral principles, but also places at high risk the ethical development of the young people who attend our university.”

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports-Uribe mounts Twitter defense of policies-14 October 2010

Radio Netherlands Worldwide-Colombia’s Congress Investigates ex-president Uribe-13 October 2010

Newsweek-Appointment of Colombian Ex-President Sparks Controversy at Georgetown-13 October 2010

Colombia Reports-Congress opens wiretap investigation against Uribe-12 October 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 LIMA, Peru – High ranking members of Peru’s military have been sentenced to prison terms that range from fifteen to twenty-five years for their roles in civilian massacres.

Vladimiro Montesinos, former intelligence chief under ex-President Alberto Fujimori, and military commander Nicolás Hermoza, were convicted of ordering and carrying out killings on civilians.

Aside from President Fujimori, Montesinos and Hermoza were the two most powerful men in the political regime from 1990-2000.  The two disgraced military men were found guilty of aggravated homicide in the 1991 massacre of fifteen people in the Lima neighborhood of Barrios Altos, and the killings in 1992 of nine peasants in the northern town of El Santa and journalist Pedro Yauri.  Montesinos and Hermoza were responsible for authorizing a special commando unit that carried out the killings.

Montesinos and Hermoza’s actions were not an isolated occurrence.  Retired generals Julio Salazar, former head of the National Intelligence Service, and Juan Rivero, former head of the Army Intelligence Directorate are also facing twenty-five year sentences for their roles in the massacres.  Additionally, Santiago Martin Rivas, the army major who headed the death squad known as the “Colina Group” and major Carlos Pichilingüe, his right-hand man, were sentenced to twenty-five years as well.

Rosa Rojas, whose husband and eight-year-old son were among a group massacred in Barrios Altos stated, “[W]e are satisfied with the sentences, but we aren’t happy. Nothing will relieve the pain we carry inside.”  Rojas went on to say that “[m]y son Javier received eight bullets, one for each year of his life. That pain can’t be erased by a sentence.”

In the case of the Barrios Altos massacre, which claimed Rojas’ husband and son, it was later reported that the killers actually went to the wrong address, and slaughtered a group of people who were not suspects.

During the trial, the defendants justified their crimes claiming that they were “at war against terrorism.”  The Fujimori regime was struggling with the Shining Path, a violent left-leaning Peruvian terrorist group.

Montesinos is already serving a twenty year sentence for his participation in unrelated human rights abuses.  However, under Peruvian law, sentences cannot be served consecutively.

For more information, please see:

Living in Peru – Fujimori’s Right Hand Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison – 5 October 2010

IPS – No Sentence will Bring them Back to Life – 4 October 2010

Latin American Herald Tribune – Former Members of Peru Military Brass Sentenced for Massacres – 1 October 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Argentina has protested Britain’s plan to conduct military exercises, including firing missiles, on the nearby disputed Falkland (or Malvinas) Islands.  Britain disclosed the plan last week.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina let her reaction to the planned exercises be known via Twitter, tweeting that it would be “a militarization of the South Atlantic.”  She went on to call the situation, “Serious, very serious,” and wrote, “Typical nineteenth century colonialism.  Anachronistic use of force in violation of international law.  They do not care.  A clear example of double standards.”

The President also said she would summon Shan Morgan, the British ambassador, and referred to the British Navy as “pirates for ever?”

An official statement by the President declared, “The Argentine Government reiterates that the Malvinas . . . , part of the Argentine Republic and unlawfully occupied by the United Kingdom, are in dispute, which is recognised by the United Nations and other international organisations.”

In a letter sent to the British embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alberto D’Alotto wrote:  “The Argentine government expresses its formal and energetic protest to this planned military exercise and demands the British government refrain from carrying it out.”  D’Alotto has called Britain’s plan “an unacceptable provocation.”

British companies have been hunting for oil around the Falklands.  Earlier this year, the Rockhopper Exploration company claimed to have been the first to discover oil in the North Falkland Basin.  As the archipelago is situated on Argentina’s continental shelf, Argentina has claimed sovereignty over it and considers Britain’s presence an affront to that sovereignty.  Argentina has said that the Islands are within its sphere of economic influence and has promised to legally prevent Britain from accessing any oil in that area.  The President has previously vowed an “eternal fight” to claim the Islands, though without force.

There is a history of acrimony between Argentina and Britain.  In 1982, they waged war for 10 weeks over the Islands, resulting in the deaths of over 600 Argentine and 255 British troops.  Today, Britain keeps a permanent presence of 1,076 troops and four ships on the Islands.

Argentine veterans of the Falklands war have protested Britain’s upcoming exercises and demonstrated in front of the National Congress in Buenos Aires.  Many carried signs with messages such as, “The Malvinas are Argentine,” and “English Go Home.”

A spokesperson from the British embassy has said that the  military tests are “routine and are carried out every six months,” and that therefore, “[w]e are a little taken aback” by Argentina’s protest.

For more information, please see:

Press TV-Argentina protests to UK over drills-10 October 2010

Voice of America-Argentina Protests British Military Exercises on Falklands-10 October 2010

Telegraph-Royal Navy are pirates, says Argentina’s president-10 October 2010

Reuters-Argentina protests UK Falklands military exercise-9 October 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombian officials have arrested an army officer suspected of 11 extrajudicial killings of civilians. Major Orlando Arturo Cespedes Escalona was arrested Thursday in the northwestern city of Medellin.  The 11 deceased individuals were presented as leftist guerillas killed during combat.

Those allegedly killed by Escalona include 11 adolescents and young men, ages 16-28, from Toluviejo, a town in the northern province of Sucre.  Recruiters lured these young men to areas through promises of agricultural work and money, but they were then executed.  While remains from 10 bodies have been found and returned to family members, one 16-year-old is still missing.

Colombia’s Attorney General has stated that Escalona will face aggravated kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, and homicide charges.  The case is being handled by a special human rights and international law prosecutor who also ordered the arrest of retired Col. Luis Fernando Borja.

In what has become known as the “False Positives” scandal, the Colombian army has been accused of killing civilians and presenting them as guerrillas killed in combat to pump body counts.  The soldiers who claimed credit for the “kills” received weekend passes and other benefits.  Civilian accomplices lured the victims away from their homes and in what is described as a common practice, army recruiters would bury the men in common graves to give the impression that they were insurgents killed in combat. 

There are many other instances of extrajudicial killings aside from those that Escalona is accused of.  The number of documented victims has already topped 2,000.  However, some suspect that the number could be closer to 3,000 victims.  Other recruiters have been already been convicted and sentenced to no less than 25 years in prison. 

Victims’ families and human rights activists suspect that a directive issued in 2005 by then-Defense Minister Camilo Ospina offering incentives to soldiers for insurgent deaths may have spurred many of these killings.

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Tribune – Colombian Army Officer Arrested for Unlawful Killings – 8 October 2010

Colombia Passport – Military Arrested for Murder of a Protected Person – 7 October 2010

Colombia Reports – Army Major Arrested for 11 “False Positive” Murders – 7 October 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil–Disturbing images of dead bodies on Brazil’s streets have been found on the Google service Street View.  The grisly images have sparked concerns about the country’s pervasive homicide problem.

Google’s Street View is now available all over the world, including Antarctica.  While the service has previously captured people in the UK vomiting, and people asleep on Australian sidewalks, Brazil’s lifeless bodies were a first.  The service had only been in Brazil for less than a week before unsettling images of dead bodies were spotted by Street View users who reported them and complained.  Google announced Tuesday that those images have been removed.

Street View is a service that shows random scenes from public streets all over the world.  The fact that so many pictures from Brazil have captured images of dead bodies has created alarm about the surrounding culture.  Many of the photographed bodies were seemingly ignored by passers-by.  Many of the bodies were bloodied or covered in black plastic.

In one snapshot, a man casually uses a public telephone next to a body.  In a photograph of a busy street in Rio de Janeiro, police officers are seen holding back a staring crowd of onlookers. Military vehicles and yellow police tape surround the body.  Another photograph shows a body lying on a street, apparently the victim of a traffic accident or hit and run.

Apart from images of bodies, Street View users have seen other troubling scenes in Brazil.  In one photograph from Sao Paulo, two men roughly grab a third man in an apparent altercation while a passerby glances their way.

A spokesperson from Google has stated that Street View images are “no different to what anyone might expect to see for themselves around the country.  Sometimes that means our cars inadvertently capture odd or inappropriate moments as they drive past.”

The spokesperson stressed that Google is not responsible for depicting the world as it appears, saying, “This is why we have put in place tools so that if people see what they believe to be inappropriate, they can report them to us using the simple reporting tool and the images will be quickly removed or further blurring applied.”

According to information released by the United Nations, over 48,000 homicides occurred in Brazil in 2007.

For more information, please see:

Newser-Google Street View Comes to Brazil, Finds Bodies-7 October 2010

Telegraph-Google forced to remove ‘dead body’ images from Brazil Street View service-6 October 2010

CNET-More bodies (and other strange sights) on Brazil’s Street View-5 October 2010