By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela—A deadly riot inside one of Venezuela’s overcrowded prisons has left 16 people dead and another 35 injured.  This marks the second time violence has erupted at this prison just this week alone.

According to prison official Consuelo Cerrada, the riot occurred Wednesday between rival gangs vying for power within the Tocoron prison in Aragua state, 75 miles south of Caracas.  The fighting lasted for eight hours while inmates fired automatic weapons and hurled grenades at other inmates and guards.  Local police were unable to take control of the combat until the riot began to subside of its own accord.

It is believed that the riot was sparked by the murder of a gang leader earlier this week.  Six of the wounded are still hospitalized.  Four of the injured were women relatives of inmates who were hit by stray bullets while anxiously awaiting news outside the prison.

On Monday of this week three inmates were murdered and four correctional officers were injured at the same prison in a separate display of violence.

The Tocoron prison has yet to release an official statement on the riot and inmates’ families have demanded answers; some relatives have created blockades on nearby roads to protest the lack of information.

Venezuela’s prisons are notoriously overcrowded and plagued by incessant gang violence.  About 40,000 inmates live in prisons that were constructed to hold only 15,000.

According to Venezuelan Prison Watch, an organization against prison violence, over 220 inmates died in the country’s substandard prisons in just the first quarter of 2010 alone.  Gangs in Venezuela’s prisons battle over control of the cellblocks and the trade of weapons and drugs.

Earlier this month thousands of prisoners throughout the country protested poor prison conditions and human rights violations by guards by joining a hunger strike.

The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights has asked Venezuela to increase security and protect the human rights of inmates in the country’s prisons.

For more information, please see:

AP-16 inmates killed in prison riot in Venezuela-30 September 2010

Gather-Gang Battle in Venezuela Prison: Ten Dead-30 September 2010

Americas Quarterly-Gun Battle Grips Venezuelan Prison-30 September 2010

BBC-Ten die in Venezuela prison gang battle-29 September 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru – A plan by the Peruvian government to expand agriculture by diverting water from small villages near Machu Picchu to the Arequipa region of Peru is being met with staunch resistance. 

In anticipation of the public outcry regarding this irrigation project, the Peruvian government recently passed a law allowing for the use of military force during times of civil unrest, including demonstrations.  But many fear that protesters’ rights are in jeopardy because of the new law.

The law states that, should the military commit any illegal act in the process of its deployment; these will be dealt with in military courts, which are generally considered neither impartial nor independent.

This military court stipulation is contrary to international human rights law, which calls for human rights violations to be tried in civilian courts.

Just weeks ago, demonstrators clashed with police in the town of Espinar, leaving one person dead and forty-four additional people injured.  The conflict began when Peruvians took to the streets to rally against the irrigation project, claiming that it would leave Espinar without water.

Guadalupe Marengo, Deputy Americas Director at Amnesty International, said that using the military during these protests could put the protesters at a real risk of acts of excessive force committed against them with impunity.

The city of Cuzco was recently shut down for 48-hours during a general strike to show support for the protestors in Espinar.  The strike included transportation stoppages, a student walk-out of schools in the area, and additional clashes with armed Peruvian law enforcement officials.  Although the military has not yet been deployed to quell the happenings in Cuzco, many fear that they soon will be and the results will be deadly.

Marengo also stated that “[p]ast use of the military for law enforcement purposes in Peru has resulted in grave human rights abuses, which to this day remain in impunity. It should be seriously reconsidered.”

The Peruvian government has gone ahead with the irrigation project despite two judicial rulings suspending the tender process and ordering an environmental impact assessment.

For more information, please see:

Bikyamasr- Risk of Rights Violations during Peru Water Protests – 26 September 2010

World War 4 Report – Peru: General Strike against Irrigation Project Shuts Down Cusco – 26 September 2010

Planetizen – Irrigation Project Spurs Protests in Peru – 22 September 2010

The New York Times – Clash over Peru Irrigation Project Kills One – 17 September 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America 

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – The Brazilian Government is being urged to get involved in a dispute between a group of Guarani Indians and armed gunmen in a clash over the indigenous peoples’ ancestral lands.

Local wealthy farmers and ranchers want the valuable land located in southern Brazil for farming.  They hired the gunmen to intimidate and threaten the indigenous peoples after the Indians returned to their ancestral land.

The hired gunmen have surrounded the lands for over a month, and have cut off the Indians’ access to food, water and health care.  Although the Guarani have pleaded for help, Brazilian authorities have yet to provide the Indians with assistance.  Officials from Brazil’s federal health ministry have reportedly refused to enter the lands citing “security problems.”

Exterior pressures are beginning to mount against the Brazilian government’s failure to act.  Survival,  an international organization that campaigns for the rights of indigenous tribal peoples, has written to the Brazilian authorities demanding immediate police action to lift the siege of the community. 

Survival’s Director, Stephen Corry, said, “[a]nyone unfamiliar with the Guarani’s appalling plight would be staggered that the authorities are prepared to stand by and watch a peaceful and defenseless community being held hostage in this way.”

Additionally, Brazil’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference demanded government intervention to protect the Indians.

The Catholic bishops called for the Brazilian government to facilitate a “rapid, urgent and effective” solution to the violent standstill.  According to the bishops, a solution should include a “definitive demarcation of indigenous lands and an expulsion of ranchers found to be on Guarani territory.”

According to one estimate from a Catholic Church body, as many as 80 gunmen are responsible for keeping the Guarani from coming and going.

Roughly 60,000 Guarani Indians live in Brazil, which constitutes the country’s largest indigenous group.  The Guaranis are struggling economically because authorities have delayed the demarcation of Indian lands, effectively concentrating the Guarani population in areas too small to support them.  Often times, Guarani sects live in overcrowded reserves or in makeshift camps on the side of highways.

For more information, please see:

Catholic Culture – Brazilian Bishops Condemn Violence against Guarani – 24 September 2010

Latin American Herald Tribune – Brazilian Government Urged to Protect Besieged Indians – 22 September 2010

Brazzil Mag – Gunmen in Brazil Trap Indians Cutting off Their Water and Food – 15 September 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America 

 BOGOTA, Colombia—Colombia has reported that security forces have killed a legendary FARC military commander and strategist, Jorge Briceño.  The evasive commander was so highly in demand that at one point the U.S. State Department had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Colombian forces raided a key rebel compound in the south of the country Wednesday, killing over 20 members of the leftist group.  According to authorities, 30 planes and 27 helicopters were used to subdue rebels at their stronghold in the jungle south of Bogota.  The raid was code-named “Sodom” in a reference to striking at the heart of the FARC, but the new Colombian administration dubs it the “Welcome” they promised the guerrilla group.

Fifty-seven-year-old Briceño, often called “El Mono Jojoy,” was the chief of military operations for FARC.  He had been hiding in a concrete bunker at the rebel base when he was killed.  President Juan Manuel Santos, who is visiting New York for the United Nations General Assembly debate, declared Briceño’s death as a significant victory and blamed him for much of the violence that has plagued Colombia.

“He symbolized terror,” Santos said.  “This is the most important blow ever against the FARC.”  The president told the Associated Press that Briceño’s death will be meaningful to Colombians:  “It is as if they told New Yorkers that Osama bin Laden had fallen.”

During the 1990s, Briceño allegedly orchestrated multiple attacks against military outposts.  Just some of the charges against him during that period include murder, terrorism, and drug trafficking.

Aldo Civico, an expert on FARC at Rutgers University, said, “[Briceño] was really the military mastermind of the FARC, so for the past 25 years he has been extremely important in the military gains of the FARC.”

Newly-elected President Santos is no stranger to combating FARC.  Before becoming president, he served as defense minister and led numerous strikes against the group.  Many of these strikes attracted attention after high-profile hostages were freed and Paul Reyes, the notorious leader of FARC, was killed.

It is hoped that Briceño’s death will rock the FARC to its core and push members to collaborate with Colombian authorities.  Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera said that the successful “Welcome” operation was made possible by “the collaboration of members of the FARC itself,” and that “the FARC is rotting inside.”

Earlier this week, Colombian officials attacked a different FARC base, killing a senior commander and 27 other rebels.

For more information, please see:

New York Times-Colombia Says Rebel Commander Killed in Raid-23 September 2010

Washington Post-Colombian rebel leader reportedly killed in military strike-23 September 2010

Voice of America-Colombian Security Forces Kill Rebel Military Chief in Raid-23 September 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Thousands of Argentine students and teachers recently marched to the presidential palace to protest the quality of Argentina’s public education system and to commemorate student deaths in the 1970’s.

The demonstration, called the “Night of the Pencils,” is held annually to honor students kidnapped and killed during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship.  During the dictatorship, many students in Buenos Aires province who were rallying for free public transportation, and other benefits, were murdered.

Students carried a giant model of a pencil on their shoulders like a coffin and crosses symbolizing the deaths.  

This year’s protest occurred amidst the widespread cry for educational reform.  For the three weeks prior to the Night of the Pencils rally, Argentine high school students have occupied 30 different schools to demand infrastructure improvements.  The students’ criticisms include, a lack of heating gas, poor electrical systems, leaky ceilings and broken windows, among other problems.

As a show of solidarity to the students, Argentine teachers have planned a two-day strike to demand better pay.  It is estimated that the strike will put 700,000 students out of school.

Itai Hagman, president of the Buenos Aires University Federation, stated that “[f]or a long time, years, decades, a policy of cutting funding to public education has been carried out and this policy has reached such an extreme that the conditions needed to study almost do not exist.”

During the march, several students were seen burning the effigy of Buenos Aires’ mayor, Mauricio Macri, and drawing graffiti messages on the city hall building criticizing the conservative mayor.  The students also littered city hall with eggs. 

Macri characterized the protest as merely political and warned the striking teachers that they would have their pay docked for missing days.

Early in the 20th century, Argentina had a public education system considered a model for Latin America that assured most citizens access to free schooling. That education system came under fire during Argentina’s dictatorship and was later subjected to financing cuts under market-oriented democratic governments.

“Unfortunately we have been very patient over the years, but out patience is over. We want practical solutions,” said Hagman.

For more information, please see:

The Associated Press – Students Protest Education in Argentine Capital – 17 September 2010

Latin American Herald Tribune – Argentine Teachers, Students March in Public-education Protest – 15 September 2010

deepdishwavesofchange.blogspot.com – Argentina: Classes in the Streets as Students Protest – 14 September 2010