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

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 QUITO, Ecuador – Delegates from a bilateral commission recently convened to establish a plan to help the tens of thousands of Colombian refugees who are currently living in Ecuador. 

As many as 15,000 additional refugees are expected to flee war-torn Colombia for Ecuador this year alone. 

The talks were chaired by senior officials from both nations and although no solution was reached, the delegates involved agreed to deepen cooperation to lobby governments for aid to the refugees.

Currently, 53,000 Colombians are officially living in Ecuador as refugees, although many experts suspect that there are 135,000 Colombians who have fled to Ecuador.  There are also 80,000 additional refugees still living on Ecuadorian soil who are in need of protection.  Colombians are fleeing their home country in droves to escape rebel violence.

Although the refugee problem has been long-recognized, solutions have been slowed by Colombia’s refusal to accept responsibility.  Alfonso Morales, the head of the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry’s department for refugees, said this week that the country has spent $40 million to attend to the refugees’ needs, while its neighbor to the north has contributed just $625,000 since 2000.  By many accounts, however, this meeting is an important first step towards a resolution.

The delegates’ primary objective for these meetings is to develop a comprehensive strategy to return displaced Colombians back to their home country and to ensure that the rights of the refugees are fully protected.

In addition to the tens of thousands of Colombians that continue to be forced to flee the country due to the ongoing violence, reports claim that the population of internally displaced Colombians has grown from 1 million to more than 4 million since 2004.  The human rights group Codhes says that 2.4 million Colombians were driven from their home country from 2002 to 2009, estimating that the total number of displaced people is now up to 4.9 million.

The delegates said that the next bilateral meeting will be held on Oct. 14 in Bogota and include the participation of representatives from the U.N. Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.

For more information, please see:

 Inside Costa Rica – Firm Steps Toward Normalization of Ecuador-Colombia Relations – 17 September 2010

Latin American Herald Tribune – Ecuador, Colombia Begin to Address Refugee Issue – 17 September 2010

Colombia Reports – Ecuador Expects 15,000 more Colombian Refugees this Year – 13 September 2010