By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 SANTIAGO, Chile – Chilean President Sebastián Piñera recently called for an end to an ongoing hunger strike by indigenous Mapuche inmates.  The Mapuche political prisoners are protesting a Pinochet-era anti-terror law that was used to convict them.

The Mapuche people have clashed with the Chilean government and farmers for years over ancestral lands in the southern part of the country.

The anti-terror law, which has been widely criticized by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, was used to label the inmates “terrorists” based on certain actions, such as setting timber shipments on fire.  The law also allows government witnesses to conceal their identities at trial and permits defendants to be tried by military commissions.

The hunger strike began in July with five prisoners and has since grown to include 34 inmates in various jails throughout Chile.  Many of the prisoners have lost up to 40 pounds during the hunger strike and are experiencing dizziness and low blood pressure. 

Last month, the families of the Mapuche prisoners went to Santiago, the capital, to denounce irregularities in their trials and push for dialogue with the authorities. 

A spokesperson for the Mapuche families stated that the prisoners were at a critical stage in the hunger strike and continue losing muscle tissue and experiencing vital organ failure.

President Piñera said that his government will send two bills to Congress next week to reform anti-terror legislation and the military justice system in an effort to end the strike.  He added, “I want to ask all of those worried about the health of the protesters to help us end this hunger strike.”

The police and military have been accused by human rights groups of using excessive force against the Mapuches in the past.  But the indigenous peoples have come under fire for sometimes violent protests where they have burned crops and the trucks and machinery of forestry companies.

The Mapuches lost their lands to the newly formed states of Argentina and Chile in the early 19th century after having fended off the Spanish conquistadores for centuries.  The indigenous peoples ancestral territory spanned most of the south of Chile and crossed over into Argentina. 

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Chile Wants to End Hunger Strike over Terror Laws – 3 September 2010

The Argentine Independent – Chile: Health of Mapuches on Hunger Strike Worsens – 2 September 2010

IPS – Mapuche Prisoners on Hunger Strike to Demand Talks – 12 August 2010

Intercontinental Cry – Mapuche on Hunger Strike over Chile’s Militancy – 4 August 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela—A man who had been protesting President Chavez has died of a hunger strike.  His supporters accuse Chavez of human rights abuses and call the death state-sponsored murder.

Franklin Brito, who was 49 and a father of four, died of a heart attack Monday in a military hospital.  He had been there since last December when authorizes took him away from a protest.  When he died, he weighed 77 pounds.

His protests, ranging from food strikes to cutting off a finger and sewing his mouth shut on live TV, stemmed from government seizure of his property in 2003.

Brito’s yucca and watermelon farm had been taken by the government during a land reform drive.  Brito repeatedly demanded compensation and petitioned the president after being denied by other officials.

Tal Cual editor Teodoro Petkoff wrote, “But the president did not have time to bother with what must have seemed an insignificant matter, a bother which he couldn’t waste precious time on.  So he let him die.”

Many laud Brito as a hero.  Chavez has had a history of seizing property and his foes claim that the nation is becoming a socialist dictatorship.  About 2.5 million hectares (6 million acres) have been nationalized in what the government says is an effort to reverse rural inequality.   This reform has caused widespread food shortages.

The government has been unimpressed with accusations against its reform and Brito’s death.  In a statement, the government blasted opposition leaders for crying “hypocritically” over Brito.

Brito’s relatives plan to sue government officials in the International Court of Justice for “cruel, inhuman and humiliating treatment.”  Brito’s death is considered the result of a series of unconstitutional acts.  He was denied his own doctor, and police violated due process by putting him in the military hospital last year.  “I see little chance that [Brito’s rights] and his heirs can be respected in the country,” lawyer Gonzalo Himiob said.

In a statement, Brito’s family wrote: “Franklin Brito lives on in the struggle of the Venezuelan people for the right to property, access to justice, for liberty and the respect of governments for human rights, both collective and individual.”

For more information, please see:

Reuters-Venezuela says opposition sought protester’s death-2 September 2010

El Universal-Relatives of late Venezuelan striker to take his case to international courts-1 September 2010

Irish Times-Hunger striker dies in Venezuela-1 September 2010

Miami Herald-Hunger-striking Venezuelan farmer dies at 49-1 September 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

PUERTO ASIS, Colombia—A small Colombian town has been gripped by panic after three teens who were named on online hit lists were murdered.  Many local families have reacted by moving out of the area or sending their children away to safety.

Three hit lists, containing 90 names, were posted on the social networking website Facebook.  Those named were youths, threatened with death if they did not leave the town Puerto Asis.  According to a local official, some of the names on the lists were nicknames only known and used within the youths’ group of friends.

The message on Facebook read in part:  “Please, as a family, urge them to leave town in less than three days, otherwise we will be obligated to realize acts such as those of August 15.”

On August 15, Diego Jaramillo, 16, and Eibart Ruiz, 17, were shot and killed while riding a motorcycle between Puerto Asis and Puerto Caicedo; soon afterward, the first hit list was posted online containing their names.

Five days later, Norbey Alexander Vargas, 19, was murdered in Puerto Asis after his name was included in one of the ominous lists.

Although officials at first believed the lists to be a prank, they have now launched an investigation aided by Internet experts.  The Facebook page has been blocked.

Puerto Asis is a small town of 70,000 people, located in the remote jungles of southern Colombia near Ecuador.  The names on the Facebook hit lists indicated that most if not all of the youths mentioned were from Puerto Asis.

Colombia is a country at war with various militant anti-government groups and violent gangs.  The infamous FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) group and a dangerous gang called Los Rastrojos have ties in the area.

Internet hit lists are new to Colombia, but similar threats have been signed and publicly displayed by right-wing paramilitaries, naming alleged “drug addicts and prostitutes.”  In 2005, the paramilitaries were demobilized and splintered off into numerous criminal gangs.

It is believed that criminal gangs in Colombia consist of 4,000 to 9,000 members and operate in 24 of the country’s 32 states.

The Colombian ombudsman Volmar Ortiz issued an alert, indicating that the Los Rastrojos gang may be responsible for the recent murders and hit list intimidation.  Ortiz’s warning said the gang “executes violent acts, spawning community conflicts, imposing their will, intimidating and dispensing punishment against those culturally and socially stigmatized.”

For more information, please see:

LA Times-COLOMBIA: Deaths of 3 teens feed fear over Facebook threats-26 August 2010

Time-Colombia’s Facebook Hit List: Drug Gangs 2.0-26 August 2010

ABC News-Facebook Death List: 3 Colombian Teens Killed-25 August 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America 

 CARACAS, Venezuela – What has been viewed as an ongoing joke has officially become a grave reality.  It is almost unfathomable to think about, but there are places on earth more dangerous than an active war zone.  While the world is focused on the US war in Iraq because of the never-ending news cycles recounting the number of fatalities in any given given day, little attention is paid to a country that experiences even greater violence, Venezuela.

Venezuela has roughly the same population as Iraq, but experienced nearly four times the number of murders in 2009.  According to 2009 statistics, there were 4,644 civilian casualties in Iraq.  Although violence in Venezuela does not receive the amount of media coverage as Iraq receives, Venezuela’s more than 16,000 murders in 2009 dwarfs Iraqi casualties.

These alarming numbers are not a new phenomenon in a country that has experienced a surge in violence since President Hugo Chavez took office in 1999.  According to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, it is estimated that there have been 118,541 homicides in Venezuela in the past decade.  The Venezuelan government has stopped releasing homicide statistics, but has not disputed the figures presented by VVO.

Wealthier Venezuelan citizens have resorted to hiding their homes behind walls and hiring foreign security personnel to advise them on how to avoid kidnappings and killings.  Unfortunately, every Venezuelan cannot afford such precautions and protection.

While the government has all but ignored the high crime rate, a recent photograph printed in El Nacional, a Venezuelan newspaper, depicting a dozen homicide victims strewn about the city’s largest morgue, has brought the issue to the forefront of Venezuela’s social conscience.  Although the photograph was exceptionally graphic, the most startling news may be that the bodies in the photograph were accumulated after only a two-day stretch.

While the photograph was a stark reminder to those living in the midst of this violence on a daily basis, the Venezuelan government attempted to quietly sweep it under the rug.  Almost immediately, a court ordered the paper to cease publishing the gory photograph and all others like it.  The prohibition has done little to quiet a public outcry that is concerned with why the government sits back in quiet acquiescence and lets the violence continue.

Teodoro Petkoff, the editor of another Venezuelan newspaper, sarcastically stated, “Forget the hundreds of children who die from stray bullets, or the kids who go through the horror of seeing their parents or older siblings killed before their eyes,” in response to the court’s order.

Venezuela’s capital city of Caracas has a murder rate of 200 victims for every 100,000 inhabitants, making it one of the deadliest cities in the Americas.  Other heavily populated South American capital cities, including Bogotá, Colombia and São Paulo, Brazil, have significantly lower murder rates at 22.7 victims per 100,000 inhabitants and 14 victims per 100,000 inhabitants respectively.

Scholars are confounded by the dramatic increase in violence over the last decade.  Some scholars attribute the violence to Venezuela’s shrinking economy.  As the income gap between the rich and the poor broadens, feelings of resentment increase.  In addition to the disenfranchised feelings, Venezuela is littered with illegal firearms.

Along with the income gap widening, Venezuela has the highest inflation rate in the hemisphere.  The inflation rate, coupled with low law enforcement salaries, has caused some law enforcement officials to turn to supplementing their incomes with criminal activity.

Other experts attribute the rise in violence to President Chavez himself.  Throughout the Chavez regime, the judicial system has become increasingly politicized and aligns itself with President Chavez’ political ideals.

To add insult to injury, more than 90 percent of Venezuelan murders go unsolved.  While some of the country’s most brutal killings remain open, the courts seem to tirelessly pursue individuals who are critical of President Chavez.

Bernardo Álvarez Herrera, the Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States, wrote an open letter to the New York Times claiming that the Venezuelan government is undertaking initiatives, including creating a national security force and funding a training program for law enforcement officials, to end some of the violence.  Herrera claims that stories highlighting the high murder rates understate the Venezuelan government’s efforts to solve the violence problem.  Human rights advocates are not impressed and say that the measures are too timid.

For more information, please see:

Island Crisis – Venezuelan Ambassador to U.S. Writes Open Letter to New York Times – 24 August 2010

New American – Murder Out of Control in Venezuela – 24 August 2010

New York Times – Venezuela, More Deadly than Iraq, Wonders Why – 22 August 2010