By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

MEDELLIN, Colombia—Eight people were killed and nine were injured in a massacre in north Colombia.  The attack happened early Friday morning when gunmen opened fire in a nightclub and then fled on motorbikes.  Among the deceased victims was one American, who was a dual U.S.-Colombian citizen.

Two heavily armed men entered a nightclub called “Barubar” in Envigado, part of Medellin’s metropolitan area, around 2 in the morning.  The men fired indiscriminately toward some tables and then escaped while survivors tended to the victims.  Two police agents who had been patrolling the area and responded to the commotion were injured in the attack.

Machine gun and other high-powered gun shells were discovered at the scene.  Secretary of Antioguia, Andres Julian Rendon, said that these types of weapons are commonly used by drug-related gangs.  None of the victims have been linked to a history of gang association, but police are searching for a man who left the scene and may have been the gunmen’s target.

Oscar Naranjo, Colombian National Police Director, said the attack may have been motivated by a turf war between two local drug kingpins known as Sebastian and Valenciano.  In April, the U.S. offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Valenciano’s capture.  The kingpin allegedly moved over $25 million in drug money from the U.S. to Mexico.

Naranjo announced a 200 million peso ($106,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the nightclub violence.  Authorities plan to increase security around Medellin and combat the local drug trade by creating a special inter-agency group.  Naranjo arrived in the area with a team of 20 criminal investigation experts, 400 extra police officers and 200 members of the elite urban control force called FUCUR.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe condemned the acts of the hitmen and said, “The criminal phenomena of narcotrafficking continues with a great capacity to inflict damage.”

Deadly drug-related violence has been on the increase recently in Medellin, which is fast becoming one of the most dangerous cities in Colombia.  This year’s first trimester has seen 503 drug-related deaths, which is up 54.8 percent since last year.

Although production has been decreasing, Colombia currently remains the world’s largest cocaine producer.

For more information, please see:

Wire Update-At least 8 killed, 5 injured, including one American, in Colombian nightclub shooting-3 July 2010

Colombia Reports-$100,000 reward for information on Antioquia massacre-2 July 2010

CNN International-American among 8 killed in Colombia bar attack, police say-2 July 2010

AFP-At least seven dead in Colombian discotheque attack-2 July 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LA PAZ, Bolivia – At least 28 people were killed, and at least 44 were injured, when a passenger bus drove over the side of a ravine in Bolivia.  The injuries include one child being killed and 16 other children being injured.  According to police, the bus involved was carrying approximately 70 people and was traveling from Cochabamba, a central city, to the southwestern city of Potosi when it drive through a guard rail and fell 11 meters to the ground.

The accident occurred at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday in the Pongo, K’asa area.  Police commander Col. Hernan Trujillo stated that the bus’ brakes had failed causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle and plunge into the ravine.

Although Roberto Gandarillas, the bus driver, claimed that he alerted the passengers about the bus’ brake failure and told the passengers to move to the back of the bus, the precautions did not prevent the injuries.  When authorities arrived at the scene of the accident, Gandarillas attempted to flee; however, he was quickly obtained and arrested.  The Bolivian police immediately tested Gandarillas for alcohol, fearing that he may have been intoxicated, but the test results have not yet been returned.

Officials also fear that the bus may have been overloaded because the bus was only equipped to hold 45 passengers.  The bus’ passengers told local authorities that Gandrillas was speeding as the time of the accident.

This accident comes only days after a separate bus accident on the same highway claimed the lives of 13 people and injured 37 others.

Leticia Costa, a passenger on the bus who was injured, remembered that she was sleeping, but woke up “when passengers began screaming at the driver to stop.”  “He accelerated even more and in one of the turns we went off the side of the road and bus hurled over the side,” Costa said.

Accidents such as this are not uncommon on the Andean region and generally involve unregulated buses traveling too quickly on poorly maintained roads.

For more information, please see:

Big Pond News – Bolivia Bus Crash Kills At Least 25 – 29 June 2010

Hindustian Times – 13 Dead in Bolivia Bus Crash – 28 June 2010

Thaindian News – 28 Dead, 44 Hurt In Bolivia Bus Accident – 28 June 2010

BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombian gunmen have claimed the life of yet another trade union member, the latest casualty in a string of murders attributed to conflicts between paramilitary and guerilla groups.

Last week, union member, Nelson Camacho González, was gunned down by guerillas on motorbikes as he waited for the bus to go to work at 5:30am.  Nelson is the 31^st trade union worker to be murdered this year in Colombia.  Despite government efforts to decrease paramilitary violence and harassment, this is just another instance indicating that those efforts are ineffective.

Indeed, since the murder, paramilitary groups have continued to send death threats to other human rights defenders and social activists – a sign that these armed groups are still a real threat against those who support the country’s laborers, especially the poor, against poor working conditions, facilities, and related workers’ benefits.  Human rights activists are therefore calling the Colombian government to take further action to curb such acts and have even appealed to the U.S. government to support Colombia’s Constitutional Court.

Paramilitary groups are no strangers to Colombia’s internal conflicts.  In fact, they play a crucial role in keeping those conflicts alive.  Throughout the country’s history these groups have, either alone or in collaboration with Colombian security forces, labeled human rights organizations, trade unions, and other social organizations as guerilla supporters.

Similarly, guerilla groups are weary of human rights activists who they fear support or merely concede to paramilitary groups.  Indeed, guerilla groups have, themselves, sent threats and have committed inhumane acts against activists considered to be siding with paramilitary groups

Thus, it is no surprise that this distrust and hatred between paramilitary and guerilla groups and their respective “supporters” has led to crimes against humanity committed against defenseless human rights organizations, trade unions, and other social organizations caught in the middle of the conflict.

Paramilitary groups view human rights organizations, trade unions, and other social organizations as barriers to achieving paramilitary and related governmental goals. Indeed, many members of such groups are victimized simply for union association.

Marco Romero of the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement, addressed the Washington Office on Latin America earlier this month to raise awareness of targeted groups and activist groups.  He aimed to increase support for a U.S. Resolution supporting Colombia’s Constitutional Court.

For more information, please see:

Trade Unions North International – Yet More Death Threats Against Human Rights Organisations In South-West Colombia – 28 June 2010

Amnesty International – Colombia: Further Information: Trade Unionist Killed, Many More At Risk: Nelson Camacho González – 23 June 2010

Trade Unions North International – Yet Another Trade Unionist Murdered in Colombia – 21 June 2010

Latin America News Dispatch – WOLA Announces Second Death Threat From Colombian Paramilitaries For Working With Displaced Peoples – 18 June 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

OTAVALO, Ecuador—New goals for social justice and diversity have been set in Ecuador.  A declaration to promote indigenous rights was signed by Latin American leaders at a summit in Otavalo.  The hope is that culturally diverse and environmentally responsible societies will be defended and encouraged.  Efforts were focused on integration and recognition of black and indigenous cultures.

The 10th Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) concluded Friday.  About 300 government delegates and representatives from ALBA discussed “plurinational states” and efforts to avoid use of history that “remains written from the European or the Anglo-Saxon point of view.”  Another concern was to ensure that “countries have environmental policies to protect ecosystems.”

The text of the Declaration of Otavalo illustrates the commitment of ALBA member states to fight against racism, xenophobia and intolerance.  It also includes plans to construct an alternative model of economic sovereignty and promotes the concept of a multinational state.  The document has items on climate change and a promotion of a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth within the framework of the United Nations.  Among those signing the final document were the presidents of Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia and the vice-president of Cuba.

The Declaration of Otavalo promises that “the State will guarantee social participation and a fair and equitable distribution of benefits and the management, administration and exploitation of non-renewable natural resources.”

Outside the summit’s venue, Ecuador’s main indigenous organization protested.  Members angrily complained that their views were not being represented.  Indigenous leaders had attempted to enter the summit but were blocked by police.  The leaders had wanted to hand a written statement to Bolivia’s President Morales, who is an indigenous Aymara.

The organization, Conaie (the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador), had been an important ally to Ecuador’s President Correa during elections.  Along with other indigenous organizations, Conaie represents about 40% of the country’s population.

The relationship between Correa and Conaie has been strained lately because of concerns over mining, oil development and water rights.  Conaie accuses the president of backing a mining law that would allow foreign companies to open mines on their ancestral territories.  They would like Correa to give indigenous communities in the Andes mountains and Amazon rainforest more control over their own affairs.

The presidents of Ecuador, Venezuela, and Bolivia ended the summit with a call for indigenous unity.

For more information, please see:

BBC-Protests challenge Ecuador indigenous summit-26 June 2010

Radio Cadena Agramonet-The ALBA Summit: New Goals of Social Justice-26 June 2010

El Universal-Chavez, Morales and Correa close 10th ALBA summit-25 June 2010

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – Late last week, Venezuelan officials urged Interpol to arrest Guillermo Zuloaga, president of Globovision.  Globovision is the only Venezuelan television station still openly critical of President Hugo Chavez.  The Venezuelan Government is accusing Zuloaga of illegally storing vehicles with the intent to sell them.

Zuloaga and his son, also named Guillermo, are reported to have left the country and claim that the charges are false.  Rather, the Zuloagas claim that they are being persecuted for political purposes.  The elder Zuloaga owns a car dealership and has stated that the vehicles belong to the business.

Recently, Frank La Rue, a United Nations independent human rights expert, urged Venezuelan authorities to withdraw the warrant against Zuloagas.  La Rue echoed the sentiments of many other human rights activists when he expressed fear that the warrants are a means for the ruling government to silence political decent.  La Rue also expressed fears that the warrant illustrates a broader deterioration of expressive freedom in the country.

La Rue’s message was clear when he stated that “no Government in the world has the right to silence critics or those who oppose the State with criminal proceedings.”

The recent warrants against Zuloagas are not the only acts of intimidation committed against Globovision employees at the hands of the Chavez government.  Starting in 2001, Globovision employees have been privy to threats and harassment because they have freely exercised their expressive rights.  In 2008, the harassment and intimidation led the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to order measures to protect its employees.

The United States has also intervened in the situation out of fear that the warrants are politically motivated.  State Department spokesman Philip Crowley stated that the U.S. is “very concerned” with the warrants and that the warrants are “the latest example of the government of Venezuela’s continuing assault on the freedom of the press.”

Venezuela is a party to Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which guarantees fundamental freedom of expression.  Although the country is bound by the terms of article, the Chavez government has done little to uphold the article’s principles.

Although Le Rue has requested a meeting with the Venezuelan government to fully assess the country’s freedom of expression standards, the request remains unanswered.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Venezuela Asks Interpol To Arrest Openly Critical TV Station’s Owner – 18 June 2010

 UN News Centre – UN Expert Urges Venezuela To Cancel Arrest Warrant Against TV Executive – 17 June 2010

Yahoo News – US Concerned By Arrest Warrant For TV Network Owner in Venezuela – 14 June 2010