By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Seventeen former Naval Officers are currently on trial in Argentina for the deaths of political opponents detained at the Naval Mechanics School. Estimates are that over 5,000 people were brought to the Naval Mechanics School, where they were tortured and most died. Only one hundred people are thought to have survived detention.

Notorious Mechanics School Official Jorge “El Tigre” Acosta took the stand next week on charges that he was the leader of  “Task Force 3.2.2,”  a group that kidnapped, tortured, and murdered people detained at the complex. Acosta admitted that he is liable for all military orders and that the deaths were unavoidable in what he considered to be a “civil war.”

Alfredo Astiz, also known as the “blond angel of death” is also on trial. He is charged with infiltrating circles of families of the disappeared that led to the abduction of the three founders of the group Mothers of the Plaza del Mayo. He has been sentenced in absentia for the abduction and murder of two nuns who were thought to be counseling the families of disappeared individuals.

When Astiz took the stand, he spoke for over an hour and harshly criticized the current Argentine government. He denied all the charges against him and alleged that his conviction was “already on paper.” Astiz insisted that all charged officials should be tried in a military court.

Roughly 30,000 people are thought to have disappeared during Argentina’s military government. Since 2005, prosecutors have convicted sixty defendants. There are three hundred and twenty-seven cases open nation wide. The courts have requested declassified U.S. Cables that contain information about what the United States knew about Argentine military action against leftists. Argentina’s ambassador has reportedly petitioned the C.I.A. and other U.S. agencies to release information.

For more information, please see:

BBC Mundo-Argentina: Militar Admite Detenciones Iligales-19 March 2010

AFP-Face of Argentine Military Repression Defiant in Court-18 March 2010

Publimetro-Represor Astiz Se Delacra Democrático y Republicano-18 March 2010

PressTV-Argentine “Dirty War” Defendants on Trial-28 December 2009

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia-Colombia’s Supreme Court asked the prosecutor general to place two witnesses in the trial of former Presidential Intelligence Service  or DAS (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad) director Jorge Noguero under state protection, after reports that the witnesses are being followed and threatened. Noguero is on trial for alleged involvement in alleged acts of wire tapping Colombian citizens.

This is just the latest in numerous complaints regarding the DAS. In late 2005, Noguero was accused of working with paramilitares to facilitate narcotrafficking and in the development of a list of human-rights workers and labor leaders to be murdered. The recent allegation of wire tapping forced the resignation of DAS director María de Pilar Hurtado.

The DAS was allegedly conducting surveillance on opposition Senator Gustavo Petro. However, allegations are that the DAS conducts surveillance of many prominent citizens. “Targets” include opposition politicians, social movement leaders, journalists, and even Supreme Court officials trying to investigate ties between paramilitary narcotraffickers and President Uribe’s political allies.

One source reported that “any person or entity who represents an eventual danger for the government has to be monitored by the DAS. As a result, more than a year ago, the activities of the Supreme Court, and some of its members, came to be considered and treated as a legitimate target.” This was corroborated to a local news agency by four other DAS officials.  A local media outlet reports that almost all DAS surveillance materials on high profile Colombians were destroyed by investigators after they were collected at the Office of Counter Intelligence.

The witness currently under court ordered protection include former DAS employee Matha Leal and former paramilitary Wilson Mayorga.

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports-Court Seeks Protection For DAS Trial Witnesses-15 March 2010

Center for International Policy-The New DAS Scandal-27 February 2010

MediaLeft-Colombia’s DAS: Vicious Security Octopus Acts With Impunity-9 February 2010

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia-A U.N. independent expert on minority issues has urged the Colombian government to address the displacement, dispossession, poverty, and violence against Afro-Colombian, Black, Raizal, and Palenquero individuals and communities. The expert cited “woefully inadequate” implementation of equal rights legislation.

Collective titles were granted to almost ninety percent of Afro-Colombian ancestral lands, yet many communities are “displaced, dispossessed and unable to live on or work their lands . . . the laws say all the things but still, nothing has happened.”

Investigations by the U.N. Human Rights Council revealed that many Afro-Colombians are displaced by “mega projects,” or large-scale multinational business developments with government promotion. The communities are converned about the encroachment on their lands and environmental degradation. The U.N. expert called these rights “inconvenient rights.”

Other important issues discussed by the U.N. expert include, discrimination against Afro-Colombians, women, the displaced, and the poor leading to “extreme vulnerability.”

The Colombian government has a joint plan with the UNHCR and local aid groups to aid internally displaced people. Afro-Colombians living on the border with Ecuador and in coastal settlements are continuously being displaced. The department of Narino has the highest level of displacement, as indigenous people have been forced out at a higher rate than the Afro-Colombians.

Government estimates indicate that there are more than 140,000 internally displaced people in Narino, with 7,500 forced out last year. Over two hundred people per month register at camps for displaced individuals.

For more information, please see:

Reuters-UNHCR Helps Ease Life for Displaced Colombians in Swampy Shanty Settlement-8 March 2010

Mynews-U.N. Human Rights Expert Soptlights Enduring Plight of Afro-Colombians-16 February 2010

United Nations Human Rights Council-U.N. Expert Calls on Colombian Authorities to Focus on Afro-Colombian’s Plight-15 February 2010

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

GEORGETOWN, Guyana-Guyana’s Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination is challenging the country’s ban on cross-dressing in the Supreme Court, stating that the law is  “irrational, discriminatory, and undemocratic” and therefore unconstitutional. The six individuals behind the suit were born male but now identify as women. They were arrested and fined for crossdressing.

In a statement, one individual called the experience “one of the must humiliating experiences of my life. I felt like I was less than human.”  Those bringing the suit are also challenging the sexual orientation laws that make homosexual sex a crime. An international team of lawyers is working on the case.

International rights groups have increased their criticism of the laws as the government began a recent crackdown. Last year Guyanese police arrested and convicted several individuals under the law and fined them up to 7,500 Guyanese dollars each. The judge told the individuals to go to church and give their lives to Christ. Efforts to overturn the laws are strongly opposed by Christian, Hindu, and Muslim clergy.

There are laws banning homosexual activity and cross-dressing in many of the former British colonies in the Caribbean. The movement to overturn in the laws is gaining steam accross the region, with various allied groups working together. The first transgender human rights and health conference took place last September. One participant remarked that the case “goes to the heart of freedom of expression, our freedom to express our gender identity.”

A landmark case in Trinidad and Tobago created wider awareness about transgender issues in the Caribbean. In that case a police officer arrested and tried to strip search a transgender woman. Since that time dialogue has led to intergovernmental planning on strategies for sexual orientation and gender identity legal reforms.  However, in Guyana the calls for reform have not resulted in any changes and that is why rights groups are now using the courts.

For more information, please see:

PrideSource–Transgenders File Suit Against Guyana Crossdressing Ban-6 March 2010

Trinidad News-T&T Activists Say of Guyana Crossdressing Lawsuit: Just the First of Step to Bring Changes-28 February 2010

Rueters-Transgender Group Seeks End to Dress Code Laws-24 February 2010

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CONCEPCION, Chile-The search for survivors of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile on February twenty-seventh continues, as the death toll climbs to over seven hundred people. Chile’s main highway was severed and over 1.5 million homes were damaged or destroyed. The epicenter of the quake was the coastal city of Concepcion, which is two hundred miles from Santiago. Coastal cities were also hit by a giant wave causing even greater devastation after the earthquake.

Chile’s interior minister called the disaster “a natural event the like of which none of us have experienced in our lifetime.” Field hospitals are being set up as the Chilean government awaits emergency supplies being sent by the United Nations. The Defense Minister Francisco Vidal told members of the press that the Army is deploying 10,000 troops to secure the most devastated areas. The hope is that the soldiers will be able to decrease the incidence of looting. So far troops have fired tear gas on looters in Concepcion. A curfew has been established to aid in these efforts.

While the earthquake was felt even in Argentina, more than fifty aftershocks measuring 6.0 have increased the devastation in Chile. The government has called on private companies to aid in the emergency efforts and reconstruction. Highways and airports are currently closed and there has been damage to some of Chile’s copper mines, prompting a spike in copper prices. Economic damage is estimated to be as much as $30 billion, or roughly fifteen percent of Chile’s gross domestic product.

The damage to infrastructure has slowed relief efforts. Food is reportedly running out because it is impossible for supplies to reach the city. A coastal town mayor stated that “people are running out of food at home and that encourages looting. If we don’t solve that problem . . . social tension will be very high.”

President Bachelet stated that about 2 million people have been affected by the earthquake, which is the fifth strongest world wide since 1900. President elect Pinera, to be sworn into office on March 11th, vowed to reallocate funds to reconstruction efforts.

For information about  groups you can support to help earthquake victims in Chile click here.

For more information, please see:

BBC-Chile Troops Tackle Quake Looters-1 March 2010

Business Week-Chile Deploys Soldiers to Quell Looting After Quake-1 March 2010

CTV News-Chileans Wait for Aid in Aftermath of Massive Quake-1 March 2010

The Economist-Chile’s Earthquake in Need of Repair-1 March 2010