By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia-Seven soldiers were indicted last week for killing Edwin Legarda, the spouse of Aida Quilcue, an indigenous leader. Aida Quilcue lead indigenous protests of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s policies. Another indigenous leader was found brutally murdered in Northern Colombia this week.

The army initially explained the shooting death as the result of Legarda failing to stop at a checkpoint in the Cuaca village of San Pedro. However, investigators found no sign of a military check point at the location where Legarda was killed. However, sixteen bullets were found in the sides and just three in the back of the pickup truck Legarda was in.

Seven members of the army were arrested in April of 2009 for the shooting and were charged last week with aggravated assault. The death occurred not long after Legarda’s wife led a large march for several days along the Pan American Highway to the southwestern city of Cali. Protesters demanded that Uribe provide indigenous communities with land, protection from illegal armed groups, and full respect for indigenous rights.

Protest organizers estimate that more than 1,200 indigenous Colombians have been killed and at least 54,000 displaced from their ancestral lands since Uribe became president in 2002.

On Sunday a Zenu indigenous leader that had been reported missing in Northern Colombia was found dead. Efrain Antonio Basillo was beheaded and set on fire by unknown individuals. He was a medicine man and received calls for help in treating an ailing man the night he disappeared.

Tribal leaders believe that both deaths are related to land disputes.

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Tribune-Colombian Troops Indicted for Killing Indian -28 January 2010

Colombia Reports-Soldiers on Trial for the Murder of Indigenous Leader-25 January 2010

EFA-Siete Militares Son Llamados a Jucio Por el Homocidio de un Líder Indígena-26 January 2010

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

MADRID, Spain-Spain has agreed to extradite an Argentine pilot accused of taking part in “death flights” in South American countries in 1976-1983. Argentina’s military regime disposed of more than 1,000 political prisoners by dumping them into the Atlantic Ocean. The court granted the extradition, with the condition that Julio Alberto Poch, the alleged pilot should not be sentenced to life in prison if he is convicted.

The Spanish judges found that the documentation submitted by Argentina was sufficient to justify Poch’s extradition for offenses that constitute crimes against humanity and are not subject to any statute of limitations. Poch was arrested in September in Valencia while working as a commercial pilot. He is a Dutch citizen.

The Spanish government detained him on an international warrant issued by the Argentine government after confirming via Interpol that Poch frequently flew the Amsterdam-Valencia-Amsterdam route for the airline Trasavia. Poch denied any involvement in the death flights.

Poch was a lieutenant in the Argentine navy during the military junta’s “dirty war” against leftists, a campaign that killed up to 30,000 people, mostly civilians. He was a part of the Naval Mechanics School in Buenos Aires, the sight of the most notorious clandestine jails and torture chambers.

Retired Argentine Vice Adm. Luis Maria Mendia admitted that he approved the creation of a plan for training navy personnel to combat the “terrorist insurgency.” This plan led to the death flights, which were operations dropping the drugged mechanics school political prisoners into the Atlantic ocean.

Argentina contacted the Dutch government in 2008, requesting Poch’s extradition, citing testimony from one of Poch’s colleagues where he told him about the death flights and had even defended the practice. It is unclear why dutch officials did not act in the Argentine request prior to Poch’s arrest in Spain.

In 2005, Argentina’s Supreme Court reversed an amnesty law protecting alleged human rights abusers from prosecution.

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Tribune-Spain to Extradite Argentine Accused in “Death Flights”-20 January 2009

BBC-Spain to Extradite “Dirty War” Pilot to Argentina-18 January 2009

AFP-Argentina “Death Flights” Pilot to Stand Trial-13 January 2009

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SUCUA, Ecuador-Radio Voice of Arutam, the primary radio station broadcasting to the Shuar indigenous community in the Amazon region, was taken off the air last week for violating Ecuador’s Broadcasting Act. The government contends that the station violated Article 58 of the Act when it allegedly incited violence during protests against the government in October 2009.

International rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch have denounced the government’s actions. the Committee to Protect Journalists referred to the government shut down as “nothing but an attempt to intimidate the media into silence.”

The community was protesting to protect their “Plan of Life,” against government proposals that would allow their territory to be used for mining without their consent. A teacher and community member died during the protest after he was shot.

The Shuar have pledged to continue their legal battle in the courts, arguing that they provide a community service by airing messages in their own language to a poor community where TV and electric power are almost unknown.

The station argues that even though Arutam was issued a commercial frequency license, they acted as a community service station allowing thousands of their people to communicate with others through the use of a simple message. For example, to notify family members that one has arrived safely at a destination after traveling by car, canoe, or by foot. The Shuar use the radio station, known as “the voice of the jungle” to pass along this information.

Thirteen other radio frequencies have been taken off the air. The government also shut down a television broadcasting company for violating a rule prohibiting false information that could lead to social disturbances.

In the first instance, the station allegedly made a false report that the government’s electoral commission had a “clandestine center” where voting results were manipulated. The second offense was an allegedly false report stating that people on the island of Puná would not be able to fish for six months because of proposed exploration for natural gas.

The Arutam plan on taking their case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights if the court decision stands. They have also pledged to broadcast clandestinely.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian-Power Versus the Press-8 January 2009

Global Voices-Ecuador:Radio Voice of Arutam Taken Off the Air-14 January 2010

The Huffington Post-Media Battles in Latin America Not About Free Speech-17 January 2009

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru-Ex-President Fujimori’s appeal to annul his conviction and 25-year prison sentence was turned down by the Peruvian Supreme Court. A law enacted in 2006 prevents a pardon or amnesty from being granted to victims of kidnapping.

Fujimori is seventy-one years old and is serving three concurrent prison sentences. He was convicted in 2007 of voluntary manslaughter, serious injury, and aggravated kidnapping for four events in 1991 and 1992. In 1991 fifteen people were shot and four were seriously injured in a Barrios Altos tenement. In 1992 nine students and a university professor from La Cantuta were tortured, murdered, and dumped in sand dunes outside Lima. Fujimori was also found guilty of kidnapping journalist Gustavo Gorriti and a businessman names Samuel Dyer.

The Supreme Court ratified the Special Criminal Court’s verdict that Fujimori knew and authorized its operations under Vladmiro Montesinos. The fines and damages awarded by the lower court were ratified in addition to the twenty-five year sentence.

Fujimori’s attorney vowed to “continue to fight for the annulment” of the sentence and to take the case to the Constitutional Court. Fujimori’s daughter and Congresswoman vowed to present a writ of habeas corpus to the court. However, the president of the Constitutional Court told the press that the Supreme Court’s decision cannot be changed by his court.

Fujimori is to serve his sentence until February 10, 2032. While a pardon is not permitted, after three quarters of the sentence have been served, Fujimori will be eligible to shorten his remaining sentence. Fujimori is currently being held in the special operations unit of the National Police in north Lima.

For more information, please see:

Peruvian Times-Peru’s Supreme Court Turns Down Fujimori’s Appeal on 25-Year Sentence-5 January 2010

AFP-Peru Confirms 25-year Sentence For Alberto Fujimori-3 January 2010

BBC-Fujimori 25-year Sentence Upheld By Peru Supreme Court-3 January 2010

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia-Three Colombian citizens and an Ethiopian were arrested and accused of running an international ring for trafficking Africans to the United States and Canada. Traffickers charged between $3,000 and $5,000 to take African citizens to the United States via Colombia.

The individuals in custody were charged with migrant trafficking, criminal conspiracy, and forgery of public documents.Johenes Elnefue Negussie, an Ethiopian living in Colombia with refugee status, is thought to be the ring leader. Negussie’s network allegedly has branches in the Colombian cities of Pasto in the South and Cartagena and San Andres in the North.

Colombia is considered a growing hub for people trafficking to the United States due to links to powerful drug traffickers. Two weeks ago, Marines rescued seventy undocumented Africans from the Caribbean, who later sought refugee status on Colombia’s northern coast. A member of the group told local media “we dream of arriving in the United States.”

Colombia deported 285 African and Asian citizens in 2009, and expelled forty-one other foreigners. The majority of migrants reaching Colombia are from Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Benin, Zimbabwe, the Ivory Coast, and Liberia. Mobile patrols have been set up at various points along its border with Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil to end the flow of migrants.

Migrants arrive penniless, often ill, and in debt. The director of the Department of Administrative Security said that the migrants are “victims” that “deserve all the attention, respect and assistance from the Colombian authorities. But behind it lies a very elaborate network that seeks to create links with local drug lords for new routes.”

The director of a local rights group told the press that “its ironic that these people seek refuge in Colombia, one of the countries with the highest rate of displacement and asylum requests in other countries.”

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Tribune-Colombia Arrests Four for Human Trafficking-10 January 2009

AFP-Colombia Police Arrest Ethiopian for Human Trafficking-9 January 2009

AFP-Colombia, Neva etapa en el periplo de inmigrantes africanos hacia EEUU-8 January 2009