By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LAGUNILLAS, Bolivia-The government of Bolivia has begun seizing ranches, totaling in over sixty square miles, in efforts to end a system of indigenous servitude. The changes came in the new constitution, establishing Bolivia as a pluri-national republic giving the thirty-six ethnic groups that make up over sixty percent of the population the right to self determination at the municipal level.

The land seizures are a part of the process of redistribution where 77,000 square miles of underused or disputed land will be turned over to indigenous communities nationwide by 2013. Eventually there will be autonomous territories. The government claims that all land seized thus far was obtained by fraud and was serving no social or economic purpose. The government also claims that indigenous people were living in servitude on ranches on the land.

The ranchers deny the government’s charges and are challenging the seizures in the courts. Other occupants who have had land seized by the government claim that it was an act of “vengeance.” Large land owners have been some of President Morales’ strongest opponents.

Morales was reelected on December 6, when twelve of Bolivia’s 327 municipalities voted in favor of indigenous self-government. This gives the indigenous communities control over natural resources on their land and more agency in deciding how to use funds transferred from the central state, as well as how they are dispersed.

Local government structure will be determined by each group. Some concerns are that there will be a shortage of farmland. In one area there are 16,000 people who will potentially be assigned plots of only 200 square meters, an insufficient amount to sustain agriculture. Other clans are seeking a redistribution of the 1.7 million dollars a year in funds that come from the central government, because they now only receive half of the total. Groups are also seeking an increase in local taxes and leasing charges on “fair terms” for companies exploiting minerals, limestone, water, and other natural resources.

For more information, please see:

Latin American Herald Tribune-Bolivia Announces Large Land Seizure From Private Company-7 January 2010

AP-Bolivia’s New Leader Seeks Justice for Exploited Indians-3 January 2010

Upside Down World-Bolivia:Native People Take First Step Toward Self Government-23 December 2009

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-A series of investigations and trials are underway in a renewed attempt to confront the legacy of the 1976-1983 dictatorship. Fifteen policemen and officers are on trial before a three-judge panel for their roles in the “dirty war” deaths of over 30,000 people.  DNA test are being used to determine the origin of children thought to have been stolen from “disappeared” parents. 

Military and police defendants are charged with running clandestine torture centers known as the Athletic Club, the Bank, and Olimpo. The defendants are some of the dictatorship’s most notorious figures. They include the leader of the junta that governed Argentina after the 1976 coup and Reynaldo Bignone, Argentina’s last dictator.

Individuals charged with involvement in “Operation Condor” are expected to stand trial next year. “Operation Condor” was a cooperative effort between South American dictatorships in hunting down and killing leftists. The courts have requested declassified US cables that contain information about what the United States knew about Argentine military operations. The Argentine ambassador to Washington is petitioning the CIA and other agencies to open their files on Argentina.

Meanwhile, DNA tests are being used in the pursuit of justice for the estimated 500 children that were stolen from their leftist political prisoner parents and given away to regime supporters. The process has been difficult because many of the children do not know their origins or remain loyal to their adoptive parents. As a result, the Congress supported a bill that required the extraction of DNA from suspected stolen children, even if they did not want to know the results. 

DNA testing is also being used to identify bone fragments found in graves across Argentina. Over 600 skeletons have been compared with samples supplied by relatives of disappeared leftists. There have been forty-two matches made and another 100 waiting confirmation.

Argentine prosecutors have convicted sixty defendants since 2005 for violations of human rights through the use of the ordinary penal law and the criminal courts. 627 former military officers, policemen, and officials were charged with a total of 325 cases open nationwide. The resurgence in investigations and trials comes after the Argentina Supreme Court withdrew amnesty laws, which were in effect through most of the ’80s and ’90s.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian-Argentina’s Authorities Order DNA Tests in Search for Stolen Babies of the Dirty War-30 December 2009

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

The Washington Post-Argentina Puts Officials on Trial Over the Abuses of the Dirty War-28 December 2009

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia-Human rights groups are condemning the attempted kidnapping and murder of Luis Francisco Cuellar, the governor of Caquetá. The Colombian government says that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) murdered the governor in retaliation for his promise of a “safe democracy” and crackdown on rebel groups.

The governor’s son told the press that his father was murdered because he refused to walk with the kidnappers. He had severe knee pain from four previous abductions, dating back to before he was governor and had reportedly told his son that he would not walk if he was abducted again

The FARC have not confirmed or denied responsibility for the murder. Senior FARC leaders reportedly have decreased control over their units since severe government strikes over past years. There is speculation that the recent killing will thwart the scheduled release of two FARC hostages.

Amnesty International condemned the killing of a civilian government official. “Civilians in Colombia should not be forced to be part of this conflict,” said a Colombia researcher for Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch stated that the killings showed that “the FARC is once again showing its ruthlessness and complete disregard for the laws of war and the well-being of civilians”

President Uribe has rejected a political dialogue with FARC, which has been fighting the government for forty-five years. The FARC seek to swap its highest profile prisoners for the 500 guerrillas in government jails.

For more information, please see:

Asia One News-Murdered Colombian Governor “Refused to Walk:” Son-24 December 2009

Amnesty International-Amnesty Condemns Killing of Caquetá Governor-23 December 2009

Relief Web-Caquetá Governor Abducted and Killed

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay-Consumer advocacy groups report that the Paniño aquifer, depended on by forty percent of Paraguay’s population, can no longer be relied on for water that meets quality standards. The National Food and Nutrition Institute issued a press release in late November finding that faecal coliform bacteria was found in samples of eleven aquifers. In response, consumer advocacy groups called on the government to release the names of firms being monitored. The government refused.

Consumer associations have urged the public not to buy mineral water until the government guaranteed the safety of the water. The Inspector General claimed that the contamination findings were blown out of proportion by the press and that there is no threat to water safety.

The Paniño aquifer supplies 360 registered industrial water wells, used by hundreds of water bottling plants, soft drink and dairy companies, cold-storage plants and car wash firms. Only sixty-five percent of households in Paraguay receive piped drinking water from the national grid, while others rely on wells.

Advocates argue that the quality of groundwater is declining due to domestic and industrial waste, lack of controls and monitoring of wells, increased number of companies drilling wells, and a lack of oversight and regulation. Members of the Paraguayan Association of Water Resources, comprised of experts and professors report that since 2000, there has been a significant increase in nitrate levels, indicating contamination by sewage. Thirty-four percent of water samples analyzed by this group had bacteria levels above the acceptable level.

The study highlights the lack of sanitation in the area of the Patiño aquifer, where twenty-three percent of households are connected to the sewage system, and seventy-seven percent use cesspools. Cesspools often leak into groundwater. Aquifers in Paraguay’s Chaco region and the Guaraní Aquifer are also threatened by contamination. The Guaraní aquifer is the third largest subterranean aquifer in the world.

The Environment Ministry says that the public has not been completely aware of the threats to the country’s groundwater. “Today we have more information on the aquifers, but we don’t have the resources to undertake government plans to protect them,” stated one official. He pointed out that the 2007 law on water resources has not been enforced due to lack of resources.

For more information, please see:

IPS-Paraguay: Bottled Water Scare Exposes Threat to Groundwater-24 December 2009

La Ultima Hora-Todas las Aguas Superficiales Están Contaminadas-15 December 2009

ABC Digital-Instituciones Verifican la Calidad del Agua Mineral-14 December 2009

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will announce a proposal for a truth commission on Monday, aimed at answering questions about abuses that occurred during Brazil’s twenty year military dictatorship. Victims’ relatives have pointed out that the commission will only be effective if military archives are opened.

Victims’ relatives have also expressed concern that the draft version of the proposal called the new body a Truth and Reconciliation Commission rather than a Truth and Justice Commission. The draft proposal has to be approves by the Brazilian Congress. A member of the Torture never Again group expressed her concerns at a press conference saying “how can any of the families or anyone from civil society pardon or agree to reconciliation?”

Earlier this year Brazil granted amnesty and reparations to dozens of peasants who were “disappeared” in any army crackdown on a rebel movement in the Amazon. A justice ministry commission also toured Brazil this year and asked victims and their families for forgiveness and provided some compensation.

To date there have been no convictions in Brazil for participating in dictatorship-era murders and torture and has refused to make public the military archives from the period. The families of dictatorship-era victims argue that the opening of military files are key to “the showing of the truth and those responsible.”

The military and its leftists opponents both received amnesty by law in 1979. The Supreme Court is now considering a case that argues that torture is not covered by that law. Victims groups argue that the truth commission must have the power to investigate crimes, including the hiding or destroying archives. These investigations will aid in recommending criminal cases against suspects, and to send documents to courts. Brazil’s armed forces are opposed to further investigations or revisions of the amnesty law.

During the dictatorship, as many as 20,000 people were believed to have been tortured, often through the use of electric shocks and chemicals. Over four hundred Brazilians were murdered or disappeared. Victims groups have filed cases against Brazil with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, questioning the army’s role in the search for victims’ bodies in the Amazon and arguing that the Amnesty law impedes investigations of the dictatorship period.

In response to military accusations that victims’ families are seeking revenge, representatives said “we’re not looking for retaliation. What we want is justice. Brazil is the slowest country in Latin America on these issues.”

For more information, please see:

New Tang Dynasty Television-New Brazilian Human Rights Plan to Include Truth Commission-19 December 2009

Reuters-Brazil Torture Victims Want Army to Open Records-16 December 2009

New York Times-Brazil’s Lula to Propose Torture Truth Commission-14 December 2009