By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

QUITO, Ecuador-Human Rights Watch is calling for Ecuador’s communications bill to be amended so as not to limit freedom of expression. The proposal includes “vague language” that would limit the content of media programing. The bill is currently being debated in Ecuador’s National Assembly. Members of the Ecuadorian press have publicly protested what they consider to be a “gag bill.”

The proposed law includes provisions stating that the exercise of communication rights will be subject to prior censorship in cases “established in the constitution, in international treaties in force, and in the law.” Another provision states that the media will disseminate “primarily contents of an informative, educational, and cultural nature.”

Those in opposition to these provisions point out that Article 13 of the American Convention of Human Rights explicitly prohibits prior censorship. The Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, adopted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, prohibits “prior censorship, direct or indirect interference in or pressure exerted upon any expression, opinion or information transmitted through any means” of communication.

Rights group are arguing for an amendment rather than that the entire legislation be scrapped because the law includes “positive measures.” These measures include a prohibition on monopolies and oligopolies in the media, subtitles or sign language to provide equal access for people with hearing disabilities, and the requirement that public bodies and private entities that manage public resources or services of this nature disclose information in their possession.

Human Rights Watch America’s Director, Miguel Vivanco argued that “an act of communication should promote rather than limit the free flow of information essential to strengthen an open debate in any democratic society.”

An especially contentious aspect of the law is the creation of the National Communication and Information Council, an eight-person body charged with overseeing the application of the law. The Council would be chaired by a presidential representative with a deciding vote.

A representative of Ecuador’s National Union of Journalists stated that the “government is looking to control every aspect of society.” One journalist argued that the new law would leave the media “subject to an endless number of sanctions.”

The International Press Institute called on Ecuador’s legislators to “exercise extreme caution” while debating the law, to ensure that local media concerns are heard and that “media freedom is not damaged.”

For more information, please see:

La Voz Libre-Human Rights Watch Critica el Proyecto de le Comunicación en Ecuador-16 December 2009

Human Rights Watch-Ecuador:Amend Draft Communications Law-15 December 2009

International Press Institute-Journalists in Ecuador Rally Against Draft Communications Law-25 November 2009

Knight Center for Journalism-Ecuador’s Disputed Media Bill Reaches Law Makers-23 November 2009

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BAGUA, Peru-Human rights groups are calling on the Peruvian government to investigate the deaths of ten indigenous and local people killed in a violent clash at a Peruvian road blockade in June of this year. An inquiry is currently underway into the deaths of twenty-three police officers that occurred on the same day.

The violence took place after 400 police officers confronted a group of indigenous protesters staging a blockade in the town of Bagua, north of Lima. The protesters used tree trunks and boulders to block a highway to express their opposition to the lifting of restrictions on mining, oil drilling, and farming in the Amazon rain forest.

The death toll at what has been described as a peaceful protest is considered to be one of the worst in Peru in over twenty years. Amnesty International reports that in addition to the ten civilian deaths, over 200 people were injured. Amnesty International’s main concern is currently the lack of investigation into the deaths of the protesters. There have been arrests related to the deaths of police officers and indigenous leaders have reported harassment by police since the incident.

Over sixty-five indigenous groups staged a series of protests demanding to be consulted on behalf of more than 1,000 indigenous communities living in the rain forest. As a result two decrees lifting development restrictions were revoked.

Family members of protesters killed in the clash say that the government should acknowledge the protesters’ “defense of the Amazon Territory.” Amnesty International has called for reparations and justice for all of the victims, not just police officers.

James Anaya, the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights called for a committee to investigate the incident and to monitor efforts to find individuals who have gone missing since the rallies against the decrees began. There are reports that since the since the violence, many Indigenous leaders have gone into hiding or fled Peru.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International-Victims of Peru Amazon Violence Deserve Justice Without Discrimination-10 December 2009

Huntington News-Human Rights Groups Condemn Criminal Repression of Indigenous Community in Peru-10 December 2009

National Indigenous Times-Amnesty Calls for Peru to Remember Indigenous Victims-10 December 2009

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile-A judge determined that the 1982 death of Chile’s former president Eduardo Frei Montalva was a homicide, leading to the arrest of six men. Three of the individuals have been charged with murder and three others are charged as accomplices to murder.

Judge Alejandro Madrid, who investigated the case, announced that Montalva was poisoned to death with multiple doses of thallium and mustard gas which were secretly mixed with medications and injected into his body. A human rights lawyer working for the Frei family called the murder an “action by the military intelligence of the dictator (Pinochet), with a clear and precise objective, the elimination of President Frei.”

Former aids to General Pinochet alerted the Frei family to the murder. Eugenio Barrios, a chemist who worked for the Chilean secret police is suspected of administering the poison to Frei. Barrios worked on several radical experiments including the production of anthrax, botulism, and nerve gas sarin.

Michelle Bachelet calls the arrests “good for our society.” The arrests include medical personnel and members of Pinochet’s secret police, known as the Dina. Doctors charged as accomplices are accused of conducting an illegal autopsy, removing Frei’s organs and stuffing his corpse with gauze.

Frei was president of Chile from 1964-1970.  He initially supported the 1973 military coup leading to the death of Salvador Allende. However, after severe human rights crimes came to light he emerged in opposition to the military government of Augusto Pinochet.

The murder of Frei in January of 1982 marked the beginning of the Pinochet regime systematically eliminating leaders in the democratic opposition. Former President Frei’s son is a leading candidate in Chile’s presidential election, slated for Sunday. Members of Frei’s family call the charges “a historic step.”

For more information, please see:

The Guardian-Six Arrests Over Murder of Former Chilean President-8 December 2009

AP-Ex-President Was Murdered; Six Charged-7 December 2009

Rueters-Ex-President Murder Probe Shakes Chile-7 December 2009

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOXEL,Suriname-The trial of Desi Bouterse, Suriname’s former dictator, resumed last week with new testimony. Bouterse is charged with ordering the execution of fifteen political opponents in December 1982. Eleven other individuals are also charged for these killings.

Prosecutors claim that Bouterse ordered the killing of four lawyers, four journalists, two university lecturers, two military officers, two businessmen, and a labor leader. The army claimed that it shot at the opponents because they tried to escape from the Fort Zeelandia, where they were being held after Bouterse’s security forces detained them.

Everyone who has testified at the trial so far has dismissed the army’s explanation that they were trying to escape. “Why do they have gunshot wounds on their chests and heads?” said witness Heydi de Miranda, “You would have been shot in the back.” De Miranda’s husband was killed for criticizing Bouterse’s regime.

Sali Blik, a former cameraman for a state-owned television station, testified that he saw Desi Bouterse at Fort Zeelandia sitting beside one of the victims after forcing him to make an on-camera statement. This was just hours before the man was shot.  Onno Flohr, a member of the firing squad, testified that Bouterse was present during the executions, but did not kill anyone.

The trial has been going on for over a year with numerous delays, including witnesses who fail to appear in court. Bouterse denies any direct involvement in the killings, though he has made a public apology and accepted “political responsibility” for the killings.

Bouterse seized control of Suriname in 1980, just five years after it gained independence from the Netherlands. He resigned in 1987, but briefly took power again in 1990. Bouterse is currently the chairman of Suriname’s main opposition party.

For more information, please see:

Caribbean Net News-Witness Describes Suriname’s Former Dictator as a Psychopath-3 December 2009

AP-Witness: Suriname Ex-Dictator at Execution Scene-2 December 2009

Caribbean Net News-Widow Testifies in Suriname Mass Murder Trial-2 December 2009

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru-Peru’s police chief was forced to fire his top organized crime investigator yesterday after evidence surfaced that he and several other police officials deliberately invented a story to divert attention from unlawful police killings. Police lied when they announced that they had broken up a criminal gang who roamed the Andes that killed peasant farmers and drained fat from their dead bodies to sell to European cosmetics manufacturers.

General Felix Murga went so far as to claim to have arrested four members of the “international criminal network,” responsible for thirty to sixty murders per year in the Huanuco province. Medical experts were skeptical about the validity of the story from the beginning, saying that there is no black market for human fat.

Government officials now believe that the police force was trying to divert attention from allegations that officers killed forty-six suspects in 2007 and 2008. The former deputy interior minister, Carlos Basombrio stated that “they were mainly trying to cover up the tremendous revelation of extrajudicial killings of criminals in the town of Trujillo.”

The police played a video of a suspect confessing to the “fat trafficking” scheme at the original press conference. The police even displayed two soft drink bottles full of what they claimed to be human fat sold for nearly 10,000 pounds per liter. Victims were reportedly lured into a jungle hut where they were bludgeoned to death, dismembered, and then candles were used to melt fat off of torsos.

Investigators in Huanuco complained that they were excluded from investigating the case and now believe that the four men arrested carried out one murder, linked to the cocaine trade. Investigators say that the cocaine traffickers in custody bottled the fat of the murder victim to intimidate rival drug traffickers.

The investigation into the “fat-trafficking” story began after an unnamed police official was quoted on Monday in a newspaper saying that local police were surprised about the allegations because they knew them “not to be true.”

For more information, please see:

AFP-Officer Dismissed in Peru “human-fat” Killings-2 December 2009

BBC-Peru Officer Suspended Over Human Fat Killer’s Lie-2 December 2009

USA Today-Peru’s Kill-For-Fat Gang May Be Deadly Police Hoax-1 December 2009