By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Caracas, Venezuela—Thousands of Venezuela’s opposition members and supporters took to the streets of Caracas on Thursday afternoon in protest against the current government. Demonstrators were met by security forces which turned violent.

The protesters were disbanded by tear gas and water hoses, turning the highways of Caracas into a violent scene. No immediate reports of arrest or injuries. The demonstration has been sparked by the outrage against the Supreme Court’s decision to nullify congress. Protesters viewed the action by the Supreme Court as the current governments attempt to seize power from the legislative house. The decision by the Supreme Court was overturned. Currently, the legislative house is ruled by the opposition. Furthermore, opposition members are demanding the removal of the seven justices that signed the decision. Many of the protesters carried signs reading “No to Dictatorship.” Demonstrations have taken place this past week, including on Tuesday when twenty people were injured and eighteen were arrested. There is another nation wide protest scheduled.

Venezuela has been enduring severe food and medicine shortages, growing inflation and one of the highest murder rates. Citizens are angry at the lack of basic needs, such as Maria Auxiliadora Soler who has been searching for blood-pressure medicine, “Now I just have a couple of them. I count them every day, and it feels like counting the days I have left to live.”

Maduro’s government blames U.S. government elites for the economic and political crisis in Venezuela. Government officials also claim that the opposition is attempting a coup plot. Diosdado Cabello, a socialist law maker and vice president of Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) stated, “We are not going to surrender and they will never step on Miraflores again, because anyone who betrays his homeland and is imploring an invasion of foreign forces must be treated as an enemy in his homeland, as a traitor to his homeland.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera—Protesters Clash with Security Forces in Caracas—6 April 2017.

Reuters—Venezuelan Opposition, Security Forces Clash in Anti-Maduro Protests—6 April 2017.

Telesur—Venezuela Right-Wing Opposition Plans Violent Attacks: Lawmaker—6 April 2017.

Washington Post—Protestors Clash With Government Forces in Venezuela—6 April 2017.

By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, PERU—The El Niño phenomena is battering the Andean country of Peru with extreme weather. Due to the torrential downpours and flooding, ninety-four people are dead and an estimated seven-hundred-thousand people are homeless in 12 of the 25 regions of Peru.

The rain has severally damaged the northwestern coastal region of Peru. Additionally, the weather event has been considered the worst natural disaster to hit the nation in twenty years. Meteorologists believe there is little hope of relief from the extreme weather which is predicted to last for many weeks to come. The weather system hitting Peru is very unusual.

The widespread damage to infrastructures such as roads and highways has hampered relief efforts. For example, in Catacaos, Peru the flood waters have reached up to six-feet high killing four and isolating the town. Relief efforts have struggled to reach the area. Only five-hundred people have been evacuated while many continue to wait to be rescued. Furthermore, in the capital of Lima, many residents have gone six days without drinking water. General Jorge Chavez of the National Center for Emergency Operations stated, “We know this is an extreme situation, but we are pleading for calm. Please be confident that all will be taken care of.” Many citizens believe the response by the government has been too slow. The Peruvian government has sent its army to assist in the rescue efforts.

Additionally, crops have been destroyed with some regions losing up to fifteen-thousand acres of crops. It is believed that the cost to Peru’s economy in lost productivity is an estimated $3.1 billion. The Minister of Transportation, Martin Vizcarra, released an estimated price tag of at least $1 billion in order to fix the infrastructures.

Currently, international aid has arrived to Peru including $525,000 from the United States and $1.5 million in relief from China. Peru has asked the United States to donate more to relief efforts.

For more information, please see:

NBC News—Devastating Floods in Peru Displace Tens of Thousands—29 March 2017.

VOA—Peru Asks US for More aid to Confront Intense Rains, Floods—29 March 2017.

BBC—Peru Floods: Four Killed as Piura Bursts its Banks—28 March 2017.

Los Angeles Times—Peru’s Brutal Season of Floods Leaves 94 dead, 700,000 homeless—28 March 2017.

By Cintia Garcia
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTÁ, Colombia— Within the past year there has been an increase in murders of indigenous activists by right-wing paramilitaries. The most recent assassinations of prominent activists occurred in Corinto and Medellin.

Javier Oteca, a member of the Nasa tribe and well known indigenous land rights activist was shot to death by right-wing paramilitaries impersonating farm workers, according to witnesses. It is believed that the men that shot Mr. Oteca were private military officers. Although members of the National Army were in the vicinity where Mr. Oteca was shot, they were unable to detain the suspects. But members from Mr. Oteca’s tribe detained six suspects believed to be related to the incident. The tribe has decided to carry out its own investigation of the murder. The Nasa tribe has experienced an increase in violence. In 2016, Colombia’s Constitutional Court declared the tribe “at risk of extermination.”

In addition to Mr. Oteca’s murder, earlier this month, Alicia Lopez Guisao, a leader of the Asokinchas tribe was murdered in Medellin. Ms. Guisao was shopping at a grocery store when two men stormed the store and shot her. Ms. Guisao worked for the left-wing organization, the People’s Congress, whose objective is to organize indigenous peasants. Ms. Guisao distributed food and land to indigenous groups and afro-descendants through the program, the Agrarian Summit Project. The People’s Congress believe that, “her murder is an example of the fact that the right-wing organizations that operate today in the city of Medellin are the same paramilitaries who have murdered others in recent years.”

The increase in murders of indigenous activists, according to a report released by the Defense of the People, stated that “since the retreat of the FARC from the zones where they previously exercised control has allowed for the entrance of new armed actors who fight for territorial and economic dominance.” It was well known that the FARC and left-wing guerilla groups had defended the indigenous campesino groups and since their retreat these communities are vulnerable to violence. In January and February alone, 3,549 people have been displaced, mostly indigenous and black, according to the United Nations.

For more information, please see:

Telesur—Colombian Paramilitaries Kill Another Indigenous Leader—24 March 2017.

El Colombiano—Desde el Dia D, han Sido Asesinados 27 Lideres—23 March 2017.

El Espectador—Denucian Aesinato de una Líder Social en Medellín—3 March 2017.

Telesur—Another Indigenous Human Rights Activist Killed in Colombia—3 March 2017.

Brasilia, Brazil—A well known activist involved in the land rights movement was shot and killed on Monday in an Amazonian Hospital. The activist was recovering from a previous assassination attempt that took place two days prior to his death.

Waldomiro Costa Pereira, an activist in the Movement of the Landless Rural Workers (MST) was admitted to the intensive care unit in the city of Paraupebas in northeastern Brazil after assassins shot Mr. Pereira in his home. On Monday, a group of five men wearing helmets overtook the hospital and its security guards. The men shot Mr. Pereira dead. A motive for his assassination has not been released. Mr. Pereira has been a member of the MST since 1996 but at the time of his death he was not directly involved with the movement. Instead, Mr. Pereira was an advisor to the local government on agricultural initiatives. The MST blamed the government for its “incompetence in taking care of the security of the population.”

The MST is a social movement in Brazil with an estimated 1.5 million members in twenty-three of the twenty-six states. The purpose of MST is “to fight for general access to the land for poor workers though land reform in Brazil and through activism around social issues impinging on the achievement of land possession, such as unequal income distribution, racism, sexism, and media monopolies.” Over the past year, an estimated sixty-one land rights activists were murdered in Brazil. Clashes between MST and wealthy landowners have increased since one percent of the population own nearly half of the land in Brazil.

 For more information, please see:

Newsweek—Violence in Brazil has Gotten so bad, an Activist was Murdered by Gunmen in his Hospital Bed—22 March 2017.

BBC—Matan a Tiros en Brasil a Waldomiro Costa Pereira, un Prominente Activista Ambiental, Mientras se Recuperaba en el Hospital de Otro Intento de Asesinato—22 March 2017.

BBC—Brazil Activist Shot Dead by Gunmen While Recovering in Hospital—21 March 2017.

The Guardian—Land Rights Activist Shot Dead in Brazilian Amazon Hospital—21 March 2017.

By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Santiago, Chile—The largest indigenous community in Chile, the Mapuche, took to the streets to protest the brutal use of force by the police. The protest comes after the national prosecutors dropped the charges against police sergeant Cristian Rivera who shot a Mapuche teenager.

The protest was organized by the parents of Brandon Hernandez, the seventeen-year-old Mapuche that was shot by Cristian Rivera. Brandon Hernandez was shot during an anti-government demonstration and was left in critical condition. Sergeant Rivera was initially arrested and earlier this week it was determined that the incident was an accident. Protestors want “the government to stop the injustices, to stop the criminalization of our youth and to stop killing our kids…We want the government to admit their mistakes and correct them.” Furthermore, according to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Chile’s Mapuche, are more likely to be killed by police than non-Mapuche people. Both organizations have recommended the authorities to investigate the use of force against the Mapuche.

The Mapuche, who make up ten percent of the population in Chile have been involved in a long ongoing land conflict. The Mapuche have been protesting the encroachment of multinational companies overtaking their lands in the Temuco region. Temuco is an important historical and cultural center for the community. The Mapuche claim that “the capitalist invaders” do not respect their territory and autonomy.

Last week the Mapuche Arauco-Malleco Coordination (CAM), lead an arson attack against the Trans-Cavalieri transport company. The CAM burned nineteen trucks, nine flatbeds, and a warehouse on the route to Temuco. The attack led to a three-million-dollar loss. The CAM stated that, “With this larger action, we pointed out to our oppressed people that there is the will and capacity of the Mapuche to deal decisively with the expressions of the capitalist system and the oppressive colonialist state.”

For more information, please see:

Telesur—Chile’s Indigenous Mapuche Protest Deadly Police Brutality—18 March 2017.

Telesur—Chile’s Indigenous Mapuche Burn Capitalist Invader Trucks—15 March 2017.

El Mostrador—Amnistía Internacional da Cuenta del uso Excesivo de la Fuerza Policial y de Detenciones Arbitrarias a Mapuches—22 February 2017.