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.

By Cintia Garcia
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Santiago, Chile—A Chilean court of appeals in Santiago has condemned and sentenced eleven agents of the Intelligence Services of former president and dictator General Augusto Pinochet. The cases brought before the court involved the murder and disappearances of Maria Alvarado Borgel and Martin Elgueta Pinto.

The victims disappeared on July 15th 1974 and were killed in the facility that the intelligence service called “Londres 38.” According to testimony, both Maria Alvarado Borgel and Martin Elgueta Pinto were tortured prior to being killed in the facility. Maria Alvarado Borgel was twenty-one years old and worked as a secretary. She was apprehended by agents of the Intelligence Service as she walked with a friend. On July 17th, 18th, and 25th, the agents took Ms. Borgel to the home of her mother and other family members who testified seeing her in deplorable conditions, including burns to her body. The other victim, Martin Elgueta Pinto was twenty-one years old and a student at the University of Chile studying commercial engineering. Mr. Pinto was interrogated and suffered physical abuse by the agents.

The sentences imposed on the agents by presiding Judge, Leopoldo Llanos,  ranged from fifteen to four years in prison. In addition to the sentences, the Chilean state must pay seventy-seven thousand dollars to the brothers of the victim and all the activists belonging to the Revolutionary Left Movement.

In addition to the eleven agents, six other agents of the intelligence service under the Pinochet era have been sentenced for disappearances and murders during the dictatorship. These cases included the murder of Arturo Barría Araneda and Jorge Pardo Aburto.

For more information, please see:

La Patria—Condenado en Chile Oficial que Mató a Adolescente en Protesta Contra Pinochet—5 March 2017.

La Nacion—Dictan Condena Contra 11 Exagentes de la Dina por el Secuestro Calificado de dos Jóenes—27 February 2017.

Telesur—Chilean Court Sentences 11 Pinochet-Era Intelligence Agents—27 February 2017.

El Diario—Condenan en Chile a Cinco Agentes de Pinochet por una Victima de la Operación Colombo—13 February 2017.