By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA—The Colombian government announced it will resume peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), the second largest rebel group in Colombia. The largest rebel group being FARC. The talks will commence in Quito, Ecuador on October twenty-seventh.

The ELN announced they were ready to negotiate with the government in March, but the process was never formalized, until now. ELN in a brief statement from Caracas, Venezuela announced it would release two captives the group has been holding for months. On Monday, ELN released a rice farmer, Nelson Alarcon, to the International Red Cross. He was held captive for months. Nelson Alarcon was the third person released in the past two weeks near the Colombian border. One of the remaining captives is politician Odin Sanchez, for whom ELN has been demanding a 1 million ransom. Odin Sanchez stepped in as a captive for his brother who was being held for ransom. ELN has stated it will release their captives before the talks begin and no longer committee kidnaps. ELN has an estimated 1,500-2,500 fighters that first formed in 1964 during the Cuban revolution. The organization is composed of urban students and intellectuals. They have financed their efforts through extortion and kidnapping.

The peace talks will be led by Colombian government delegate Mauricio Rodriguez and ELN commander Pablo Beltran. The countries that will be guarantors of the process include Venezuela, Cuba, Norway, Chile, Brazil, and Ecuador. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated, “This is a source of encouragement to the Colombian people and all those involved in supporting a peaceful and comprehensive end to conflict.”

President Juan Manuel Santos all announced in a televised address that, “Now that we’re advancing with the ELN our peace will be a fuller one.”

Colombia Reports—ELN Peace Talks to Begin on October 27, Guerrillas vow to Release Hostages First—10 October 2016.

The New York Times—Colombia Reviews Stalled Peace Talks With ELN Rebels—10 October 2016.

BBC—Colombia and ELN Rebels Announce Historic Peace Talks—11 October 2016.

UN New Centre—Colombia: Ban Welcomes Announcement of Talks between Government and National Liberation Army—12 October 2016.

By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Caracas, Venezuela—Once a model health system in Latin America, Venezuela is experiencing a deteriorating medical system where basic care is impossible. The country is running short on 85 percent of medicines according to the national drugstore trade group.

The local market has stopped producing basic needs. The healthy are falling ill and dying. According to government statistics, one in three people admitted to public hospitals died in 2015. Families are scrambling through out the country to find medicine to treat the ill. Hundreds are waiting outside pharmacies in hopes of finding medicine such as antibiotics or ibuprofen. The government has refused to allow humanitarian groups to enter the country or to assist the country with medical supplies. Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro claims that the medical crisis is a political scheme created by opposing party members against the socialist revolution.

According to Dr. Huniades Urbina-Medina who works at Jose Manuel de Los Rios Children Hospital stated that his hospital used to be the best in all of Venezuela but today it does not have enough drugs to treat ill patients. He stated that “five years ago we had an average of 200 patients waiting to be operated on. At the last count, there were more than 5,500 names on the waiting list. We have nine operating rooms, but, today, only four are fully functional.”

Children are the victims of the medical crisis. For example, Ashley Pacheco, a three-year old toddler, scraped her knee, a few days later it turned into a life-threatening staph infection that was difficult to cure because of the lack of medicine, diagnostic machines, and a functioning operating room with a waitlist of 150 children.

In addition, 30 percent of the children in Venezuela are suffering from malnutrition. And there is a high chance of babies dying due to the mother’s inability to provide children basic nutrients like powdered milk. With a failing economy the situation worsens.

For more information, please see:

BBC—Venezuela Crisis: Caracas Hospital Shows Sorry State of Health System—9 October 2016.

Fox News Latino—Venezuela’s Health Care is Such a Failure, Scraped Knee Turns Into Medical Crisis—04 October 2016.

Washington Post—A Child’s Scraped Knee a Life or Death Matter in Venezuela—4 October 2016.

 

By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Bogota, Colombia—The citizens of Colombia voted to reject the historic peace deal with FARC. The referendum resulted in a 50.24% vote against the peace deal. Ratification was the final step in making the peace deal, signed last week by President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC leaders, official after four years of negotiations in Cuba.

The margin in votes was close with 49.8% in favor of the agreement, which resulted in a difference less than 63,000 votes. A total of 13 million ballots were counted. The question voters were asked to answer was,” Do you support the final agreement to end the conflict and construct a stable and enduring peace?” The result has left many stunned with uncertainty. The referendum was predicted to result in the approval of the peace deal which would have allowed the implementation to go forward.

President Juan Manuel Santos addressed the nation following the result and stated, “I won’t give up, I’ll continue the search for peace until the last moment of my mandate because that’s the way to leave a better country to our children.” He also expressed that the current ceasefire put in place will remain and has sent negotiators back to Cuba to discuss the next steps with FARC.

FARC leader, Rodrigo Londoño, stated, “With today’s result, we know that our challenge as a political party is even greater and requires more effort to build a stable and lasting peace.” He also emphasized that FARC will not continue fighting, “The FARC reiterated its disposition to use only words as a weapon to build toward the future.”

The peace deal is an effort to end the 52 years of civil war between the government of Colombia and FARC.

For more information, please see:

Aljazeera—Colombia referendum: Peace Deal With FARC Rejected—2 October 2016.

BBC—Colombia Referendum: Voters Reject FARC Peace Deal—2 October 2016.

NBC News—Colombia Narrowly Rejects Historic Peace Deal With Rebels—2 October 2016.

New York Times—Colombia Peace Deal Headed to Defeat, Causing Shock and Uncertainty—2 October 2016.

By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, BRAZIL—On September 27, a court in Brazil acquitted 74 police officers in the massacre of 111 prisoners during the prison riot of 1992 in Carandiru Jail located in Sao Paulo. Two members of the court of appeals ruled there was insufficient evidence against the officers but affirmed excess force had been committed. One member of the court declared the officers not guilty.

The trials took place in 2013 and 2014, more than twenty years after the riot took place. The officers were convicted of executing the prisoners and received sentences ranging from 48 to 624 years in prison. None of the officers convicted served their sentence. One of the commanders, Colonel Ubiratan Guimaraes, was sentenced to 624 years in prison in 2001 but was acquitted on appeal in 2006. The defense on appeal argued that the police officers fought back during the violent uprising as self-defense. The prosecutors presented evidence showing the police officers shot prisoners and later destroyed evidence making it difficult to determine who was responsible for the killings.

The massacre took place on October 2, 1992 when a riot broke out in the over crowded Carandiru Jail. The police sought to negotiate with the prisoners but a few hours later, in riot gear, stormed into Wing Nine of the prison and began to shoot the prisoners. According to Human Rights Watch, some of the inmates killed were found naked, on their knees, and with their hands up. Many present during the riot claimed that they were forced to remove bodies and alter the crime scene. Amnesty International Director of Brazil, Atila Roque, stated that, “the fact that 111 prisoners can be killed without anybody being held responsible after 24 years is not only shocking, but sends a terrifying message about the state of human rights in Brazil.

Prosecutors will appeal decision.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International—Brazil Declares Trial on Carandiru Massacres Null in Shocking Blow for Justice—28 September 2016.

BBC—Appeal Begins in Brazil Against Acquittal—29 September 2016.

Human Rights Watch—A Major Setback for Justice in Brazil—28 September 2016.

International Business Times—Relatives of Prisoner who Died in 1992 Brazilian Jail Riot Start Appealing After Court Acquits 74 Police Officers –29 September 2016.

By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

PARAMARIBO, SURINAME—The small country of Suriname, located in the Northeastern coast of South America, is suffering an economic crisis similar to that in Venezuela. The economy is in free fall due to the collapse of global commodity prices. Surnime’s local currency slid against the U.S. Dollar by half.

Suriname is facing the third highest rate of inflation in the world, following Venezuela and South Sudan. According to the Bureau of Statistics in Suriname, “inflation is running at an annualized 64%, up from an average 4% in 2013-2015.” This has led to a national crisis in which businesses are closing, food prices have increased, and hospitals are unable to run because they do not have basic supplies such as bandages. The country relies heavily on its exports of gold and oil, for which the global prices have fallen. In addition to falling prices, the Alcoa Aluminum Refinery, a staple in the economy, closed its doors last year. The president of the country, Desi Bouterse spent heavily before the 2015 elections and exhausted the currency reserves. President Bouterse has refused to listen to the suggestions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the IMF authorized a 478-million-dollar loan to the country in May. The president believes, “the IMF requirements are very harsh and that his government may move to withdraw from the loan agreements and seek support from another source.”

The citizens of Suriname are being hit the hardest. Hospitals can no longer sustain themselves and provide medical care. Manodj Hindori, chairman of the National Hospital Council, stated that “all the country’s hospitals are on the verge of bankruptcy because of higher prices for supplies combined with reduced government subsidies.” According to the New York Times, doctors are pleading for help from Surinamese living abroad to donate supplies like sterile tubes.

The Suriname government insists that the economic crisis will pass when gold and oil prices improve. And the president is hopeful that production by the US based Newmont Mining Corporation set to operate later this year will boost the economy.

For more information, please see:

ABC News—Suriname Slides Into Economic Abyss, in Shadow of Venezuela—21 September 2016.

Latino News—Venezuela’s Crisis Impacting Nearby Suriname, Where Economy is Collapsing—21 September 2016.

The New York Times—Suriname Slides Into Economic Abyss, in Shadow of Venezuela—21 September 2016.

Yahoo News—Suriname Slides Into Economic Abyss, in Shadow of Venezuela—21 September 2016.