By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela – Students in San Cristobal engaged in protests and clashed with police on Wednesday. The movement followed Tuesday’s Venezuelan Supreme Court ruling that the opposition-controlled National Assembly could not review Court appointments.

The ruling specified that the National Assembly’s power of review was limited to the executive and does not extend to the judiciary. The Court said that any attempt by the Assembly to remove Supreme Court justices or review the appointments would be “overstepping [their] authority.”

13 Supreme Court nominations and 21 alternates were pushed through by outgoing lawmakers following the historical December 7^th elections, where the socialist party lost for the first time in 17 years. The appointments were meant to fill spots created by judges that retired early. The current opposition-controlled National Assembly have cited the openings as evidence that judges were forced to retire.

The Supreme Court is known for ruling in support of Maduro and his government’s policies, frustrating the National Assembly’s attempts to curb Maduro’s power. The Court has not ruled against Venezuela’s executive branch since Hugo Chavez won the presidency in 1999. Last month, the Court overturned the National Assembly’s decision to veto Maduro’s declaration of emergency powers in response to the worsening economic environment.

In response to the ruling, students from Catholic University took to the streets in San Cristobal, allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails and petrol bombs. Demonstrators wearing masks painted in the colors of the Venezuelan flag set up roadblocks in the city. San Cristobal was the site of the start of a series of anti-government protests in 2014 which left 43 people on both sides dead.

The National Asssembly has devised a three-part plan to oust Maduro and his supporters from power in the executive branch. Simultaneously, the Assembly will pursue a presidential recall referendum, a constitutional amendment to shorten presidential terms, and a campaign for Maduro’s resignation. Observers expect the opposition to formally announce the plan soon.

 

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Venezuela’s Supreme Court bars congress from investigating judicial appointments – 2 March 2016

Agence France-Presse – Venezuelan opposition delays announcing plan to oust Maduro – 3 March 2016

Agence France-Presse – Venezuelan students clash with police over court ruling – 3 March 2016

Associated Press – Venezuela Opposition Picks Strategy to Oust President – 3 March 2016

BBC – Venezuela students protest against Supreme Court ruling – 3 March 2016 

Reuters – Venezuelan opposition hones in on strategy to end Maduro’s rule – 3 March 2016

By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil — Human rights groups have published a “dirty list” of 340 Brazilian companies which have been fined by Brazil’s Ministry of Labor and Employment for engaging in employment practices which amount to modern day slavery. The list draws from firms fined between May 2013 and May 2015. Brazil defines slave labor as work “carried out in life-threatening or degrading conditions.” The designation also includes bonded labor, in which a person works without pay to settle a debt with an employer.

50,000 people have been released from slave-like working conditions since the Brazilian government began prosecuting slavery in 1995. According to the International Labor Organization, there about 200,000 people in slave labor in the country. Slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888.

The list was compiled using Brazil’s Access to Information Act by Reporter Brasil and the Brazilian Institute to Eradicate Slave Labor (InPACTO) in an effort to “enforce society’s right to transparency regarding corporate labor practices.” The list has been published and updated since 2003.

A company’s inclusion on the list has consequences – blacklisted employers face restrictions on the sale of their product and are blocked from government loans. The National Slave Eradication pact of 2005, which has been signed by over 400 banks and companies, institutes a boycott of those on the list.

Pockets of the Brazilian Amazon are home to slave-labor conditions similar to those of the nineteenth century. According to Leonardo Sakamoto, head of Reporter Brasil, “[historically] the worst slave conditions in Brazil have been found in cattle ranches in the Amazon where state power is difficult ot reach and where exploitation is more violent.”

The Inter-American Human Rights Court is currently hearing a case involving 340 men who were trafficked into slavery during the 1990s on a cattle ranch in northern Brazil. The Centre for Justice and International Law and the Pastoral Land Commission (an arm of the Brazilian Catholic Church) brought the case to the Court. Brazil has been accused of having knowledge of the use of slave labor, reported by inspections dating from 1997 to 2000.

Activists hope that the Court’s ruling, the first of its kind, will outline the responsibilities of states to prevent slavery and  compensate freed slaves.

 

For more information, please see:

TeleSur – 340 Brazilian Companies Fined for Modern Slave Labor Conditions – 6 February 2016 

Thomas Reuters Foundation – More than 300 Brazilian Companies busted for modern-day slavery – campaigners – 15 February 2016

Latin Post – 340 Brazilian Companies Fined for Engaging in Forced Labor; Anti-Slavery Group Releases ‘Dirty List’ – 16 February 2016

HNGN – Modern Day Slavery in Brazil: 340 Brazilian Companies Blacklisted for Forced Labor Conditions – 17 February 2016

Latin Correspondent – Genocide, slavery and intimidation in the Brazilian Amazon – 19 February 2016

Reuters – Brazil slave labor victims seek justice at Americas’ top rights court – 24 February 2016

 

By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia — The Colombian government has launched an investigation into disappearances in Colombian prisons between 1999 and 2001. The investigation is focusing on La Modelo prison in Bogota. The dismembered remains of at least 100 persons were found in the sewer system of the prison.

La Modela is one of Colombia’s biggest prisons, and significantly overcrowded. During the period in question, the prison was divided and controlled by left-wing and right-wing paramilitary groups. Allegedly, faction leaders bribed prison officials to look the other way while they maintained control over their part of the prison. The paramilitaries allegedly patrolled their so-called “territory” armed with grenades and automatic weapons.

Rumors of disappearances in the prison have spread since the dismembered remains of an inmate was found stuffed in a drain in 2000. He had disappeared eight days earlier. The next day, 17 inmates disappeared during a fight between different factions. Their remains were never found.

Investigators believe that there may be more remains hidden in the sewer systems of other prisons throughout Colombia.

The investigation was prompted by the prosecution of paramilitary leaders Mario Jaimes Mejía, called “El Panadero” (“the Baker”) and Alejandro Cárdenas Orozco. The two face charges of kidnapping, torture, and rape in the attack of Jineth Bedoya. Bedoya, a journalist, was one of the first to bring attention to the disappearances at the prison, after she noticed the numbers of inmates and visitors to La Modelo that went missing.

In 2000, Bedoya was abducted while visiting La Modelo (for the purpose of interviewing El Panadero). She was taken to the countryside where she was tortured and raped. The perpetrators left her tied up in a rubbish pile ten hours later.

Bedoya says she is “grateful for the actions being taken today, but it should’ve happened years ago. El Panadero’s testimony taken more than 15 years ago, his version of the story, which is completely false, was endorsed by a prosecutor (with the Colombian attorney general’s office) and that allowed for the process to stall and the case to remain in impunity.” Bedoya sued the Colombian government in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for “unwillingness to do justice in her case.”

Finding the truth of the disappearances at La Modelo, according to Bedoya, is “a debt that ht estate owes not only to Jineth Bedoya but the hundreds of victims of La Modelo Prison and the paramilitary forces.”

The current prosecutor, Caterina Heyck announced in a press conference on February 17^th that El Panadero had confessed to ordering the attack on Bedoya, and that Cárdenas had admitted to being one of her abductors. She has also requested that the two men not qualify for lighter sentences under the Justice and Peace Law. The law allows former paramilitary members to receive lighter sentences for laying down arms and confessing to their crimes.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Scores of dismembered bodies found in Colombian jails – 17 February 2016 

BBC – Colombia probes disappearances from Bogota prison – 18 February 2016

CNN – Remains of at least 100 may have been tossed into sewers under prison – 18 February 2016

Latin Post – Colombian Jails Have Secrets That Can Give Your Nightmares – 18 February 2016

Mirror – Gruesome mystery as body parts of 100 prisoners and visitors found in sewer – 18 February 2016

Time – 100 Dismembered Bodies Found Beneath Colombian Prison – 19 February 2016 

Vice News – Colombia is Investigating Whether 100 Bodies Were Stuffed in a Prison Sewer – 19 February 2016

 

By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared a state of economic emergency on January 14^th. The declaration would give him oversight of the national budget, public and private production and the distribution of essential goods. The Opposition controlled National Assembly attempted to block the move on January 22^nd, rejecting the declaration and arguing in favor of structural reform.

The Supreme Court of Justice, the highest court in Venezuela voted in affirmation of Maduro’s declaration, as many had expected it would. The court is known to “blindly” support the government.

The court was able to overrule the National Assembly because the Assembly did not call a special session to review the decree within 48 or make a declaration within eight days. Waiting, according to the court, “violated the legal process, juridic security and due process consecrated in article 49 of the Constitution.”   The court’s ruling called the measures outlined by the decree “proportional, pertinent, useful and necessary.”

The move has prompted reiteration of calls by members of the National Assembly for Maduro’s ouster. National Assembly president Henry Ramos Allup described the Maduro-led government as “terminal.” Allup has called for “peaceful and constitutional” change.

Dropping oil prices has contributed to Venezuela’s recession, increasing inflation (the highest triple digit inflation in the world, according to Bloomberg) and the shortage of basic goods. Reportedly over 70 percent of grocery stores lack basic staples, like cooking oil and toilet paper. Most store shelves are empty.

Maduro’s emergency decree will allow him to assign more resources to public services, create a streamlined process for imports and “oblige individuals” to contribute to the transportation, storage and distribution needs related to increasing production.

 

For more information, please see:

Bloomberg Business – Venezuela Supreme Court Upholds Maduro’s Emergency Decree – 11 February 2016 

Agence France-Presse – Venezuela opposition calls talks on ousting president – 13 February 2016 

Buenos Aires Herald – Top court Oks Maduro emergency decree – 13 February 2016

Global Research – Coup Threatened in Venezuela Amidst Deepening Economic Crisis – 15 Feb. 2016

PanAm Post – Open Letter to Venezuelan President Maduro: Please Resign – 15 February 2016 

Venezuela Analysis – Economic Emergency in Effect in Venezuela, as Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Executive – 15 February 2016

By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian Ombudsman Jorge Armando Otálora is facing allegations of sexual harassment from his former private secretary. Astrid Helena Cristancho, an attorney, resigned from her position last November “in protest.” She made her story and allegations of abuse public in Daniel Coronell’s column published in Semana. Cristancho provided Coronell with explicit photos sent to her by Otálora, documents and screenshots of conversations detailing the harassment.

Cristancho filed an official complaint with the Attorney General in January. She said she did not immediately report the abuse out of fear, calling Otálora a “powerful person who has lots of money.” She told journalists while filing the complaint: “I call on all women and men who have been victims of any type of harassment to speak up.” She was wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan “No Means No.”

Otálora, in response defended himself by saying he was in love with Cristancho, calling the photographs “the result of trust in a relationship between couples who spent very nice moments.”

Human Rights groups had called for Otálora’s resignation, and several politicians and political parties have withdrawn their support. Although Otálora had initially said that he would not resign, he finally did so on January 28. Otálora attributed the “media-hyped scandal” to “political enemies wanting to damage the institution he represents.”

Additionally, Otálora allegedly called for the resignation of his Assistant Ombudsman, Esiquio Manuel Sanchez Herrera, due to “institutional adjustments” in the office. Sanchez, however, claims that he made the decision to resign voluntarily because of the scandal.  He told reporters that he “made this decision voluntarily,” and that it is “best for the country and for the institution.”

Otálora was also accused of being an “abusive boss” by his former deputy, Juan Manual Osoria, who resigned in August 2015. He claimed to endure insults and screaming from Otálora. Cristancho also reported similar abuse in her complaint, in additional to the sexual harassment.

 

For more information, please see:

Semana – El acoso no era solo laboral, tambien sexuel – 23 January 2016

Latin Correspondent – Colombia’s Ombudsman embroiled in ugly labor and sexual abuse allegations – 26 January 2016 

EFE – Colombian ombudsman accused of harassment asks for resignation of his No. 2 – 27 January 2016

Prensa Latina – Colombia Ombusman Could Resign after Sexual Harassment – 27 January 2016

Associated Press – Colombia’s human rights boss resigns amid harassment scandal – 28 January 2016

Latin Post – Human Rights Groups Call for Colombia’s Ombudsman Jorge Armando Otálora’s Resignation Amid Sexual Harassment Scandal – 28 January 2016