By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Despite polls and the media reporting to the contrary, the Presidential elections in Argentina have resulted in a tie. The top two candidates, current ruling party candidate Daniel Scioli and opposition candidate Mauricio Macri were neck in neck when votes were counted late Sunday evening.

Both candidates started fresh campaigns on Monday. They will face off against each other in a runoff election on November 22.

Results from 97 % of polling places reported that Scioli received 36.9 percent of the vote, and Macri received 34.3 percent. In Argentina, a candidate needs either 45 percent or 40 percent and a 10-point advantage in order to win. Anything less than that forces a second round, as in this case.

The tie came as a surprise – in the week leading up to the election, polls and the media were reporting that Scioli had at least a 10 percent lead over Macri. Scioli’s headquarters even declared victory late Sunday night, after the polls closed but before the final count came in.

Scioli is the handpicked Kirchnerismo successor to outgoing president Cristina Kirchner and currently the governor of the Buenos Aires province. A former vice president, he was originally seen as an easy win. Kirchnerismo is a leftist faction of Peronism (the political ideology started during the rule of Juan Domingo Peron) dominated by President Kirchner and her late husband Nestor Kirchner, who was elected as president for one term in 2003. The Kirchners, popular among the poor and working class but frequently at odds with the business community, have been in power ever since.

Macri, although a member of the opposition, has appealed during his run to Peronist ideals, a popular political movement in Argentina that crosses multiple parties. An engineer by trade, he is considered much more business friendly than the Kirchners. He is also the former president of one of Argentina’s most popular football clubs.

The third runner up in the race was Sergio Massa, a former Kirchnerismo who broke with the faction and ran as an independent candidate. Massa has the opportunity to step into a “kingmaker” role – his endorsement (and his 21 percent of the vote) could make or break either candidate. Although he was in negotiations with Macri prior to the election, as a former Kirchnerismo, he may decide to return and back Scioli.

Despite the lack of decision in the Presidential race, Sunday’s elections did prove historical for Argentina. Maria Eugenia Vidal was elected governor of the Buenos Aires province. Her election ended 30 years of control by Peronists, as she defeated Kirchnerismo former chief of staff Anibal Fernandez. Vidal is also the first ever female governor of the province. Macri appeared beside Vidal on stage following the vote count.

Macri and Scioli are set to participate in a debate on November 15.

 

New York Times – In Argentina Elections, Tight Vote Yields Presidential Runoff – 25 October 2015

BBC – Argentina election: ‘Two country’ poll highlights divisions – 26 October 2015

Buenos Aires Herald – ‘Argentina needs a change and we are ready to carry it out’ – 26 October 2015

Telegraph – Cristina Kirchner’s political project thrown into crisis by shock Argentina election result – 26 October 2015

Washington Post – After surprising election, top 2 Argentine candidates reset – 26 October 2015

 

 

By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America 

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s correctional system has often been criticized for its overcrowding, but a new report released last week by Human Rights Watch sheds light on the wide scope of the problem. The report illustrates an environment of overcrowding and corruption.

The problem is most pronounced in Pernambuco, a small northeastern state. Prisons there are meant to hold a maximum of 10,500 inmates at a time. They currently hold about 32,000 inmates, which is about three times its intended capacity. Currently, there is a thirty prisoner to one guard ratio.

Due to severe understaffing, many of Brazil’s prisons, including Pernambuco, are not controlled by guards, but by inmates. In their report, Human Rights Watch described the use of “keyholders” to maintain order in Brazil’s severely overcrowded prisons.

These keyholders, designated by penitentiary staff, maintain control over almost all aspects of life in the prisons, including the sale of drugs. Keyholders are usually backed by “militias” – strongmen who beat, threaten, and extort other prisoners.

Keyholders themselves usually have private cells, with amenities such as televisions and bathrooms. They often charge inmates about 2,000 reais (the equivalent of USD 530) for a portion of a cell and often require payment of weekly “taxes” to avoid beatings.

Prison staff maintain control over outside pavilions, the areas surrounding multiple cell blocks. Officials have been accused of turning a blind eye to the corruption, or receiving kickbacks.

Sixty percent of inmates have not been convicted and are still awaiting trial. A large number of prisoners in Pernambuco are awaiting custody hearings, wherein a judge makes a determination whether to hold or release the arrestee pending trial. Pernambuco only began providing these hearings in August 2015.  Arrestees are entitled to these hearings under international law.

Additionally, there is no separation of those awaiting trial and those convicted of lesser crimes and convicted violent criminals. Packed, unsanitary conditions have led to outbreaks of tuberculosis, HIV and sexual violence amongst prisoners.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Brazil: Where Inmates Run the Show – 19 October 2015

Human Rights Watch – The State Let Evil Take Over – 19 October 2015

Human Rights Watch – Pernambuco’s Privatized Prisons – 20 October 2015

Vice News – This Report on Brazil’s Prisons Exposes a ‘Human Rights Disaster’ – 20 October 2015

Newsweek – Brazil’s Prisons are a ‘Human-Rights Disaster’” HRW – 21 October 2015

New Zealand Herald – Watchdog group blasts Brazil’s violent, crowded prisons – 21 October 2015

 

 

By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru — Last week the Associated Press reported that the Peruvian military was turning a blind eye to regular and frequent flights transporting cocaine out of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro river valley region (known as VRAEM). Responding to the allegations, Peruvian authorities announced that they would launch an investigation into corruption in the military.

Peru’s military inspector general will head the probe.

Police in the region say that roughly half of Peru’s cocaine exports have left the country this way: four times a day, a small plane lands in the valley. Cash is exchanged for 300 kilos of cocaine, then the plane takes off and flies out to Bolivia. Each exchange is worth about $7.2 million.

The remote jungle region where the flights land are under the control of the military. The landing sites are in close proximity to military bases.

An alleged pilot of a narcotics transport plane interviewed by the Associated Press claimed that local military commanders charged $10,000 per flight to look the other way.

The military claims that their forces in the region are outmatched by “heavily armed traffickers” and the participating community. Officials claim a connection between the traffickers and the Shining Path guerrilla group in the region.

A retired army general, Wilson Barrantes, has complained about drug related corruption in the military for years, calling military control of the cocaine-producing region “like putting four street dogs to guard a plate of beefsteak.”

Drug related corruption is an open secret in Peru, according to anti-corruption nonprofit Transparency International.

President Ollanta Humala named combatting illegal drug trafficking as a priority of his administration when he took office in 2011. Over the summer, Humala’s administration authorized an “eradication” campaign, in which government workers destroyed coca plots across the country. It was a controversial move which devastated the livelihood of thousands of Peruvians. Other efforts have included blasting holes in known airstrips.

In August, the Congress unanimously authorized the military to shoot down these narcotics transport planes.

Humala’s critics say that he has allowed cocaine production to go on in the VRAEM region, where the eradication campaigns didn’t reach. A narcotics public prosecutor says that trafficking has gone “from bad to worse” during Humala’s tenure. Humala has eight month’s left in office, with an approval rating of about 15 percent.

 

For more information, please see:

The Seattle Times – Eradication spells misery for Peru’s coca farmers – 17 August, 2015

Associated Press – Peru Military fails to act as narco planes fly freely – 14 October 2015

The Guardian – Peru to investigate cocaine ‘air bridge’ where smuggler planes are ignored – 14 October 2015

Latin Dispatch – Peru Will Probe Military Collusion With Traffickers After Damning Report – 15 October 2015

 

 

By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil — Members of Brazil’s Congress are calling for the resignation of Eduard Cunha, President of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies after newspaper Folha de S. Paolo reported that he received kickbacks from a Petrobras contract.

Cunha is a member of the Party for the Democratic Movement of Brazil, which is part of the government coalition. Cunha left the coalition in July after a Petrobras consultant alleged that he demanded bribes for contracts.

Cunha denied involvement in the scheme back in March.

Cunha allegedly received kickbacks in a Swiss account from a Petrobras contract in Africa. A lobbyist (reportedly the operator for PMDB at Petrobras) said he deposited $7.5 million in Cunha’s account. Swiss officials confirmed that there was $5 million in accounts belonging to Cunha, according to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office.

His attorneys, in a statement said that they learned about the allegations from media report. They plan to ask the Supreme Court for access to the investigation.

Opposition leaders sent Cunha an e-mail urging him to resign. A group of MPs, Rousseff’s supporters on the left, demanded Cunha be investigated under the code of ethics.

Cunha has denied the accounts, and said that he will not resign. He claims that the Brazil’s chief prosecutor leaked the information to embarrass him politically.

These calls for resignation comes just days after Brazil’s Court of Accounts ruled that President Dilma Rousseff’s government “overstated tax receipts and hid expenses,” manipulating 2014 revenue and spending figures. It is up to Cunha to make the decision on whether to let the dozen or so impeachment motions filed in Congress to proceed.

It is reported that Cunha was working with other members to start the proceedings when news broke of the kickbacks.

The president’s office has so far declined to comment on the matter.

 

For more information, please see:

Huffington Post – Eduardo Cunha: Time to Resign – 7 October 2015

Wall Street Journal – Brazil Watchdog Rules Against Rousseff, Fueling Impeachment Talk – 7 October 2015

BBC – Brazil opposition demands sacking of Congress speaker – 10 October 2015

Bloomberg Business- Brazil’s Cunha got Kickbacks from Petrobras Contract, Folha Says – 10 October 2015

Bloomberg Business – Rousseff’s Most Powerful Foe Suffers Blow in Kickback Scandal – 10 October 2015