BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — An Argentinian judge has dismissed the case against Argentina President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who allegedly shielded Iranian officials from prosecution over the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre.

Prosecutors had sought to relaunch the case against Fernández that was being brought by their late colleague Alberto Nisman, who died mysteriously last month after accusing Fernández of protecting Iranians suspected of ordering the deadly bombing at the Argentinian Jewish Mutual Association.

However, Judge Daniel Rafecas said on Thursday that documents originally filed by Nisman failed to meet standards needed to open a formal court investigation.  The Judge noted that Nisman failed to meet “the minimal conditions needed to launch a formal court investigation.”

“I dismiss the case because no crime was committed,” Rafecas said.

The late prosecutor was found with a fatal gunshot wound to the head in his bathroom on 18 January 2015, four days after he filed a report that accused Iran of ordering the attack via the Lebanese militant group Hezebollah, and alleging that Fernández was trying to shield Iranian officials from prosecution in exchange for oil.

Nisman’s death was initially ruled a suicide, but soon afterwards suspicion fell on Fernández’s government for orchestrating Nisman’s murder.

Even Fernández herself suggested the prosecutor was manipulated by upset former intelligence agents who then killed him to further smear her reputation.

Before the decision on Thursday, Argentinian MPs passed a bill to reform the country’s intelligence service, which Fernández recently suggested had strayed from civilian control.

Fernández says the new state security body established under the legislation will be held more accountable.  But opponents say the legislation does little more than change the name of the spy agency and has been rushed through Congress.  The opposition boycotted some of the debate.

The chamber of deputies approved the bill by a majority of 131 to 71 after an overnight debate.  Fernández now has to sign the bill, which she is expected to do in the coming days.

The long-unsolved bombing at the Argentinian Jewish Mutual Association killed 85 people and wounded 300.

For more information, please see: 

the guardian – Argentina judge dismisses bombing cover-up case against president – 26 Feb. 2015

Fox News Latino – Judge throws out case alleging Argentina’s president was behind Iran cover up – 26 Feb. 2015

CBS News – Judge announces decision on Argentina cover-up case – 26 Feb. 2015

The Tribune – Victory for Argentine leader: Judge rejects cover-up case – 26 Feb. 2015

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil — How does the world’s biggest water supply in the seventh biggest economy run out of water?  When that country has its worst dry stretch since the 1930s.

Brazil is sometimes called the “Saudi Arabia of water,” water is so abundant in the area that it’s likened to living above a sea of oil.  However, the taps are starting to run dry.  The problem has been worsened by polluted rivers, deforestation and population growth, the largest reservoir system serving São Paulo is near depletion.

Currently, many residents are enduring sporadic water cutoffs, some going days without it.  Officials have said that water service provided two days a week, drastic rationing, may be needed.

Though the views are grimmer behind closed doors.  In a meeting recorded secretly and leaked to the local news media, Paulo Massato, a senior official at São Paulo’s water utility, said that residents might have to be warned to flee because “there’s not enough water, there won’t be water to bathe, to clean the home.”

Marússia Whately, a water specialist at Instituto Socioambiental, a Brazilian environmental group, said, “We’re witnessing an unprecedented water crisis in one of the world’s great industrial cities.”  She added, “Because of environmental degradation and political cowardice, millions of people in São Paulo are now wondering when the water will run out.”

Some have already had no running water for days.

“Imagine going three days without any water and trying to run a business in a basic sanitary way,” said Maria da Fátima Ribeiro, 51, who owns a bar in Parque Alexandra, a gritty neighborhood on the edge of São Paulo’s metropolitan area. “This is Brazil, where human beings are treated worse than dogs by our own politicians.”

Residents are taking matters into their own hands by drilling wells around homes and apartment buildings.  Others have implemented water conservation methods of hoarding water in buckets to wash clothes or flush toilets.  Public schools are prohibiting students from using water to brush their teeth, and serving sandwiches instead of meals on plates that need to be washed.

The worse forecasts say that São Paulo’s main reservoir system could run dry in 2015.

For more information, please see:

The Telegraph – Taps run dry in Brazil’s biggest city as drought bites – 23 Feb. 2015

The Seattle Times – Severe drought pushes Brazil’s largest city toward water crisis – 21 Feb. 2015

The Independent – Brazil water shortage: Sao Paulo devastated by its worst drought on record – 23 Feb. 2015

Independent.IE – Has Brazil’s largest city just run out of water? – 23 Feb. 2015

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia — Last week during negotiations, the FARC, Colombia’s largest rebel group, agreed to stop recruiting soldiers under 17.  This week news comes that the FARC will discharge any child soldiers under the age of 15.  The group has said to have captured children as young as 13 to join their ranks.

The leader, Ivan Marquez, told a radio program that the recruitment of children was “not our policy”.  Marquez said there are currently 13 children under the age of 15 fighting with the Marxist group.

Marquez, who is one of the FARC negotiators at peace talks in the Cuban capital, Havana, told Colombian’s Caracol Radio that “after internal consultation with the guerrilla structures across the country, the Farc leadership could determine there were only 13 fighters younger than 15” in its ranks.

He said they would be “discharged from the war within a short period of time”.

According to Marquez, the children are descendants of guerrilla fighters or had joined the FARC after they had been orphaned.  Though human rights groups have long accused the FARC of forcibly recruiting children.

Figures released by Colombia’s Ministry of Defence suggest that since 2002 more than 2,600 children under the age of 18 have left the Farc, either fleeing the group or being captured by security forces.

Although a majority were between the ages of 16 and 17, figures suggest more than one third of the child soldiers were younger.

The peace talks between the FARC and the Colombian government have commenced in November 2012.

They have reached partial agreements on a number of issues, including on the drugs trade, land reform and political participation.

They are currently discussing the rights of victims of the five-decade-long conflict, which has killed more than 220,000 people.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Colombian Farc rebels ‘will discharge fighters under 15’ – 17 Feb. 2015

tele sur – FARC Discharges Under 15s to Comply with International Law – 18 Feb. 2015

Latin American Herald Tribune – Colombia’s FARC to Discharge Minors Under 15 – 18 Feb. 2015

Latin Post – Colombia and Farc Peace Talks, Conflicts, History & News: Rebels to Discharge Child Soldiers Younger Than 15 – 17 Feb. 2015

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia — During peace talks in Cuba, Colombia’s leftist FARC guerillas announced on Thursday that they would stop recruiting soldiers under 17 years of age.  Before a recruit had to be 15 years old to join the FARC.

 

This is just one of the latest in a number of conciliatory steps as peace talks to end five decades of conflict with the government advance.  The two-year-old negotiations are taking place in Cuba’s capital, Havana.

Though Colombia’s government welcomed the move, they do not believe that it went far enough.  International human rights law sets the minimum age for participation in any kind of combat at 18.

“First, I don’t understand why 17 years of age?  The established norm is 18, and I don’t understand why they’ve only gone halfway,” President Juan Manuel Santos said in a speech in Colombia’s Caqueta province to inaugurate and electrification project.

“Colombian’s would have received it with greater joy, if they said they would not only stop recruiting children under 18 but they would free those they have recruited. … We will continue to insist upon that step,” he said.

The FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has allegedly been forcibly recruiting minors or taking on underage volunteers in remote rural areas with few opportunities for a long time.

Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said on Thursday that half of the FARC members who have been demobilizing from the rebel force are under 18 or were when they joined.  They usually perform minor chores, such as cooking or clearing jungle paths while training as combatants.

The FARC’s ranks have been roughly halved to around 8,000 by a U.S.-backed military offensive that has run for over a decade and forced the group, and its lesser counterpart, the National Liberation Army (ELN), deeper in their jungle escapes.

The FARC initiated a unilateral ceasefire shortly before Christmas as both sides to de-escalate.  The FARC and the government are negotiating a five-point agenda for peace.

Partial agreement has been reached on three of the agenda items: land reform, ending the illegal drug trade and political participation for the guerrillas.  The remaining issues are disarmament and demobilization, and reparations for victims of the war, which has killed around 220,000 people.

For more information, please see:

Fox News – Colombia’s main rebel group vows to stop recruiting youths under age 17 – 21 Feb. 2015

Reuters – Colombia’s FARC rebels raise minimum recruitment age to 17 – 12 Feb. 2015

BBC – Colombian FARC: No recruitment of soldiers under 17 – 12 Feb. 2015

Yahoo News – Colombia rebels vow to stop recruiting youths under 17 – 12 Feb. 2015

 

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil — On Wednesday, three workers had been killed and 10 injured in the explosion at an offshore oil and gas platform in Brazil.  By Thursday the number had risen to five.  The oil and gas platform was ran by state oil company, Petrobras was about 25 miles (40 km) off the coast.

According to the company four of the 74 workers who were on the platform remain missing.  The explosion occurred off the state of Espirito Santo.  Currently rescue teams are searching for the four missing workers, according to The Oil Workers Union of the State of Espirito Santo.  It also said that 10 workers were injured in the blast.

The union noted on its Facebook page that the two bodies were found inside the engine room of the vessel, one of many floating oil production, storage and offloading units that Petrobras employs in developing Brazil’s massive offshore oil fields.

The ship was leased by Petrobras from Norway-based BW Offshore, which confirmed the new death toll and the number of missing workers.

“It was a tragic day and we will not rest until we find the four workers who are missing,” BW Offshore’s CEO, Carl Arnet, said in a statement.

BW Offshore said that 65 workers were safely evacuated from the ship.

The Unified Oil Workers Federation, Brazil’s biggest oil industry union, has said that the blast was caused by a gas leak in the vessel’s engine room.

According to the Brazilian government’s National OIl Agency no oil leaked as a result of the accident and that it had begun an investigation.  The agency noted the ship had passed a navy inspection earlier this year.

This accident could not come at a worse time for state oil company Petrobras, as federal investigators continue to probe a massive kickback scheme allegedly coordinated and ran by former executives of the oil company, which led to them receiving hundreds of millions in bribes from construction and engineering firms in exchange for giving those companies inflated contracts.

For more information, please see:

the guardian – Brazil oil ship explosion death toll rises to five – 12 Feb. 2015

Reuters – BW Offshore says five killed in Brazil explosion were its workers – 12 Feb. 2015

Forbes – Explosion Kills Three Aboard Petrobras Offshore Natural Gas Platform in Brazil – 11 Feb. 2015

CNN – Oil platform explosion kills 3 in Brazil – 11 Feb. 2015