By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina has come under fire in the press in the past few days with the suspicious murder of Prosecutor Alberto Nisman.  Nisman was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head just hours before he was expected to come before Congress and charge President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of having illegal dealings with Iran.

His allegations, in part, accuse Fernandez and top officials with deep ties to labor unions, social movements, and attempting to strike a deal between 2011 and 2013 in which they would export food products to Iran in exchange for importing oil.

In exchange, the Kirchner government would attempt to remove eight Iranian suspects in the AMIA Jewish Community Center bombing from an Interpol arrest list.

The so-called “oil for food” deal never materialized, which Nisman attributed to Foreign Minister Hector Timerman’s inability to persuade Interpol to remove the Iranians from its list.

Mr. Timerman has responded to these allegations by calling them “baseless”, and states that Argentina has never imported oil from Iran as evidence to the fact. He claimed that: “We don’t have too much trade with Iran.  In fact it was Iran who placed an embargo against Argentina because of the accusations about their role in the bombing … and that they lifted unilaterally in 2007. But our trade with Iran is very small”

Furthermore, Fernandez claimed that Argentina had never imported petroleum from Iran.  Which is false.  In another statement Fernandez noted that Argentina does not import crude oil from Iran, because they do not have the facilities to process it.  Also a false statement.

While the trade data shows, that no “oil for food” agreement was ever reached, Iran and Argentina have a clear trading partnership.  This comes at a time when Iran’s trading partners are few due to US sanctions against companies that choose to trade with the country.  Iran is benefitting from Argentinian food and Argentina has proven their willingness to disregard US sanctions.

Also, Fernandez is calling for the dissolution of the intelligence agency after the Nisman’s death, stating that it’s time to reform the intelligence service, because the existing one “has not served the national interests.”

For now Nisman’s death will remain a mystery, but there are many conspiracy theories in the air.

For more information, please see:

Business Insider – All Of Argentina Is Questioning Its Relationship With Iran — Here’s What That Relationship Actually Is – 27 Jan. 2015

Bueno Aires Herald – Iran’s representative in Argentina Denies Parallel Diplomacy – 25 Jan. 2015

NPR – Argentina’s President Dissolves Intelligence Agency, Citing Prosecutor’s Death – 26 Jan. 2015

CNN – Argentina’s President pushes intelligence shakeup after Nisman scandal – 27 Jan. 2015

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

QUITO, Ecuador – – Two Shaman along with a family of four died just before midnight on Tuesday.  The family was participating in a healing ceremony when the hot springs they were bathing in, located in the northern Andean province of Imbabura, leaked a poisonous gas, probably methane.

Nearby a seven-year-old-boy, the couples son, slept in the car.  The tragedy came after he fell asleep while he waited for the night ceremony to finish.

Gabriel Bunay and his wife Martina Tacuri were taken to a thermal rockpool inside an indigenous settlement with their three children for an ‘energy healing’ ritual after being met by a local in the nearby city of Otavalo.

Shaman Gladys Tercero died along with another Shaman, her helper.  The spring, a thermal rockpool, began emitting a poisonous gas during the ceremony, thought to be methane gas.

Police chief Jacqueline Haro added: “The boy that survived fell asleep inside his family’s car after his mother told him to go and rest because the water was cold.”

“He is now in a children’s home receiving counselling while we wait for relatives to come and pick him up” she added.

“It’s an accidental death resulting from the inhalation of toxic gases emanating from the thermal waters,” the interior ministry said in a statement.

Local firefighter Carlos Lopez told AFP that toxicological tests had not yet been performed, “but it is confirmed that it is from inhalation of gases.”

t the site, authorities found homemade cane liquor, candles, eggs, medicinal plants, entrails and dead birds, as well as the business card of a shaman offering to solve problems with money, love, work, business and travel.

This isn’t the first time a participant has died during a ritual with Shamans:

Last April British student Henry Miller died at a tribal ceremony in neighboring Colombia.

Henry, 19, from Bristol, collapsed after taking a hallucinogenic drink called yage at a remote rainforest near the village of Mocoa in the south-east of the country.

For more information, please see:

London Evening Standard – Six dead from Healing Ceremony Methane Poisoning in Ecuador – 22 Jan. 2015

Jamaica Observer – Six die in shamanic ritual in Ecuador – 22 Jan. 2015

Business Standard News – Six die in shamanic ritual in Ecuador  – 23 Jan. 2013

The Straits Times – Six die in shamanic ritual in Ecuador – 22 Jan. 2013

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASÍLIA, Brazil– Shortly after midnight on Sunday in Indonesia a Brazilian drug smuggler was executed by firing squad. The execution was performed against the pleas of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, and human rights group Amnesty International.

Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira , 53, was arrested in Indonesia in 2003, after police at Jakarta airport found 13.4 kg of cocaine hidden in his hang glider.

Moreira was the first Brazilian national to be executed abroad. The nation warned that the execution would damage relations between the two countries.

Five other convicts from Indonesia, Malawi, Nigeria, Vietnam and the Netherlands, were executed on Sunday. Each one convicted on drug charges.

The prisoners faced a firing squad in Central Java province: five were executed on the island of Nusa Kambangan and the other one, a Vietnamese woman, was executed in the small central Javanese town of Boyolali.

In a statement President Rousseff said that she was “outraged and dismayed”. “Relations between the two countries have been affected” continued President Rousseff.

“The Brazilian ambassador to Jakarta has been recalled for consultations,” she added.

Brazil is not the only country outraged by Indonesia’s actions, The Netherlands has taken action of its own and also recalled its ambassador. Foreign Minister Bert Koenders called the execution of Dutch citizen Ang Kiem Soe, 52, “an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity”.

Indonesia is tough on criminals convicted of drug crimes, with some of the world’s toughest drug laws. The country resumed executions in 2013 after an unofficial four-year moratorium.

The country’s Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said “hopefully, this will have a deterrent effect”.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has previously stated that he will show no mercy to drug criminals, because they have ruined the lives of so many others.

President Widodo rejected a plea for clemency from President Rousseff on Friday. President Rousseff told President Widodo that she respected the sovereignty and judicial system of his country but as a mother and head of state she was making the appeal for humanitarian reasons.

Apparently, President Widodo stated that he understood the Brazilian president’s concern but said he could not commute the sentence as the full legal process had been followed.

Moreira said in a video recorded by a friend that he regretted trying to smuggle cocaine into Indonesia.

“I am aware that I committed a serious offence, but I believe I deserve another chance. Everyone makes mistakes.”

Brazil abolished the death penalty in times of peace in 1889.

 

For more information, please see:

the guardian – Brazil and Netherlands recall Indonesia ambassadors over drug executions  – 18 Jan. 2015

BBC News – Brazil ‘outraged’ by Indonesia drug trafficking execution – 17 Jan. 2015

The Wall Street Journal – Brazil Says Indonesia Rejected Clemency for Brazilian Drug Smuggler  – 16 Jan. 2015

Bloomberg – Indonesian Execution of Brazilian Triggers Ambassador Recall – 17 Jan. 2015

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia’s former spy chief can no longer count on the protection of the Panamanian government after its decision to not grant asylum to the disgraced former official.  Maria del Pilar Hurtado is accused of spying against presumed political enemies of former President Alvaro Uribe.

 

The director of Panama’s refugee agency told local newspaper La Prensa that Hurtado, the former director of the now-defunct Colombian intelligence agency DAS, had filed a second request for political asylum late last year, and that this request had been denied by the Panamanian government.

Hurtado fled Colombia in 2010 before being charged for multiple alleged crimes after judicial investigators found out that the DAS had carried out illegal spying operations against the Supreme Court, politicians, journalists and human rights workers.

Hurtado was one of numerous top officials, including Uribe’s former chief of staff, who were charged with abuse of power, conspiracy, the illegal use of communications equipment and fraud.

Hurtado was initially granted asylum by the administration of former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, reportedly a personal friend of Uribe.

However, the decision to grant asylum was nullified in June last year by the country’s Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court ruled that the then-administration had violated the constitution in granting political asylum.

Facing the possibility of standing trial in Colombia after deportation, Del Pilar Hurtado married a Colombian resident of Panama while her attorney prepared a renewed request for political asylum.

Meanwhile in Colombia, prosecutors called on the Supreme Court to come to a conviction of the former intelligence chief, who could be sent to prison for as many as 15 years.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, there is “no doubt” that Hurtado was involved in the illegal operations carried out by her agency which reported directly to the President’s Office.

Uribe and his political allies have consistently claimed that Hurtado and former chief of staff Bernardo Moreno are not the perpetrators, but the victims of political persecution.

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports – Panama denies refugee status to Colombia’s fugitive former spy chief – 13 Jan. 2015

Caracol Radio – Panamá negó solicitud de refugio a María del Pilar Hurtado – 14 Jan. 2015

Telesur – Panama Rejects Colombian Ex Intelligence Chief Asylum Request – 13 Jan. 2015

La Estrella de Panama – Panama rechaza el estatus de refugiada a Maria del Pilar Hurtado – 12 Jan. 2015

 

by Mridula Tirumalasetti

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia–A bull brutally killed during a popular festival in a city in northern Colombia has re-sparked the debate over bullfighting, indignation, and traditions of animal cruelty in the South American country. The capital, Bogota has banned bullfighting, however the event is still popular in other cities around the country, such as in the town of Turbaco in the Bolivar province, where this particular incident took place.

Corralejas, or bullfighting events, allow the general public to fight the bull inside the ring. The Mayor of Turbaco, Myron Martinez, defended the corraleja, calling it a local tradition. He said, “In ‘corraleja’ festivals there are always injuries, there are always animals beaten and horses killed. These are the kinds of incidents that form part of the traditions and customs of such festivals.”

Many others have criticized the event. Animal rights activists and a few government officials have demanded that legal action be taken after a video was uploaded to the internet in which a bull was chased and harassed by at least 20 people during the corraleja. The bull was then killed with machetes, rocks, knives, and kicks. “I have to say it is totally barbaric, where people with sticks, stones, and knives, and with utter cruelty, kill the bull,” said Environment Minister Gabriel Vallejo. Spokesman Andrea Padilla of the NGO AnimaNaturalis International argued that the video should be seen all over the world to raise awareness of animal cruelty. Padilla said what happened in Turbaco “should be condemned by all Colombian and the international community, because this is horror and violence at its very worst, with the consent of local authorities.”

The Ministry of Culture also gave a statement that called for severe punishments for those who committed these “barbaric” acts. They have further demanded that there should be a public debate about whether such events should even be allowed to go on. Jorge Otarola, a public defender, called the images “Dante-esque, painful and inhumane.” He spoke to The Associated Press and said, “The state’s intervention is needed because, even though traditions should be respected, they must be updated to reduce the suffering of animals.”

The Colombian Attorney General’s Office issued a statement where they said an investigation will be opened that could result in criminal charges filed against Mayor Martinez and Julio Quintana, who was the organizer of the corraleja.

For more information, please see:

The Latin American Herald Tribune–Bull Beaten to Death by 20 Colombians Angers Colombians–5 January 2015

The Guardian–Horrific scenes as bull stabbed and beaten to death at Colombian festival— 5 January 2015

GlobalPost–Bull beaten to death by 20 people angers Colombians–5 January 2015

Fox News–Brutal killing of bull in popular festival sparks outrage in Colombia–5 January 2015