LIMA, Peru – Two top commanders of Peru’s Shining Path group were killed during a clash with government troops in southeast Peru according to President Ollanta Humala.

Alejandro Borda Casafranca, and Martin Quispe Palomino were killed by a covert force formed to track down top rebel leaders. “The intelligence sources that have participated in this action have confirmed that the dead terrorist criminals are the number one and number two of the Shining Path’s military structure,” Mr. Humala said, referring to Mr. Borda Casafranca and Mr. Quispe Palomino, respectively.

After a firefight, their bullet-riddled and burned corpses were found in a house in an isolated township of Ayacucho, south of Lima. President Humala said a third rebel believed to be Casafranca’s close colleague was also killed in the military operation.

The announcement is a victory for Humala’s administration, which has struggled to combat remnants of the Shining Path in the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro river valley, or VRAEM. President Humala has made bringing peace to the VRAEM one of his top priorities since coming to office in July 2011. He has pledged to root out the Shining Path and increase the state’s presence in the region.

The VRAEM, the most densely planted coca-growing region in the world, is the last remaining stronghold of the Shining Path. The group is believed to still have 300 to 500 members in the area located in southern Peru.

Peru’s terrorism and security analyst Jaime Antezana said that the killing of the two rebel leaders was the government’s first successful blow in recent years at the top military ranks of the group. Antezana said the two men were deeply involved in the rebels’ management of coca leaf cultivation, as well as the processing and transport of cocaine.

Last year, security personnel captured one of the group’s original leaders in the Upper Huallaga Valley, Peru’s other major cocaine producing region located north of the VRAEM. He was sentenced to life in prison in June.

Shining Path’s insurgency began in 1980. Inspired by Maoism, the rebels tried to lead a “People’s War” to overthrow what they called “bourgeois democracy” and establish a communist state. They took control of Peru’s rural regions and some urban areas by the early 1990s, raising fears in the U.S. government that it might someday take power. However, its founder, Abimael Guzman, was captured in 1992 and subsequently sentenced to life in prison. The conflict resulted in some 70,000 deaths.

The group has largely been crushed by the army, but remnants of the group remain, and they often attack military patrols in jungle areas. Security forces say the group has allied itself with drug traffickers and now finances itself by growing and smuggling coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera– Peru says Shining Path leaders killed – 14 August 2013

Los Angeles Times – Peru commandos kill two Shining Path leaders – 13 August 2013

The Wall Street Journal – Peru President Says High-Ranking Shining Path Members Killed – 12 August 2013

Reuters – Peru says top two Shining Path rebels killed in jungle shootout – 12 August 2013

BBC – Peru’s security forces kill three Shining Path rebels – 12 August 2013

 

 

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil – A jury has found 25 Brazilian police officers guilty of killing 52 inmates during the 1992 riot at Sao Paulo’s Carandiru prison. It was country’s bloodiest prison riot in which 111 prisoners died.

Judge Rodrigo Tellini de Aguirre Camargo sentenced those convicted to prison terms of 624 years each for their roles in what has been dubbed the Carandiru massacre. The officers, nine of whom are still on active duty, will also lose their jobs. Currently under Brazilian law there are no life sentences, and no convicted person can serve more than 30 years in jail. The officer’s attorney informed reporters that she would appeal the sentencing. The officers will be allowed to remain free pending the outcome of their appeal.

The lawyer for the officers, Ieda Ribeiro de Souza, argued they were only doing their duty and acted in self-defense, as many of the inmates were armed. She further stated that the fault lies with then Governor Luiz Antonio Fleury Filho, who oversaw security forces in the state.

“Who should be here is Dr. Fleury. He didn’t go [to Carandiru] himself” because he had political protection, said Ribeiro de Souza.

The riot, which began on October 2, 1992, was sparked by a fight between two rival gangs that started with a quarrel during a soccer game. It escalated into an uprising that quickly spread through the penitentiary, which was built to hold fewer than 4,000 inmates but was housing nearly 8,000. The riot went on for around three hours before more than 300 military police officers stormed the Carandiru prison. The officers gunned down more than 100 inmates within 30 minutes. No police officers were killed.

Autopsies showed the dead were riddled with an average of five bullets. The revolt ended in a massacre that exposed the harsh conditions of prisons in Brazil and it became an iconic example of how Brazil’s military police can sometimes kill with impunity.

Some survivors of the violence said police made little attempt to negotiate with the revolting prisoners. The officers entered firing, and continued to fire on prisoners who had surrendered or were hiding. Others said they hid among the scores of bodies, pretending to be dead, to avoid the gunfire.

The sentencing is the latest in a series of separate trials of police officers accused of executing inmates during the 1992 massacre. In April of this year, 23 officers were sentenced to prison terms of 156 years each for their part in killing 13 inmates during the same massacre. Another 31 officers will be tried in the coming months in connection with the slayings at the now-defunct prison.

Human rights groups have long decried conditions in Brazil’s prisons and the behavior of the military police. The Carandiru massacre gained special attention in Brazil because of its size and a popular 2003 movie.

For more information please see:

BBC – Brazil Carandiru jail massacre police guilty – 3 August 2013

Reuters – Brazil court sentences 25 police officers for prison massacre – 3 August 2013

Los Angeles Times – Brazil court sentences 25 police officers in 1992 prison massacre – 3 August 2013

The Wall Street Journal – Brazil Police Officers Found Guilty in 1992 Prison Massacre – 3 August 2013

Fox News – Jury finds 25 Brazilian police officers guilty of killing inmates in 1992 prison riot – 3 August 2013

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – A senior United Nations investigator has urged Chile’s government to stop using anti-terrorism law against the country’s Mapuche Indians who are fighting to recover their ancestral land.

The Mapuche Indians make up 9% of the Chilean population. They live in rural communities and suffer from high levels of poverty.

Ben Emmerson, the U.N.’s special investigator on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, said a long-running dispute over land rights could boil over into serious violence and disorder at any moment unless urgent action is taken. He says the situation is “volatile” in the southern regions of Araucania and Bio Bio, where most Mapuche live.

Chile’s anti-terrorism law, drafted by General Augusto Pinochet in 1984 is one of the harshest in the Chilean statute book. It doubles the sentences for some offenses and allows for the conviction of defendants on the basis of testimony from anonymous witnesses.

Human rights groups say the law is abusive because it allows for suspects to be held in isolation without charge and for the use of secret witnesses and telephone taps.

“The anti-terrorist legislation has been used in a way that discriminates against the Mapuche. It has been applied in a confusing and arbitrary way, which has turned into a real injustice that has impaired the right to a fair trial, and it has been perceived as stigmatizing and delegitimizing of the Mapuche territorial demands and protests,” Emmerson said.

Mapuche prisoners have staged lengthy hunger strikes to protest the anti-terror law and what they regard as excessive police violence during raids on Mapuche communities. Other forms of protest have ranged from marches, occupation of public buildings, and setting up roads blocks.

“The preliminary conclusions of the U.N. official go along with what we’ve been saying: that there’s no terrorism and that this is a disproportionate law that only creates more tensions,” said Aucan Huilcaman, a Mapuche leader. “If Chile really wants to show its democratic side it must recognize the Mapuche people,” Huilcaman added.

There was no immediate response from Chile’s government.

The Mapuche conflict has been going on for years in the south, with sporadic outbursts of violence. In January of this year, a group of attackers set fire to a house belonging to an elderly couple whose family had a history of poor relations with the Mapuche neighbors. The couple died in the blaze. Their deaths shocked Chileans and raised questions about the inability of President Sebastian Pinera’s government to meet the demands of Chile’s largest indigenous group.

Emmerson said Chile’s government should come up with a strategy to solve the dispute, speed up the return of land and recognize the country’s largest indigenous community under the constitution.

For more information please see:

ABC News – UN: Chile Should Solve Land Dispute With Mapuche – 31 July 2013

CNN Chile – Relator de la ONU sobre Ley Antiterrorista: “Ha sido aplicada en una forma que es ilógica, discriminatoria y contraproducente” – 30 July 2013

El Universal – Relator de ONU advierte a Chile riesgo del conflicto mapuche – 30 July 2013

BBC – UN criticises Chile for using terror law on Mapuche – 30 July 2013

Fox News – UN official says Chile should stop using anti-terrorism law against Mapuche in land dispute – 30 July 2013

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

PANAMA CITY, Panama – Panamanian authorities have charged the crew members of a North Korean ship, the Chong Chon Gang, detained at the Panama Canal after it was found to be carrying weapons.

Police authorities found a large supply of outdated Soviet-era weapons systems, and two MIG fighter jets buried beneath 200,000 bags of Cuban brown sugar. The ship’s crew, armed with what officials called sticks, tried to fend off Panamanian marines investigating whether the vessel was carrying contraband. They forcefully resisted being boarded and sabotaged the ship’s cranes to make the search and cargo movement more difficult. The captain was also reported to have attempted suicide during the confrontation.

State prosecutor Javier Caraballo accused the 35 crew members of endangering public security by attempting to traffic undeclared weapons. Caraballo also reports that the weapons trafficking charges could result in sentences of up to six years if the crew members are tried and convicted. The crew was expected to remain in detention while the Panamanian authorities finished unloading the vessel, which could take days.

The 450-foot Chong Chon Gang had been awaiting permission to cross the canal for the voyage home after a visit to Cuba. The ship was impounded on July 14^th, and on July 17^th North Korea asked Panama to release the ship and its crew. A statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry asserted that the ship had been transporting the Cuban weapons to North Korea for refurbishment under a legitimate contract. The North Korean statement also criticized Panama for using what it called the pretext of searching the vessel for narcotics and for Panama’s violent treatment of the crew.

The Cuban government admitted being behind the supply of weapons found on board the ship. They said the weapons were Soviet-era arms from Cuba headed for repair and upgrading in North Korea. The Cuban foreign ministry said the Chong Chon Gang was carrying two anti-aircraft missile batteries, nine missiles in parts and spares, two MiG-21bis fighter planes and 15 MiG engines.

Panama has requested that the United Nations Security Council investigate whether there has been a breach of the sanctions against North Korea. The United Nations sanctions prohibit the supply of arms to Pyongyang in the dispute over its controversial nuclear program.

Panama’s Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said the ship and its cargo had broken Panamanian and international law. “This is not an official or military ship belonging to the North Korean government. It’s a commercial ship which wanted to pass through the Panama canal with a [cargo] declaration which failed to reflect what it was carrying, turning a blind eye to the fact that its cargo could be violating UN resolutions,” he said.

For more information please see:

Los Angeles Times – Panama charges ‘contentious’ North Korean crew with arms trafficking – 18 July 2013

BBC – Panama charges North Korea weapons ship’s crew – 18 July 2013

New York Times – Panama Charges North Korean Freighter Crew – 18 July 2013

La Prensa – El buque norcoreano transportaba un radar de control de tiro, según Jane’s  – 17 July 2013