By Ellis R. Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil –  On July 11^th, tens of thousands of workers blocked key highways and staged mainly peaceful marches across Brazil in a day of industrial action called by trade unions to demand better working conditions and tougher government measures to contain rising inflation.

The “National Day of Struggle” was called by the country’s top five labor federations. The unions demanded better wages, a 40-hour working week, job security, improved public transportation, as well as more investment in public health and education.

Industry workers, shopkeepers, civil servants, teachers and even hospital staff took to the streets nationwide. Demonstrators blocked roads and around 40 highways in 18 of the country’s 26 states, as well as access to several ports. The crowds were smaller than in last month’s protests, which brought more than a million people onto the streets.

In Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, an estimated 5,000 people hoisting flags and banners blocked traffic on several roads, including Via Dutra, which is Brazil’s most important highway because it connects Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In Brasilia, thousands demonstrated in front of the the National Congress and in Campo Grande, deep in Brazil’s interior, 35,000 demonstrated.

Among companies affected were General Motors, where a 24-hour strike was in effect, and Embraer, Brazil’s top plane maker. In many cities, public transportation was brought to a near standstill. Banks and shops had been closed for fear of looting and ransacking. Several schools were closed and in some hospitals around the country, only emergency services were operating.

Demonstrators also disrupted Brazil’s busiest port, Santos. Workers at Santos, which is also Latin America’s largest port, were complaining that Embraport, the largest Brazilian private multi-modal port terminal, is not hiring through the state-run labor management agency OGMO, which places union members in jobs. The workers fear that bypassing OGMO will make it possible for private companies to recruit non-unionized workers who will accept lower wages.

The protests were largely peaceful during the day. However, in Rio de Janeiro a group of masked protesters threw Molotov cocktails and rocks at police. The police pushed them back with teargas. The masked group sparked the clashes in a side street and then took refuge in a peaceful march in which union leaders called for calm and sang the national anthem. Due to the violence, the march was dispersed before it reached its final destination, and at least 12 people, including two minors, were arrested.

For more information please see:

France 24 – Brazil protest draws smaller crowds than June rallies – 12 July 2013

BBC – Brazil protests: Tens of thousands in union-led strikes – 12 July 2013

France 24 – Brazil workers protest nationwide for better conditions – 11 July 2013

La Nacion – Paro en Brasil: sin trasporte público y con rutas bloqueadas – 11 July 2013

The Guardian – Thousands on streets in Brazil protests – 11 July 2013

 

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – Italian drug lord Roberto Pannunzi, one of Europe’s most wanted drug traffickers and the world’s biggest cocaine importer, was arrested in Colombia on July 5th.

Roberto Pannunzi, 65, was caught in a Bogota shopping center and identified himself with a fake Venezuelan identification card bearing the name Silvano Martino, the Colombian Defense Ministry announced on Twitter. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) worked with Colombian police to find and arrest Pannunzi.

Less than 24 hours after his arrest in Colombia, he was deported and put on a plane from Bogota to Italy. An extradition order would have taken several months. Pannunzi was arrested by Italian police upon his arrival at Rome’s Fiumicino airport.

He was known as the “Pablo Escobar of Italy,” Colombian Defense Ministry said in a twitter post. Pannunzi is accused of importing between two and three tons of cocaine into Europe each month from South America, according to the defense ministry.

Pannunzi, known as Bebè (baby), is linked to the ‘Ndrangheta crime network which is based in the southern Italian region of Calabria. He is credited with soldering the link between the ‘Ndrangheta and Colombia’s Medellin cartels that has turned the ‘Ndrangheta into Italy’s richest and most feared organized crime syndicate according to Italian authorities.

Though often described as a mobster, Pannunzi is not known to have taken part in crimes of violence. Evidence pieced together from various investigations suggested his role was to collect guarantees of payment from various ‘Ndrangheta clans to pay for a shipment of cocaine from South America. Pannunzi would then broker the deal with the Colombians.

“He is the biggest cocaine importer in the world,” said Nicola Gratteri, deputy chief prosecutor in the Reggio Calabria province. “I hope there will be no more concessions, as in the past. And I say it because it is exhausting to have to go and search the world for Pannunzi every time he escapes,” said Gratteri.

Roberto Pannunzi was first detained in Colombia in 1994 and extradited to Italy but was released when his detention order expired. He was re-captured in 2004 in Madrid and handed over again to Italian authorities. He was tried and given a sentence of more than 16 years. In 2010, he staged a dramatic escape from a private hospital in Rome after being transferred there from jail on health grounds.

For more information please see:

The Guardian – Cocaine ‘broker’ Roberto Pannunzi back in jail in Italy after arrest in Colombia – 7 July 2013

El Tiempo – Así cayó el narco más buscado del mundo – 6 July 2013

BBC – Colombia deports Calabrian mafia boss Pannunzi to Italy– 6 July 2013

Reuters – Italy’s most wanted drug trafficker arrested in Colombia – 6 July 2013

Univision Noticias – Era el narcotraficante más buscado en Europa, pero cayó en Colombia – 5 July 2013

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – Police clashed with students in Chile’s capital, Santiago, on June 26^th after a peaceful nationwide demonstration by more than 100,000 students demanding education reform. Chilean police have arrested more than 100 people, many of them teenagers, after raiding secondary schools that had been taken over by their students.

Local television showed police bursting into schools barricaded with chairs as well as isolated clashes between students and police. The violence erupted when protesters began to throw stones and Molotov cocktails at police forces. Police in riot gear responded with water cannons and tear gas.

“They are not students, they are criminals and extremists,” Interior and Security Minister Andres Chadwick said at a press conference. “They’ve acted in a coordinated and planned way to provoke these acts of violence.”

Chile’s powerful student movement has staged major demonstrations to demand free and high quality education, along with the elimination of the profit motive at private universities. These demonstrations have been going on in the country since 2011, during which thousands of students have taken over schools and universities sporadically.

Although Chile’s education system is regarded by many as one of the best in Latin America, students argue it is deeply unfair. They say middle-class students have access to some of the best schooling in the region, while the poor have to be content with under-funded state schools. Students are demanding that the state be put back in control of the mostly privatized public universities.

In contrast to other protests, the student movement on Wednesday received the support of teachers, the CUT union, the professors union, the Federation of Port Workers and the CTC copper union, among other labor organizations.

Protesters also demanded a wider distribution of Chile’s copper wealth. Chile is the world’s top copper producer and has witnessed a surge in economic growth and investment, which the demonstrators say is not being used for the betterment of society as a whole. The South American country is afflicted by severe income inequality.

“This has to do with discontent that is deeply rooted in many sectors of society. But we’re the first ones to sympathize with people who are innocent victims of this violence, because there’s no way to justify these types of clashes,” Andres Fielbaum, president of the University of Chile student federation told state television.

Even after two years of student marches, students say they have seen few real benefits and the dispute over education reform remains a key electoral issue ahead of the November 17 presidential election.

For more information please see:

The Guardian – Chilean police evict student protesters from schools – 27 June 2013

BBC – Chilean students arrested in school raids after protests – 27 June 2013

RT Actualidad – Fuertes enfrentamientos marcan nueva jornada de protestas en Chile – 27 June 2013

NBC News – Violent clashes spoil Chile student protest – 27 June 2013

 Fox News Latino – Union members, miners join huge student protest in Chile – 26 June 2013

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay – Voters in Uruguay are deciding whether to hold a referendum to repeal its national abortion law.

If 25 percent of Uruguay’s electorate votes on June 23^rd, officials would have 120 days to set a date for a binding referendum on whether to uphold or repeal the abortion law.

Independent groups as well as some members of Uruguay’s right-wing Colorado Party and the centrist National Party are leading the effort to overturn the measure, which authorized elective abortions in the first three months of pregnancy.

The Uruguay law permits abortions, but requires that women seeking abortions justify their request before a panel of at least three professionals — a gynecologist, psychologist and social worker — and listen to advice about alternatives including adoption and support services for a child. Women must then wait five days before receiving confirmation on whether they can go ahead with the procedure or not.

The ruling Broad Front coalition of President Jose Mujica argued that the law would save many women from the risk of death or complications from illegal abortions.

“I want to defend the law because this issue has been debated for almost 100 years and many women paid with their lives … during that long time that it was being discussed,” lawmaker Monica Xavier said on the Broad Front’s website.

However, opposition to the measure remains strong, and some doctors have refused to perform abortions for religious or ethical reasons.

“This is not an issue that only pertains to women,” said National Party congressman Pablo Abdala. “We can’t forget about the conceived (baby) … with organs, DNA, a heart. And then there’s the father. This law doesn’t take into account the opinion of the father.”

“About 400 abortions a month have been conducted since the new law came into force,” said Deputy Health Minister Leonel Briozzo.

It’s uncertain how many abortions were carried out before the law. “We don’t have trusted statistics because it is a social practice that is not accepted and up until recently it was a crime,” Constanza Moreira, a ruling-party lawmaker, told local radio.

Passage of the law was widely seen as a landmark for a region in which many countries outlaw abortion in all circumstances. Cuba is the only other country in the region where women have access to first-trimester abortions. Colombia allows abortion when there is proof of fetal malformation. Mexico City has legalized first-trimester abortions, but there are restrictions in most other parts of the country.

For more information please see:

El Mundo – Uruguay decide si lleva la ley del aborto a las urnas – 23 June 2013

Fox News Latino – Uruguay Votes To Decide Whether or Not To Repeal Abortion Law– 23 June 2013

The New York Times – Uruguayans Decide if Abortion Goes to Referendum – 23 June 2013

The Washington Post – Uruguayans decide whether to hold referendum on repealing abortion law – 23 June 2013

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – An Argentine court has sentenced former President Carlos Menem to seven years in prison for illegally smuggling weapons to Ecuador and Croatia in violation of international embargoes in the 1990s.

Menem, 82, is currently serving as a senator for his home province of La Rioja. He will not be jailed unless his fellow senators vote to remove the immunity he holds as an elected member of Congress. However, it is unclear how the senators would vote on immunity.

The ruling can still be overturned by Argentina’s Supreme Court, and, given Menem’s age, he would likely serve the sentence at home, invoking a right that nearly all prisoners over 70 have in Argentina.

Menem served two terms as Argentina’s president from 1989 to 1999. Prosecutors alleged that Menem authorized the illegal sales of weapons to Ecuador and Croatia between 1991 and 1995. Both Ecuador and Croatia were involved in armed conflicts at the time, and prosecutors stated that the weapons sales violated United Nations and Organization of American States embargoes.

In 2011, Menem told judges at a Buenos Aires court that his actions as president were “limited to signing decrees exporting weapons to Venezuela and Panama.” He had no idea the weapons shipments, which contained tons of rifles and ammunition made in Argentina, would be sent to countries under international embargoes.

Argentina was barred from supplying Ecuador with weapons because it played a peacekeeping role after Ecuador and Peru fought a brief war in 1995. Arms sales to Croatia were internationally banned during the wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1995.

The case against him and other government officials began in October 2008. An appellate court found Menem guilty in March of this year, overturning his earlier acquittal at trial in 2011. The appellate court said that much of the evidence had been mistakenly dismissed and that there was no logical way the weapons could have been smuggled without Menem’s direct participation and approval.

The appeals court called his defense “incomprehensible,” given evidence that customs procedures weren’t followed, and found that Menem’s brother-in-law, Emir Yoma, acted as his intermediary with the government authorities and others involved in the scheme.

Menem has also been charged with corruption in other cases, but this case marked his first conviction. The trial judges also sentenced Menem’s former defense minister, Oscar Camilion, to 5 1/2 years in prison.

For more information please see:

CNN – Argentina: Ex-president gets 7 years in prison for arms smuggling – 13 June 2013

Bloomberg – Argentina’s Ex-President Menem Sentenced to 7 Years of Prison – 13 June 2013

Reuters – Argentine ex-President Menem could face 7 years in prison for arms smuggling – 13 June 2013

USA Today – Former Argentine president sentenced to 7 years prison – 13 June 2013