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

By Ellis R. Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SAO PAULO, Brazil — The Brazilian Justice Ministry said on Wednesday, June 5^th, that 110 National Force soldiers have been dispatched to Mato Grosso do Sul state where hundreds of Terena Indians are occupying a ranch they say is on ancestral lands.

The ranch is at the center of a land dispute between its owner, a former congressman, and the Terena Indians. Approximately 200 Terena Indians occupied the ranch on May 15^th. Two weeks later police evicted them in a violent clash during which a 35 year-old Indian man was shot dead. The following day, the Indians occupied the ranch again and on June 4^th, another Indian man was injured in an attack by unidentified gunmen. Two others have been reported as missing.

“We must avoid radicalizing a situation that goes back a long way in Brazilian history,” Justice Minister Jose Cardozo told reporters after meeting lawmakers from Mato Grosso do Sul in Brasilia. “We’re not going to put out the flames by throwing alcohol on the bonfire,” he said.

A new eviction order was issued, and Funai, the federal indigenous affairs agency, was informed to peacefully move the Indians off the ranch on June 5th. However, Funai’s press office said a judge suspended the new eviction notice until a federal court rules on the case.

The Indians are also protesting a proposed constitutional amendment that would reduce Funai’s role in determining land for Indian reservations. Under the proposal, Congress and other federal agencies would also have a say in the demarcation of indigenous territory.

Justice Cardozo, however, stressed on June 4^th, that Funai would continue to play a central role as the main institution that defends Indian rights, but others will be brought in to improve the process of deciding ancestral lands.

Brazil’s indigenous land policy, included in the country’s constitution, is considered one of the most progressive in the world, with about 13% of the nation’s territory set aside as indigenous territories.

Similar protests have now erupted across the country. In the Amazon region, the Munduruku indigenous group has been occupying the site where construction is underway on the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. The Belo Monte dam is set to become the world’s third largest dam and it would be capable of producing 11,233 megawatts of electricity, which is equivalent to about 10 percent of Brazil’s total current generating capacity.

For more information please see:

Washington Post – Brazil deploys elite National Force Troops to contain growing Indian-rancher conflicts – 5 June 2013

BBC – Brazil sends army to indigenous land dispute farm – 5 June 2013

New York Times – Brazil Troops to Contain Indian-Rancher Conflicts – 5 June 2013

Reuters – Brazil calls in army to defuse conflicts over Indian lands – 4 June 2013

 

By Ellis R. Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and the Colombian government said on May 26^th that they had reached an agreement on land reform, the first of six points that could make up an eventual peace deal.

In a joint statement issued in Cuba by the FARC and the Colombian government, the sides said they had agreed on “integrated rural reform.” One of its features is a “land fund” into which millions of illegally held or underused acres of land will be placed to compensate those who have lost land or were displaced from their property.

About 5 million acres of land has been stolen from rural farmers by armed groups during the conflict, with twice that amount abandoned by those fleeing because of violence. According to the agreement, farmers will receive loans, technical assistance and marketing advice as well as legal and police protection. There will also be a ten-year effort to bring government, roads and development to the countryside.

The talks at the Havana Convention Center, which have been going on for six months, have focused almost entirely on land reform. Both delegations will take a break for several days, and then begin talks on political participation for the FARC, the second agenda point. They are set to also discuss illicit drugs, decommissioning weapons and how to handle victims of the armed conflict. The discussions are set to resume in Havana on June 11^th.

Colombian government’s lead negotiator, former Vice President Humberto de la Calle, warned that there will be no peace deal until all six points have been agreed upon. Then, the final package will have to be put to a nationwide referendum for approval to ensure “national participation and transparency.” “Now we have a real opportunity to reach peace through negotiations after 50 years of armed conflict,” De la Calle said.

The agreement drew praise at the United Nations in New York, where a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called it “a significant achievement and important step forward.” Ban “wishes both delegations further success in their efforts to reach agreement on the remaining issues and to put an end to Colombia’s long conflict,” the spokesperson said.

The Colombian government sees resolving the half-century conflict as the key to opening up the country to more investment, infrastructure projects and social programs. More than 100,000 people have died during the conflict. The conflict has also diverted billions of dollars from the economy as industries have not been able to function at full capacity and the government is forced to spend heavily on troops and weapons.

For more information please see:

France 24 — Colombia, FARC rebels reach deal on land reform — 27 May 2013

The Telegraph — Colombia reaches deal with Farc rebels over land reform — 27 May 2013

Fox News — Colombia, FARC rebels reach deal on land reform — 26 May 2013

Los Angeles Times — Colombia, FARC rebels reach deal on land reform — 26 May 2013

By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil – 2013 has certainly been a telling time for same-sex relations. While some misguided Catholics appreciated that the Pope approved of same-sex unions, the real story comes from the approval of same-sex marriages in Latin America.  Authorities in Brazil have effectively legalized same-sex marriage, following Argentina and Uruguay in providing equal rights to couples.

Brazil’s National Council of Justice, a panel which oversees the legal system and headed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court announced a resolution on May 14, 2013, stating that notary publics who preform marriage ceremonies cannot refuse to preform same-sex ceremonies. Having been debating this issue after a 2011 Supreme Court ruling they announced that there was no reason for the government to wait for congress to pick up the slack and pass a law extending gay couples rights they already technically and legally have. After this ruling, if a notary public officer rejects the signing of a gay marriage, he could face sanctions. Same-sex civil unions have already been authorized in the country, and this would allow same-sex unions to be converted into marriages, allowing them the same protections that already benefit heterosexual marriages in the predominantly Roman-Catholic nation. From now on, couples in all 27 states will no longer need to petition a judge in order to receive a marriage license, and that includes Brazil’s estimated 60,000 gay couples.

The 2011 ruling recognized stable homosexual unions and that the Brazilian constitution granted them the rights. Chief Justice Barbosa, chief justice of the Supreme Court called it binding, and announced that the lower courts should follow it. However a strong religious faction in congress opposes same-sex marriage and has yet to approve any laws which would support same-sex marriage reform and regulations. Citing judicial activism, Marco Feliciano of the Social Christian Party stated “it’s something most Brazilians do not want” as well that the decisions was “unconstitutional.” Congressman Feliciano, an outspoken opponent of gay rights has called AIDS a “gay cancer.” A week later on May 22, the conservative party appealed the council’s decision to the Supreme Court.

Perhaps bowing down the Brazilian resolution. 4 days later French President Francois Hollande signed into law a bill authorizing marriage and adoption by same-sex couples.

For more information please see:

On Top Magazine – Conservative Leader In Brazil Challenge De Facto Gay Marriage Ruling – 22 May 2013

Telegraph – Brazil Judicial Decision Paves The Way For Same-Sex Marriage – 15 May 2013

New York Times – Brazilian Court Council Removes A Barrier To Same-Sex Marriage – 14 May 2013

BBC – Brazil Judicial Decision Paves Way For Gay Marriage – 14 May 2013

Standard Digital – Brazil Paves Way For Gay Marriage – 10 May 2013