By Pearl Rimon
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 LIMA, Peru – Peru has reinstated selective military service. However, this obligatory military service can be avoided by paying a $700 fee. The government of Peru is being accused for imposing a draft for the poor.

Military service in Peru has been voluntary since 1998, but the harsh conditions and lack of incentives has left the armed forces short 30,000 recruits this year.

President Ollanta Humala, a former army officer, reimposed the draft via decree. Military chief Adm. Jose Cueto announced that the draft would be held in May. The draft applies to all males between the ages of 18 to 25 chosen by lottery. There are exemptions for parents, university students and anyone who can afford the $700 fee.

“It seems to me completely improvised with the aggravating factor that it directly affects the poor,” said human rights activist Wilfredo Ardito. Ardito called the draft discriminatory on several counts. The poor get hit twice — they cannot afford neither higher education nor the fine, he said.

Adm. Cueto believes that President Humala acted out of necessity in issuing the decree. He told The Associated Press that Peruvian armed forces are operating in a different era from the one in the 1980s and 1990s that contained many human rights abuses.

The draft entails two years of obligatory military service. Cueto believes that the draft would be beneficial for poor young men.  He has said, “Military service has been stigmatized as something bad and the exact opposite is true, because it provides a series of benefits to young men, principally those of humble means. It offers instruction, trains them, creates values and, in addition, gives them a profession.”

Peru’s southeastern hot zone, located between the Purimac and Ene river valley is where more than 80 soldiers have been killed since 2008 in battles between the cocaine-funded vestiges of the Shining Path.

The soldiers who participate in the draft are paid a little more than $100 per month and can increase to $146 with room and board included. However, the minimum wage in Peru is $283 per month.

Most of the citizens are against this draft seemingly imposed just on the poor. “I’m against it. They would be depriving young people of their right to decide. A lot people here can’t afford to pay (the fine),” said Eduard Rodriguez, a 24-year-old gastronomy student.

Peru may have taken a cue from neighboring countries in the reinstatement of its draft, since Boliva and Colombia have ranks of their armed forces filled by many poor citizens.

 

For more information, please see:

Associated Press —Peru criticized for ‘avoidable’ military draft – 27 March 13

East Oregonian — Peru criticized for ‘avoidable’ military draft – 27 March 13

Fox News Latino — Peru Criticized For Military Draft On The Poor – 27 March 13

Yahoo News —  Peru criticized for ‘avoidable’ military draft – 27 March 13

By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colmbia – Colombia is in the midst of progressing gay rights and supporting same-sex marriage. A court ruling has been mulling around the Colombian House of Representatives that would effectively legalize gay marriage. The A new bill has passed the first of four major votes, but is not expected to progress through the senate unless an impasse is found amongst legislators.

At this moment Colombia does not recognize gay marriage, but the country has been progressing since the homosexual activity was decriminalized in 1980s. Between 2007 and 2008, the Constitutional Court made three rulings that gave same-sex couples the same pension, social security, inheritance and property rights as heterosexual couples.

The bill making the rounds has a time limit. If the Congress does not pass a  “comprehensive, systematic and orderly legislation” by June 20, 2013, same-sex couples will automatically be granted all marriage rights. Their ruling held that the Colombian Constitution which defined a marriage between ‘man and woman’ does not “’imply a prohibition against a legal bond between homosexuals, similar or equal to that of the heterosexual couples.”

While the courts have been supportive, it seems unlikely that the legislature will be able to find a solution and the court’s ruling will take effect. According to Augusto Posada the Speaker of the House “the issue is not going, because I have not seen any initiative from the pews to pull it off,” indicating that religious opposition  may have something to do with senators indecision to find comprehensive legislation. Previously, six different bills attempting to legalize same-sex marriage have been proposed and defeated, with religious conservatives remaining opposed to any such legislation.

According to opposition within the Senate some believe that homosexuals cannot constitute a marriage or family, and if new legislation would grant those abilities as well as the ability to adopt would be the gateway to legitimatized pedophilia. While parts of the arguments seem archaic, Conservative party spokesman is weary of allowing the courts to dictate laws. Senator Hernán Andrade has called for the bill be put to a referendum, and see whether the citizens would support the bill.

According to polls taken back in 2010, Colombians seemingly support marriage equality, with 63% of Bogota supporting gay marriage.

For more information, please see:

El Tiempo – If There Is No Law, Gay Unions Would Be Entitled To Only Solemn – 23 March 2013

RCN Radio – Colombia Will Not marriages of Same-Sex Couples – 24 March 2013

Edge On The Net – Colombian High Court Stands Firm On Gay Rights Support – 13 March 2013

Gay Star News – Gay Marriage Bill Passes First Vote In Colombia – 5 December 2012

By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – With the unprecedented resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the quick inauguration of Argentinian bishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio South America rejoices and celebrates the first non-European pope in 700 years. However the ascension of Pope Francis has not been the boon that many activists hoped it would be, with the new pope’s past casting a shadow on the future of the Vatican’s stance on LGBT unions and adoption rights.

Fresh on many people’s minds will be how Pope Francis handles the clergy’s sexual abuse scandals that plagued Pope Benedict and the Vatican administration. With the resignation and litigation of many top cardinals, notably Britain’s Keith O’Brien and Los Angeles’s Roger Mahoy, many speculate whether the new pope will take a harsher stance. The question will become whether Pope Francis will continue to shield many complicit with the child abuse cover-ups or remove them from positions of power.

While Argentinians are naturally ecstatic about the selection, many voicing their opinions in support; many gay and lesbian South Americans are naturally skeptical. While many media outlets have noted statements made during 2010 coming out in favor of same-sex civil unions, this may have been us as a political smokescreen for private statements that may represent his, and the churches true views. During Argentina’s 2010 decision to legalize gay marriage with the Marriage Equality Bill he took a hard stance against it, declaring that all children have the fundamental right to be raised by a father and a mother, and not any “sinful” combination of the two.  However realizing that fighting gay marriage may have been a losing battle he insisting on supporting civil unions, as a way to undercut and prevent the passage of the bill.

Despite his attempt to derail the bill, it passed and allowed gays to adopt children without the three-year waiting period. His response? “Gay parenting is a rejection of God’s law engraved in our hearts.”

While not quite as adversarial as Cardinal Peter Turkson who supported homophobic legislation in Ghana that could make homosexuality punishable by death, Pope Francis does not represent a much more liberal and progressive stance on the issue. Only time will tell if his support of same sex civil unions was legitimate and whether he will shape the Vatican’s opinions of LGBT rights and marriage in a positive way, or whether it will be more and the same from the Golden City.

For more information, please see:

Mommyish – The New Pope Believes He Is The Authority On How Children Should Be Raised And Educated – 15 March 2013

Al Jazeera – Gay Argentine React To Pope Francis – 14 March 2013

News Vatican – Biography: Who Is Jorge Mario Bergoglio – 13 March 2013

NPR – As Pope Resigns, Clergy Abuse Survivors Remember 2008 Meeting – 27 February 2013

Mommyish – The Hypothetical New Pope Might Actually Be More Gay-Hatey Than The Old Pope – 17 February 2013

 

By Pearl Rimon
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – The former government officials responsible for tens of thousands of disappearances of dissidents in the southern region of South America during the 1970s and 1980s are standing trial for the first time. Twenty-five defendants, all former military officers, are accused of human rights abuses during Operation Condor, which was a decade-long campaign led by six allied military officials who conspired to find activists living in exile in neighboring countries.

Operation Condor coordinated the military dictatorships in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Opponents of the regimes were tracked down and often tortured or killed, these included guerrilla fighters, activists, students, priest and journalist.

The defendants include Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, who were former de factor presidents during the country’s 1976-83 military rule. Both are already serving life sentences for their role in the country’s Dirty War. The sole non-Argentine defendant is Uruguayan Manuel Cordero, a former colon charged with human rights violations from a Buenos Aires torture center. Videla and Bignone were accused of “illicit association” and “deprivation of personal liberty”.

“We’re delighted that after years of struggle this has finally come to trial,” says Alcira Ríos, the lawyer of a Paraguayan victim.

In 1980, a left-wing militant named Horacio Campligia was abducted in Rio de Janeiro and taken to a military base in Buenos Aires, which was his last known whereabouts. “The trial is historic as it’s the first to deal with the repression coordinated between Latin American dictatorships,” says Carolina Varsky, the lawyer representing Campiglia.

“This is a huge step to achieve the truth internationally…” said Atilio Borón, an Argentine political scientist.

The trial is expected to last two years and call 500 witnesses to testify. Judges are expected to rule on 106 victims’ cases directly from Operation Condor and on 56 cases stemming from a related operation. Most of these victims are Uruguayans who disappeared in Argentina, but citizens from neighboring countries were also affected.

“This is the first time in Latin America that a trial is being held over Operation Condor, to prosecute those responsible, above and beyond trials held in some countries for specific cases,” lawyer Luz Palmas of the Fundación Liga Argentina por los Derechos Humanos (FUNLADDHH), a human rights organization.

Operation Condor was backed by the United States. The investigation into the operation began in the late 1990s when impunity laws were still in place. Human rights have been a focal point in Argentina since Néstor Kirchner overturned impunity laws.

 

For more information, please see:

Christian Science Monitor — Argentina begins prosecution of military-era human rights abuses – 05 March 2013

Global Post — Argentine rights trial spotlights military abuses – 05 March 2013

Inter Press Service — Operation Condor on trial in Argentina – 05 March 2013

Yahoo! News — Argentina begins prosecution of military-era human rights abuses – 05 March 2013