The Nasa tribe in Colombia has long been caught in the crossfire between government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attacks. As the fighting has increased in recent months, the tribe has asked both sides to leave the area, a known corridor for drug smuggling.

The Colombian government has based much of its security strategy around territorial control and protection of populations. Security gains in recent years have come due to increased security presence in population centers. They believe that removing the military from the area would cede ground to the FARC and be a step back in terms of security.

Intense fighting in Cauca between government forces and leftist FARC guerrillas has driven more than 2,800 indigenous and mestizo people from their homes in the past two weeks.  The Association of Indigenous Governments of North Cauca, or ACIN, had set a deadline of midnight Monday for all “armed actors” to vacate the 14 Indian reserves in the region.

“We profoundly regret having to use force to restore our constitutional rights. This could have been avoided if the army heeded our request in due form and the government had ordered them to leave,” the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca said in a statement to the Associated Press.

The military personnel that faced attacks on Tuesday were lauded for not resorting to the use of force against the Nasa.  Many soldiers engaged in non-violent resistance strategies in an attempt to prevent their removal from the post.

Unfortunately, events took a turn on Wednesday.  Riot police firing tear gas and shotguns retook the strategic communications outpost located on a hill in Colombia’s turbulent southwest.  Eight Nasa Indians were injured, though none seriously.

In an unrelated incident in the same region Wednesday, soldiers shot and killed a man when he ignored orders to halt at a military roadblock, Toribio’s chief of security told The Associated Press.

The man was not an Indian, said the official, Carlos Pascue, but a group of Nasas angered by the killing seized 30 soldiers and held them for 10 hours before releasing them.

Critics have scolded President Juan Manuel Santos for failing to protect troops.  Colombia’s constitution recognizes the autonomy of the indigenous peoples and their right to exercise control over their designated territories.  However, Santos said the government would not remove soldiers from the area, but it was open to dialogue even though pulling troops out from the region was not negotiable.

It is unclear whether this incident will have an appreciable impact on Colombia’s 2014 presidential elections.

For further information, please see:

 AJC – Colombia’s military retakes hilltop from Indians – 18 July 2012

BBC News – In pictures: Indigenous Colombians expel soldiers – 18 July 2012

Christian Science Monitor – Armed with sticks, Colombia’s Nasa Tribe attacks a military base – 18 July 2012

Reuters – Colombian forces clash with indigenous group, blame rebels – 18 July 2012

Fox News Latino – Indigenous People Confront Army In Colombia – 17 July 2012

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru—Manuel is one of many young Latin American boys who wake up around four in the morning to help his family with the harvest before setting off for an hour-long walk to school. Manuel is one of 215 million children around the world who faces this type of lifestyle—sometimes he doesn’t go to school at all.

In Latin America, one in ten children and adolescents work like young Manuel, and mostly in agriculture. The majority of them grow up in poverty, and while this problem percolates throughout Latin America, the International Labor Organizations notes that it is the most serious in Peru. In Peru, about 28% of children have a job—often in dangerous jobs such as mining and construction.

Last week, on Wednesday July 11, 2012, Peru’s labor ministry announced a $13 million project to improve access to education in rural areas of the country. The $13 million grant given by the United States will also help parents by augmenting their incomes and crop yields so that they become less dependent on their children for labor.

United States Ambassador to Lima, Rose Likins, welcomed the grant and said, “This pilot project will speed up the reduction of child labor, encouraging girls and boys to go, and stay, in school.” She also noted that education is the key to ending the cycle of poverty in Peru.

This Project will fund training and assistance for rural families to increase incomes without the use of child labor and expand opportunities for vocational training for Peruvian children. The Project also aims to help at-risk communities to partner with government institutions to organize and improve public services.

The Project Director, Maro Guerrero, said that the project may not end child labor altogether, as Peru is not opposed to children working, however, their work should not interfere with school and should never involve dangerous activities.

Some children and young adults oppose this Project, arguing that it will take away their right to work. Peruvian children have worked in the fields since Inca times, and Manthoc, a Peruvian organization representing child workers, believe this tradition should continue as part of the normal development of the Peruvians.

The Peruvian government hopes to persuade rural families not to send their kids to work. Government officials know that it will not be easy unless they can improve income and employment opportunities for the millions of Peruvian who live in poverty.

 

For further information, please see:

The Guardian – Peru Takes its First Step in the Eradication of Child Labor – 16 July 2012

Angola Press – Peru Launches Project to Fight Child Labor – 12 July 2012

International Business Times – Peru Launches Anti-Child Labor Project With $13M US Grant – 12 July 2012

BBC News – Peru Launches Project to Fight Child Labor – 11 July 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, Argentina’s former dictators were sentenced on Thursday, August 6, to fifty years (Videla) and fifteen years (Bignone) in jail for masterminding a plan to steal the children of political opponents, kill their mothers, and send them to live and be raised by “good” military families.

The verdict last week was the conclusion of a trial that began in February 2011, during which hundreds of hours of testimony were heard proving that these kidnappings were a deliberate policy action carried out by the top leaders of Videla and Bignone’s regimes. British journalist and one of the main witnesses in the trial, Robert Cox, noted that “the kidnapping of newly born babies is the last crime that former members of the military regime are willing to admit. It’s like the Nazis, what they did was so terrible they could never admit it.”

Shortly after Videla’s regime came to an end and Argentina’s democracy was restored in 1983, a “Never Again” commission was created documenting thousands of crimes against humanity throughout the military regime. However, hardly any of these crimes were brought to court and prosecuted until the late Nestor Kirchner was elected to the presidency 20 years later.

While an estimated 30,000 people were killed under Videla and Bignone’s regimes, this trial was brought in order to establish the true identities of about 500 babies that were alleged to be stolen by the dictators. At the conclusion of the trial, the prosecution could prove that over 100 babies were stolen—some were born in captivity, while others were kidnapped with their families, and raised by other families linked to the dictatorship.

Spectators watched in anticipation and celebration as the verdicts were announced on large television screens outside the federal courthouse of Buenos Aires. Human rights activist Tati Almeida exclaimed, “This is an historic day. Today legal justice has been made real — never again the justice of one’s own hands.”

Today, 105 of these kidnapped children, now in their 30s, have undergone DNA tests and have been reunited with their families through the efforts of an organization called Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo that was created by the mothers of missing women whose infants were stolen.

As the effort to restore Argentina’s democracy continues, Juan Garcia, who was left at an orphanage after his father was murdered by a military guerrilla group, said, “We’ll continue this fight for justice.”

 

For further information, please see:

Belle News – Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone Found Guilty of Babies Theft in Argentina – 9 July 2012

The Guardian – Jorge Rafael Videla Convicted of Baby Thefts – 6 July 2012

The Telegraph – Former Argentine Dictators Found Guilty of Baby Thefts – 6 July 2012

Winnepeg Free Press – Argentina’s Dictators Guilty of Stealing Babies From Prisoners – 5 July 2012

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

ASUNCION, Paraguay — Paraguay’s now formerly ousted President Fernando Lugo has accused the country’s Congress of a “parliamentary coup d’etat” in order to force him out of power. Lugo, 61, said he would accept the decision in the name of peace but also made the following statement: “Lugo has not been dismissed; democracy has been dismissed. They have not respected the popular will.”

Friday, June 22, Fredrico Franco, the former vice president of Paraguay, was sworn in as the new president after the legislature voted to dismiss Lugo, who they said failed to fulfill his duties to maintain social harmony in the country. While Paraguay has long been ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in South America, Lugo was found to be indecisive in the face of the country’s challenges with corruption and drug trafficking.

Shortly before midnight on Sunday, June 24, Lugo made an appearance at a local demonstration where he told his supporters that his Presidency was targeted because he tried to offer support and aid to Paraguay’s poor majority.

Lugo’s impeachment and trial sparked after clashes during a recent land eviction resulted in 17 deaths of both police and land peasant farmers. Critics of the impeachment process in Paraguay argued, however, that Mr. Lugo’s lawyers only had a few hours to defend him in the Senate, after which Franco was quickly sworn in to the position.

When asked whether this decision thwarted the democratic setup of the government, new President Franco replied, “there was no break with democracy here. The transition of power through political trial is established in the national constitution.”

The Inter-American Human Rights Commission addressed its own concerns with the ousting of former President Lugo. Santiago Canton, the commission’s executive secretary noted, “It’s a travesty of justice and a trampling on the rule of law to remove a president in 24 hours without guarantees of due process.”

Argentinian President, Cristina Kirchner, took a firm stand saying that her country “will not validate this coup d’etat,” while the Brazilian government took a similar view that Lugo’s impeachment was “a rupture of the democratic order in Paraguay” that “compromises a fundamental pillar of democracy, an essential condition for regional integration.” Germany is the only foreign government to recognize the new leadership in Paraguay.

In order to restore its full democratic order, Paraguay now looks to its powerful neighbors for support with its new internal reform.

 

For further information, please see:

EIN News – Neighbors Protest as Paraguay Impeaches President – 25 June 2012

The Washington Post – Paraguay’s Lugo Says Parallel Govt Seeks to Regain Power; New Leader Rejects Region’s Response – 25 June 2012

Merco Press – Franco: “No Coup, a Change of Leadership”; Germany Admits New Government – 24 June 2012

The Telegraph – Paraguay’s Ousted Leader Fernando Lugo Denounces ‘Coup’ – 24 June 2012