By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Columbia–Colombia’s guerilla group FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, recently decided to free a French reporter, Romeo Langlois, who they kidnapped on April 28. A Red Cross official received a statement from the FARC group declaring Langlois’ release for Wednesday, May 30.

Langlois, 35, was kidnapped during a shootout with Colombian troops carrying out an anti-drug raid in the southern rebel stronghold of Caqueta. The Red Cross received a statement from FARC assuring that despite a minor wound in his left arm, Langlois is in good health. FARC has been using kidnapping as a means of extortion to pressure the government into relinquishing money and political control. 

FARC began in the 1960s as a Marxist movement but has developed into what the EU and the United States have labeled “a terrorist group” after the group’s involvement in kidnapping, extortion and drug trafficking.

The Colombian military has been targeting numerous high-ranking leaders of the FARC. The military has recently been saddled with the task of tracking down Alfonso Cano, FARC’s newest leader, after being successful in killing secretariat members of the group, Raul Hayes and Jorge Briceno.

In order to accomplish this goal, the military’s strategy has been to flood the region with ground troops to establish control over the territory. According to Lieutenant-Colonel Rodolfo Mantilla, commander of a Colombian battalion, this has proven to be a difficult endeavor because of the physical characteristics of the country. Mantilla explained, “Our troops can only move one or two kilometers a day because of the steep canyons and the landmines planted by the guerrillas. It is also difficult because it only takes one civilian to tell the FARC where our troops are and we can be easily ambushed.”

The Colombian military continues to work with the United States’ sponsored crackdown against FARC, however the group is still in control of remote jungle areas and has been carrying out attacks on oil and mining projects in the past few months.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Sanchez has repeatedly demanded that Langlois be freed, while his minister of defense urged against negotiating with these “terrorists.” In February, FARC said it would stop taking hostages to pay for weapons, uniforms, and food. However, the group made no promises to stop taking hostages to pressure the government or make political statements.  

For further information, please see:

CNN–Colombia’s FARC Rebels to Release French Journalist, Statement Says–27 May 2012

Colombia Reports–FARC Plans to Free French Journalist Wednesday–27 May 2012

The Telegraph–FARC to Release French Journalist on Wednesday–27 May 2012

Colombia Journal–The Hunt for FARC Commander Alfonso Cano–17 January 2011

RIA Novosti–Colombian Rebels “Agree” to Release French Reporter–14 May 2012

 

 

By Paula Buzzi
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – The Colombian government rejected on Tuesday the FARCs request for a debate on freedom of information in exchange for the release of French journalist Romeo Langlois. Langlois was taken hostage on April 28 while documenting  counter-narcotics operations in Colombia for the news network France 24. He was kidnapped when the plantoon he was with came under fire.

The FARC, unsatisfied with the way they have been portrayed by the media, demanded on Monday that the Colombian government hold a debate on the role of the press in covering the armed conflict in the Andean nation. They posted their demand on the Sweden-based Anncol news agency where they frequently post as a way to communicate with the government. The FARC has accused the Colombian government of manipulating the way journalists have bent public opinion against them.

Amnesty International and Inter American Press Association responded to the FARC’s by demanding that they release Langlois without any conditions. “Langlois must be released immediately without any conditions and measures should be taken to ensure that all journalists in Colombia can carry out their work freely,” they said in a statement on Tuesday.

Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon told reporters on Tuesday that the Colombian government will not negotiate with criminal groups such as the FARC which has carried out countless criminal acts through out the years. “No way will we engage in any kind of debate. … They must free him as soon as possible,” he said.

The FARC has called Langlois a “prisoner of war” on their YouTube channel. Pinzon says that they cannot call him a prisoner of war because he was just doing his job as a journalist.

According to Pinzon, the Colombian government has been in contact with the diplomats from the French Embassy to discuss plans for Langlois’ immediate release since the kidnapping. He says, however, that no rescue operations have been launched yet.

Despite some setbacks in the recent years, the FARC remains the number one threat to the Colombia government, with roughly 8,000 rebels still fighting. They are widely known for drug trafficking and deadly kidnappings. In February, the FARC announced that they would stop taking hostages for ransom, however, they claim that they never agreed to stop kidnapping for political means to pressure the Colombian government.

By Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LA PAZ, Bolivia – Public workers, including teachers and health service providers, throughout Bolivia continue to strike in protest of the recent passage of Supreme Decree 1126.  The newly-passed decree mandates that the previous 6-hour work day be increased to an 8-hour work day, with no increase in salary, for those in the public sector.

The strike began on March 28, and just last week, a number of the groups began hunger strikes.  News sources in Bolivia report that close to 500 workers have joined in on the national hunger strikes.  Saúl Azcárraga, the leader of the Federation of Urban Teachers expressed the hunger strikers stance from a small school room in La Paz.

“Not a single drop of water nor food will enter their room. We assume this measure because in 2010 the government signed an agreement about salaries and hours but is not honoring the agreement,” Azcárraga said.

Rural teachers in Bolivia currently make almost twice the amount of an urban teacher.  In 2010 the Morale’s administration agreed to work to equalize pay rates progressively; but almost no steps to achieve this were taken.

Medical workers in state facilities echo similar concerns.  They are outraged over the labour reforms by President Evo Morales because they violate earlier agreements made in the 1970s that established this 6-hour day for them.  Currently, Bolivian public sector doctors make roughly $200 a week, receive no benefits, no pension, and no overtime pay.

President for the Committee of Doctors on Strike, Francisco Sanchez, emphasized that those in the medical profession have previously asked and presented reasonable arguments for their incorporation into the General Labour Act.  Each time the government refuses to listen.

“We workers have always said that we do not agree to work eight hours of the working day . . . . Unfortunately, the authorities do not take this request seriously, or the arguments we give them. For this reason, in a situation of despair, not knowing what else to do, we have taken this extreme measure, the hunger strike, to raise awareness in front of the authorities,” said Sanchez.

Juan Carlos Calvimontes, the Minister of Health, maintains that the strike is “illegal.”  Calvimontes is calling for the docking of doctors pay during the time that they are on strike.  On March 31 the protestors hosted a “White Apron” March through downtown La Paz and burned an effigy of Calvimontes while calling for a repeal of the decree.

President Morales expressed his unwillingness to consider revoking the decree in a conference held on Tuesday last week.  Morales said that the decree was not his own initiative but one proposed at the Plurinational Social Meeting and supported by the Bolivian people.

On Tuesday, Morales emphasized the government’s firm stance that any worker’s who choose to strike are acting illegally.  Morales also announced that workers will have their pay reduced for each day that they take to the streets in protest.

“[A] day worked, a day paid, he who doesn’t work does not get paid,” said Morales.

 

For more information, please see;

NTN24 News – More Than 500 Public Workers Join Bolivian Hunger Strike – 19 April 2012

Bolivia Weekly – Striking Medical Workers Will Get no Pay – 18 April 2012

Bolivia Weekly – Doctors and Teachers on Strike – 17 April 2012

Latino Life – Bolivia: Doctors and Teachers go on Strike – 16 April 2012

World Socialist Web Site – Bolivian Doctors and Health Workers Strike, Demonstrate Against Decree – 3 April 2012

 

by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – As the 30 year anniversary of the Falklands war passes by, new tensions are brewing in the island community.  Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is still asserting an Argentine claim over the archipelago, which goes against the current British governance that exists.

The 74-day war, for control of the Falklands, took place between Britain and Argentina from April to June of 1982.  The war was brief but very violent; with 649 Argentinian soldiers being killed and 225 British soldiers.

A recent class action lawsuit was started by conscripted Argentine soldiers who fought in the Malvinas (what the Argentines refer to the Falklands as).  Led by Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the suit claims that human rights violations were committed by the Argentinian military commanders.  Over 100 ex-soldiers are now part of the suit.

During the first week in April, the case made an Amicus Curiae presentation before the Argentine Supreme Court at the Tribunals Palace in Buenos Aires.  Criminal Chamber Prosecutor, Javier de Luca asked that the court rule on whether the claims of torture and other abuses practiced on conscripted soldiers could be called war crimes.

The claims include stories of beatings, lack of food, psychological punishments and even being staked to the ground.  Rubén Gleriano, one of the conscripted soldiers who is part of the suit, recalls that on May 27, 1982, he was caught stealing food.  Gleriano says that he stole because he was starving.  The only food he had received in the past two days was a chocolate bar on May 25, as a celebration of Argentina’s national day.

The punishment inflicted on Gleriano for this was staking him to the ground for a period of ten hours, from 4pm until 2am the next morning.  The night was freezing cold and Gleriano almost died from hypothermia that night.  He did not regain consciousness until 2 days after his fellow soldiers were able to sneak out and take him down from the stake.

Similar stories are repeated by the other conscripted soldiers who were forced to fight for Argentina.  Rations were rarely provided, often soldiers were given a days worth of food and told they had to make it last for a week.  Suitable clothing to protect against the cold was never provided and half of the weapons given to soldiers were not functioning.

Following the war, studies show that roughly 400 Argentine veterans have committed suicide.  Soldiers who were released from their conscription were forced to sign a silence agreement that banned them from recounting the stories they had of the war, even to their own families.  It is only recently that a true picture of the Falklands/Malvinas war has emerged.  Much of this is attributed to the fact that the war was a point of embarrassment, something that Argentina wanted to cover up.  Additionally, the acts were done during a brutal military dictatorship, something which the current government wants to distance itself from.

Despite this, the court ruled that the crimes had prescribed.  Those involved in the case will still pursue their claims.  A report that was commissioned shortly after the end of the war, the “Rattenbach Report,” was recently given to President Fernandez.  The report was never released as it was considered to be “too crude and damning towards the commanding officers.”  The ex-soldiers, abused in the war, hope that in the end justice will prevail.

 

For more information, please see;

MercoPress – Malvinas Veterans Revisit Scenes of War Where They Were Tortured by Their Officers – 20 April 2012

The Guardian – Falklands War: 30th Anniversary  a “Day for Reflection” – 2 April 2012

Space War – Argentine Falklands Vet Sue for Abuse, Torture – 1 April 2012

Denver Post – 30 Years After Falklands War Visible Scars Remain – 31 March 2012

MercoPress – Legal Actions Against Argentine Officers who Tortured Conscripts During Malvinas War – 26 March 2012