by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay – Tensions between Paraguay and Brazil have recently soared with the mobilization of Brazilian troops along the border of the two countries.  Brazil’s movements just across from the Paraguayan state of Alto Paraná have been attributed to a Brazilian plan to impede the illegal drug shipments occurring at the border.

Paraguayans view the troops in a more suspicious light and link it to the recent unrest between Paraguayan peasants and Brazilian land-owners.  The escalating and at times violent confrontations revolve around allegations of corruption in the Paraguayan government allowing Brazilian farmers to occupy land illegally.

These land disputes across the countryside have resulted in reports of shootings.  In September of this year, Brazilian police and Paraguayan armed forces were thought to have exchanged fire.  Multiple skirmishes have occurred between the Paraguayan police and the landless peasant movement.  There has also been fighting between the peasants and armed militias, which have been formed by Brazilian farmers.

Most compelling in this recent development is the reality of Brazilian troops occupying the Friendship Bridge in the border town of Ciudad de Este.  What began as sporadic occupation is now a perpetual presence by all three branches of the Brazilian forces; air force, army and navy.  Foremost in many citizen’s minds are memories of the violent war, which occurred just over a century ago, and the subsequent Brazilian occupation of Paraguay.

Alfonso Gonzalez Nuñez, head of the Paraguayan delegation to the Paralsur, characterized the Brazilian troops as “provocative military intimidation” and points out that the huge display by Brazil of both troops and equipment are in an area that is legally protected from any type of military occupation due to international treaties regulating border relations of neighboring states.

Brazil has adamantly defended its actions with the need to establish checkpoints, along the border, to stop the smuggling of drugs and weapons that go to the gangs in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janiero.  They refer to the mission as “Agata 2” and plan to extend it along the border shared with Uruguay.

For now the border has not been breached by Brazilian troops so a tense acknowledgement and acceptance of their presence is the Paraguayan approach.  Paraguay’s president, Fernando Lugo, a former bishop who worked extensively with the landless poor of the country, has displayed a firm stance on the matter.

“[N]ot even one millimeter of the territorial sovereignty of the country can be bothered.  If that happens, the Paraguayan reaction will be swift,” was President Lugo’s statement.

For more information, please see;

In Sight – Paraguay Slams Brazil’s Militarization of Border – 21 November 2011

Merco Press – Paraguayan Lawmakers Accuse Brazil of “Provocative Military Intimidation” – 21 November 2011

New York Times – Drills Heighten Brazil-Paraguay Tension – 23 October 2011

Merco Press – Brazil Deploys 7,000 Troops Along Southern Borders to Combat Organized Crime – 20 September 2011

by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America 

BRÁSILIA, Brazil – This past Friday, an indigenous leader of the Guarani tribe was shot to death in front of his people.  Nisio Gomes was the 59 year old leader of an indigenous tribe that had recently returned to their ancestral land amid controversy.

Witnesses report that 40 gunmen assaulted the tribe early Friday morning in the southwestern region of Mato Grosso do Sul.  Gomes was shot in the head, arms, chest and legs and then his body was dragged away to a location that is still undetermined.  Gomes’ son was shot with rubber bullets when he tried to intervene and stop the attackers.  It is reported by Al Jazeera news agency that three other Guarani tribal members were also taken in the attack.

Police believe at this time that the gunmen were hired by local ranchers; attempting to remove the presence of the Guarani.  The tribe had been evicted earlier due to a dispute with the cattle ranchers regarding land ownership.  The tribe had recently returned to the area, in early November, setting up camp near the town of Amambai.

“Everything indicates that ranchers, who want the land to raise cattle and plant sugarcane, hired the gunmen to get rid of Gomes, who was an outspoken defender of Indian rights,” said Renato Santana the spokesman for the Indian Missionary Council.

The identities of the gunmen have yet to be released.  The state-run newspaper, Agencia Brasil, reports that identification of the shooters will be near impossible as they covered their faces.

In the Mato Grosso do Sul region, roughly 50,000 indigenous people live in extreme poverty and are constantly fighting ranchers for rights to the land.  The region is coveted by the ranchers because it is prime cattle raising land.  On the other side of the battle are the indigenous Guarani, who are attempting to defend it as tribal lands guaranteed to them by the Brazilian constitution.

Human rights activists have arrived to conduct investigations into what is being termed by the Brazilian government as a systematic campaign of violence towards the Guarani people.  Officials report that in the past eight years over 250 Guarani people have been killed in the Mato Grosso do Sul state alone.

“The people will stay in the camp; we will all die here together. We are not going to leave our ancestral land,” was the statement of one Guarani to the Roman Catholic Indigenous Missionary Council.

For more information, please see;

Aljazeera – Brazilian Indigenous Leader Killed – 20 November 2011

BBC – Brazil Indigenous Guarani Leader Nisio Gomes Killed – 18 November 2011

CNN – Brazilian Indigenous Chief Executed, Dragged by Gunmen – 18 November 2011

The New York Times – Brazil: Chief Killed in Land Dispute – 18 November 2011

by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America 

BRASÍLIA, Brazil – The eighth murder of an environmental activist, since May of this year, has occurred.  Joao Chupel Primo, a 55 year old activist in the northern state of Para was shot in the head by two unknown men.

The Argentina Independent reports that Primo was approached at his mechanic shop by two unknown men asking for car repair work to be performed.  Upon approaching them, one of them pulled a gun and shot Primo in the head.  He died shortly after from the bullet wound.

Primo was an active protestor against the deforestation occurring in Brazil’s rain forest.  He was currently working on the Projeto de Assentamento Areia (Area Settlement Project) which publicly criticized the illegal logging taking place in the Riozinho de Anfrisio reserve.

“He was receiving death threats and had already been physically abused,” said Gilson Rego the spokesman for the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT).

Other protestors and environmental agencies don’t hesitate to link Primo’s murder to his protests.  Rego points to just a few weeks ago, in early October, where demonstrations by Primo led to a police investigation to halt illegal logging near Itaituba.  The land conflict issue has been strained to a near breaking point in recent months with the seven previous murders; including those of husband and wife Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo da Silva.

Following Primo’s murder prosecutors in Para have sought protection by the federal police for two other protestors who witnessed the illegal deforestation taking place in the Itaituba region.  CPT also points out that the police had been informed by Primo of the death threats he received but did nothing in response.  Similar stories of failure to act by the police have come out of the other environmentalist murders.

CPT also published a letter from the Bishop of Itaituba, Dom Frei Wilmar Santin, condemning the murder.  In the letter Santin points to President Dilma Roussef’s administration as being incapable of addressing the problem and therefore responsible for the murders.

“Since 2005 until now over 20 people were killed in the region of Para,” says the Bishop in his letter.

This most recent murder of Primo contributes to an alarming trend that seems to be developing in Brazil; an attitude that permits an atmosphere of total impunity to exist around these unsolved and unprosecuted murders.

For more information, please see;

The Argentina Independent – Brazil: Environmental Rights Defender Murdered – 27 October 2011

Front Line Defenders – Brazil: Killing of Environmental Rights Defender Mr. Joao Chupel Primo – 27 October 2011

Intercontinental Cry – The Killings Must Stop Brazil: Murder of Another Peasant Leader – 26 October 2011

Yahoo News – Eighth Brazilian Farmer Since May Killed in Amazon – 25 October 2011

By Paula Buzzi
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

VALENCIA, Venezuela — Five alleged abductors, including a Colombian linked to paramilitary and kidnapping groups, were arrested on Friday in connection to the kidnapping of Washington Nationals’ catcher Wilson Ramos. Ramos, 24, was abducted at gunpoint outside his home on Wednesday night and held for ransom by his abductors until police managed to save him in a violent rescue mission on Friday.

Ramos, a Venezuela native, had returned to his homeland to play during the offseason in a Venezuelan league. He was with relatives outside his house, located in a working-class neighborhood in Valencia, when he was thrown into an SUV by the abductors and taken into the mountains. For two days, he was put in a room with a bed and was told that he was going to be ransomed out for “a ton of cash.”

Venezuelan police were able to track down and rescue Ramos on Friday after locating the stolen SUV which was used for the kidnapping. They exchanged heavy gun fire with the kidnappers outside the home where he was being held. President Huge Chavez authorized the aerial search mission.

Ramos, who was unharmed, has been reunited with his family. His mother, Maria Campos de Ramos, thanked God, her country, her neighbors, and her family for all the support on national television.

According to Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami, authorities have arrested five of the captors. They are still searching for four Colombian men who escaped during the rescue.

Ramos’ kidnapping is the first known kidnapping of a Major League Baseball player in Venezuela. His kidnapping ordeal ended happily for him and his family with a successful rescue, but it is not a common ending for many of Venezuela’s hostages who typically die when a large ransom is not paid.

Kidnappings in Venezuela have soared in the recent years and have become a huge problem for the Chavez administration. Government statistics reveal that 859 kidnappings were reported last year; a number 20 times higher since Chavez first came to power 13 years ago.

One of Ramos’ representatives announced on twitter today that, despite the kidnapping ordeal, Ramos still intents to play for the Venezuelan Winter League on Wednesday, November 16.

For further information, please see:

NPR – In Venezuela, An Abduction Highlights A Scourge – 13 November 2011

The Boston Globe – Ramos Thankful After Kidnapping Ordeal – 13 November 2011

Yahoo Sports – Kidnapping Ordeal Over, Wilson Ramos Intends to Play in Venezuela – 13 November 2011

Fox News – Venezuelan Police Free Major Leaguer Wilson Ramos – 11 November 2011