By Paula Buzzi
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Fourth District Court of Sao Goncalo judge, Patricia Lourival Acioli, was murdered after being shot up to 21 times last Thursday outside her home by hooded gunmen only days after having delivered tough sentences to corrupt policemen.

According to witnesses, the gunmen were traveling on two motorbikes and shot at Acioli as she was arriving to her home in Niteroi. Acioli, 47, was a mother of three.

On Sunday, Rio de Janeiro investigators announced that, although 12 suspects have been named, finding the men responsible for her attack will be difficult due to her numerous adversaries who disagreed with her strong stance against government corruption.

In her 18-years as a judge, Acioli handed down approximately 60 sentences against policemen and former policemen which resulted in multiple death threats against her. Furthermore, Avioli’s name was also among the 12 listed in a handwritten death list issued by a recently arrested militia group.

According to Felipe Ettore, a leading investigator, the bullets used to shoot Acioli were ones typically found in the 45-caliber and 40-caliber pistols belonging to civil and military police as well as the Brazilian Armed Forces.

Patrick Wilcken, a Brazil Researcher at Amnesty International, views the killing of Avioli as a huge blow to the judicial system in Brazil. He urges Brazilian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to bring those rose responsible to justice and provide more protection for those fighting against police corruption.

“Patrícia Acioli’s brutal killing exposes a deeply troubling situation where corruption and organized crime are controlling large areas of life in parts of Rio de Janeiro today,” Wilcken said.

In a statement earlier this week, Brazil Supreme Court President Cesar Peluso called the crimes against magistrates “barbaric” and “cowardly,” and demanded a quick investigation and the rigorous punishment of those responsible.

In recent years, off-duty police and firefighters have joined militias that have contributed to the expansion of drug gangs and organized crime in Rio de Janeiro.

Acioli’s neighbors have hung black protest banners around their neighborhood reading “Who Silenced the Voice of Justice?”

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Killing of Brazilian judge exposes police corruption – 16 August 2011

CNN – Brazilian judge known for tough sentences slain – 14 August 2011

Aljazeera – Hardline Brazil judge gunned down – 13 August 2011

BBC News – Brazil judge Patricia Acioli shot dead in Niteroi– 12 August 2011

By Paula Buzzi
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil – An isolated Indian tribe living in the Amazon Basin rainforest has gone missing and is feared to have been massacred by Peruvian drug traffickers after an attack earlier this week on the Brazilian guard station put in place to protect them.

The tribe was first introduced in February after Brazil’s Indian Affairs Department released aerial film and still images of the tribe members covered in red body paint.

Since the discovery of the tribe, the National Indian Foundation of Brazil has tried to protect them from outsiders by placing guard posts around their territory in western Brazil.

On Monday, however, the human rights group “Survival International” stated that Brazilian officials have found no trace of the tribe after a group of men armed with sub-machine guns ransacked the guard posts.

Brazilian officials fear a tragic fate for the tribe after finding a 44 pound package of cocaine in the tribe’s territory and a broken arrow inside one of the attacker’s backpacks.

According to members of Survival International, the attackers are believed to be Peruvian drug traffickers who most likely used the tribe’s land, which is only 12 miles from the Peruvian border, as an entry point into Brazil. Some members of Survival International believe the attackers could also have been investigating a clearing to grow the cocaine plant, Coca.

Since the attack, Jose Carlos Meirelles, the former head of the guard station, and other guards have reported seeing several groups of armed men traveling around the area. Despite the imminent danger, Meirelles and his guards plan to stay at the posts for the protection of the Indians.

In a statement earlier this week, the head of the government’s isolated Indians department, Carlos Travassos said: “this situation could be one of the biggest blows we have ever seen in the protection of uncontacted Indians in recent decades.”

The tribe is believed to be among roughly 68 other isolated civilizations that live in the Amazon today and have never been contacted by the outside world.

A police team has embarked on a hunt for the attackers and Survival International has stated they will take all possible measures to make sure a similar attack does not occur again.

For more information, please see:

International Times – Uncontacted Amazon Tribe ‘Massacred’ by Peruvian Drug Traffickers – 10 August 2011

CNN – Amazon tribe may have fallen victim to drug traffickers – 09 August 2011

MSNBC – Reclusive Amazon tribe missing after attack – 09 August 2011

Survival International – Guard post for uncontacted Indians over-run by “drug traffickers” – 08 August 2011

by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – Four soldiers, who committed a massacre in 1982 in the town of Las Dos Erres, have recently been sentenced.  A Guatemalan court found all four guilty and each man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for each victim murdered.  The court placed the number of victims at 201 and additionally sentenced each of the four men to 30 years in prison, for crimes against humanity, sending each man to jail for 6,060 years. 

The four ex-soldiers, Manuel Pop Sun, Reyes Collin Gualip, Daniel Martínez Hernandez and Carlos Carías, were all members of an elite military force named the Kaibiles.  The men entered the town of Las Dos Erres in December of 1982 and over three days they questioned and killed men, women, children and the elderly of the village.  Victim’s bodies show evidence of torture and many of the women were raped.  Bodies of some victims were tossed down a village well.

The Kaibiles forces at the time were working to maintain the military rule of General Efraín Ríos Montt, in the face of many insurgent factions.  The village of Los Dos Erres was suspected of supporting and harboring left-wing guerillas.  Despite the court placing the number of victims at 201, local survivors and family members of victims claim that the true number killed is over 250. 

Back in 2001, then-President Alfonso Portillo acknowledged the government’s role in the massacre and awarded the families of victims a fund of $1.8 million.  Then in 2003, the Guatemalan government created the National Compensation Program (PNR) as a response to the 200,000 civilian deaths that occurred during the 36 year internal conflict.  Budget for the PNR stands at $40 million and the administration is working to resolve more than 98,000 complaints that have been filed.

The sentencing handed down on 3 August was the first effort by Guatemalan authorities to do more than set up monetary funding and to actually hold those responsible accountable for their actions.  Human rights groups applaud the effort as a solid first step but indicate that further action is needed. 

Sebastian Elgueta, a researcher for Amnesty International’s Central America division stated, “Although this ruling is a step forward in the fight against impunity in Guatemala, soldiers did not commit these crimes on their own initiative, and the authorities must bring to justice those all the way up the chain of command who planned and ordered the crimes.”

 

For more information, please see;

The Guatemala Times – Amnesty International: Guatemalan Former Soldiers Sentenced to 6,060 Years for Massacre – 4 August 2011

Jurist Legal News and Research – Guatemala Court Sentences Ex-Soldiers to Over 6,000 Years in Prison – 3 August 2011

Los Angeles Times – Human Rights Advocates Applaud Sentences in Guatemala Massacre – 3 August 2011

BBC News – Guatemala Dos Erres Massacre Soldiers Sentenced – 2 August 2011

Reuters News – Guatemala Sentences Four in Landmark Civil War Trial – 2 August 2011

by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

 BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Recent events in the Northern Province of Salta have shocked the traveling community.  Questions regarding the safety of visiting Argentina are being raised as a predominant concern in the wake of two violent murders. 

The bodies of two French tourists were found near hiking trails in the San Lorenzo hills last Friday.  A couple from Chaco was walking in the area, when they stumbled upon the bodies in a ravine just off the trail.  The bodies were identified as Moumni Houdop and Cassandre Bouvier.  Both women were French citizens around 30 years old.

The women were shot execution style, one in the back of the head and the other in her back.  Their clothes were ripped and both bodies had lacerations on them.  One of the bodies showed signs of sexual abuse.  The women had arrived in Salta on July 11 and checked into a hostel where they intended to stay until July 19.  They were last seen at their hostel on the 16th of July.

Police authorities have stated the belief that the women were most likely held for a number of days before being murdered.  The inability to account for the two women’s whereabouts, for a number of days, and their backpacks remaining at the hostel indicate that a kidnapping is likely.  It was released that the bodies were found roughly 48 to 72 hours after being shot.

José Hinojosa, the policeman in charge of Salta police press releases, stated that roughly 80 officers immediately and thoroughly searched the crime scene for evidence but were hindered by the hilly terrain, approaching night and cold temperatures.  Forensic authorities have verified that DNA evidence was recovered from the bodies.  Tests are being run and it is possible that the results will point officers towards those who so viciously committed these murders. 

French authorities noted that they wanted “those who are responsible to be identified and tried.”  The governor of Salta, Juan Manuel Uturbey, promised that authorities were working to “clear up this appalling crime immediately.”  At this point, two suspects have been brought in for questioning but no arrests have been made.  So far, no motive for the murders has been revealed. 

 

For more information, please see:

 The Argentina Independent – Two French Tourists Murdered in Salta – 30 July 2011

 CNN World – Argentinian Authorities: 2 French Tourists ‘Viciously’ Killed – 31 July 2011

 France 24 – Two French Tourists Killed in Northern Argentina – 1 August 2011

 MercoPress – Argentine Police on the Track of Two French Tourist Packers Killed in Salta – 1 August 2011

CNN World – Argentinian Authorities Arrest Second Suspect in Tourist Murders – 3 August 2011

By Paula Buzzi
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

QUITO, Ecuador – Directors and a former opinion editor of El Universo newspaper were sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday and are required to pay a $40 million dollar fine for an opinion article calling President Rafael Correa a dictator.

The article, which was published in February, accused President Correa of ordering his supporters to open fire at a hospital last September where he was being held hostage by the opposition party. President Correa called the negative press “baseless” and sued the newspaper for libel.

The day after the court ruling, El Universo published a quote from author Ayn Rand on a nearly blank front cover reading: “When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed.”

According to the former opinion editor, Emilio Palacio, the lawsuit was meant to serve as an example to other journalists of the consequences that result from publishing anything critical of the Ecuadorian government. Palacio also believes the lawsuit was motivated by financial gain since he believes the award money will go straight into President Correa´s pockets.

Jose Miguel Vivanco, the Americas director for Human Rights Watch, shared in El Universo´s outrage, stating that the decision constitutes a “major setback for free speech in Ecuador.” Reporters Without Borders, a France-based media watchdog, also accused the decision of being a contradiction to the freedom of expression laws set in place by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Alembert Vera, President Correa’s attorney, however, refuted the accusations and said the motivation behind the lawsuit was simply a “defense of honor” and that all the award money would go straight to the Yasuni-ITT environmental project. He plans to appeal the decision and seek the full $80 million dollars in damages he initially sought.

With international support behind them, El Universo´s lawyers are also appealing the decision, claiming that they were denied the ability to present evidence to support their case.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Ecuadorian paper reacts to libel ruling with nearly-empty front page – 22 July 2011

Univision – Ecuador libel case, jailing, draws worldwide criticism – 21 July 2011

The Wall Street Journal – Ecuador President Correa Wins Lawsuit Against El Universo Newspaper – 20 July 2011

CNN – Libel case pits Ecuador’s president against newspaper – 19 July 2011