By Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – Inmates in Venezuelan prisons have taken prison officials hostage on two separate occasions in the last two months.  On April 27, 2011, at the El Rodeo prison, 22 employee hostages were taken.  State officials said that the hostages were taken by the inmates to protest an alleged tuberculosis outbreak.

The hostile take-over ended eight days later when the prison director and 21 prison employees were released.  Officials agreed to the inmate’s demands to screen all incoming patients and dismiss one health official within the prison.

On May 20, 2011, at the Caracas prison, the prison director and 14 other employees were taken hostage for over a day as a protest against prisoner mistreatment.  The hostage situation began when inmates physically clashed with the National Guard as they were taken to court.

Caracas inmates demanded that their rights be respected and that certain administrative officials be dismissed.  No dismissals resulted; however, state officials agreed to investigate alleged incidents of prisoner abuse and to more closely monitor prison employees.

A recent investigation into the San Antonio prison on Margarita Island has revealed a bizarre situation.  Inmates of the prison are not incarcerated in the traditional sense.  Here, the prisoners have taken control.  Children of inmates swim in a prison pool, wives and girlfriends visit regularly and satellite TV is provided.  Prisoners mingle freely with each other and with visitors.  Not only are they permitted to bet on cock fights, but prisoners openly engage in the sale and use of drugs and firearms.

An incarcerated drug trafficker, Teófilo Rodriguez, referred to as “El Conejo” (The Rabbit) is in control of the prison.  He uses other inmates as personal body guards to enforce his power via intimidation and beatings of other prisoners with baseball bats.  The prison warden is there simply to decide who is permitted in.  Guards search visitors on the way in but not on the way out.  Thus, the prison, filled with convicted drug felons, has become a haven for violence and drug trafficking.

For decades, Venezuela has been unsuccessful in tackling the challenges facing its prison system.  Overcrowding, inmate gang disputes and prison official corruption are just the beginning.  Research done by human rights groups reported that last year, 476 prisoners were killed during their incarceration.  This is roughly 1% of the Venezuelan prisoner population.

For more information, please see;

The New York Times – Where prisoners can do anything, except leave – 3 June 2011

MSNBC – Inmates free 15 hostages at Venezuela prison – 21 May 2011

Times Union – Inmates free 15 hostages at Venezuela prison – 21 May 2011

ABC News – 22 hostages held at Venezuelan prison – 29 April 2011

By Eric C. Sigmund
Managing Editor of News

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay – About 200 Uruguayans were kidnapped and murdered by military officials during the military dictatorship which ruled Uruguay from 1973-1985. Since the demise of the military regime, human rights activists have sought to bring those military leaders responsible for the detainment and state-sanctioned executions to justice for human rights violations. Over 25 years later, Uruguay’s Supreme Court ruled last week that the actions of two military officials accused of killing 28 people did not amount to human rights crimes.

The country has long debated how to address dictatorship-era crimes. A 1986 amnesty law currently protects former military officers from prosecutions for crimes committed during military rule. While the country’s legislature is currently deciding whether to repeal the law, stiff opposition from within President Jose Mujica’s ruling leftist coalition is causing political fragmentation within Parliament.

President Mujica, who has traditionally been supportive of the amnesty law, has said that he would not veto a repeal of the law. Despite the President’s support of the military, his ruling coalition has stressed that many of the cases against military officials fall outside the purview of the amnesty law. This has allowed the government to convict 20 former military officials since 2005. Many citizens however, remain unhappy with the government’s progress, noting that the amnesty law continues to shield some high profile officials from the reach of the law.

Last week’s ruling was another blow to human rights activists. While not denying the significant evidence of guilt presented against the officers, the Court ruled that the killings should be classified as murders rather than human rights violations. The Court’s decision is significant since the statute of limitations for murder in Uruguay, twenty years, has already expired. There is no statute of limitations for human rights crimes.

Human rights groups have been vocal in their opposition to the Court’s ruling. Representatives of the Memory and Justice Assembly called the ruling a “disgrace that will go down in history.” The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has also urged the Uruguayan government to lift all restrictions to prosecution.

Perhaps the staunchest criticism of the government’s attempts to annul the amnesty law has come from within the military. A number of soldiers have condemned trials against former military officials and have called for an end to “political persecution.” Colonel José Araujo, further raised the prospect of fierce governmental infighting, stating that continued prosecution “may destabilize the country.”

While commentators have denied the existence of any tangible threats to democracy in the country, the process moving forward will likely continue to divide the country. Repeal of the 1986 amnesty bill could open the door for the prosecution of at least 10 more former military officials.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Uruguay Rules State killings Not Human Rights Crimes – 13 May, 2011

Agence France Presse – Amnesty Law Overturn Stirs up Old Passions in Uruguay – 9 May, 2011

Guardian – Uruguay Split Over Ending Amnesty for Rights Violations Under Dictatorship – 26 April, 2011

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – According to reports, the Organization of American States has expressed concerns over the terrorizing of Colombia’s civilian population by criminal groups comprised of now-demobilized paramilitary members. OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza acknowledged the disappearance of the paramilitary group the Unified Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (“AUC”) as “a political reality,” but emphasized that the OAS is “concerned that the civilian population is still caught in the dynamics imposed by criminal groups post-demobilization.”

Based on the recent OAS Mission to Support the Peace Process report, violence against and displacement of rural Colombian populations is said to be highest in Antioquia, Choco, Nariño and Corodba. Insulza stated that “”it remains imperative to strengthen the economic and community reintegration of villages, ” that are still faced with these demobilization challenges.

The AUC’s demobilization process was carried out from 2003-2006 under former President Alvaro Uribe’s administration. The process is now widely considered to have failed due to the rearming of several paramilitary fighters after the process.

There are several primary reasons for these failures. For example, the Colombian government has failed to offer low and mid-level fighters the same benefits being offered to top AUC leaders. Many of these low and mid-level fighters subsequently went on to join neo-paramilitary organizations. An NGO report from March this year suggested that these criminal groups are present in nearly a third of Colombia.

According to Justice and Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras, as a result of this vast presence, the groups could pose threats to the October 2011 elections. Insulza did not point specifically to the Justice and Peace Law, which forced this demobilization. Rather, Insulza  pointed to the economic and psychological problems of reintegrating former fighters into society due to the current unemployment levels in Colombia and the “stigma” attached to being a former paramilitary.

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports – Colombian Citizens Continue to be Victims of Demobilized AUC: OAS – 20 April 2011

Colombia Reports – Red Cross Labels Criminal Gangs as Primary Concern – 14 April 2011

Upside Down World – Rising from the Ashes of Demobilization in Colombia – 13 April 2011

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SAU PAULO, Brazil – The Brazilian government refused  to suspend work on a huge hydroelectric dam in the Amazon despite pleas from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the project could displace tens of thousands of indigenous people and cause environmental harm. The Belo Monte dam is slated to be the world’s third largest hydroelectric dam.

The Commission did not request the complete termination of the project, but rather just to put it on hold until the developers “complied with its legal obligations to consult with indigenous groups.”

Among the Commission’s requests were measures to prevent the spread of diseases that could result from the large population influx during construction.  Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the requests “premature and unjustified.”

The $17 billion dam has long been a contentious issue between the Brazilian government and the indigenous people. The dam would divert the flow of the Xingu River along a 62-mile stretch in Pará state. Environmental groups say it would flood more than 120,000 acres of rain forest and local settlements, displacing at least 20,000 people and releasing large quantities of methane. Brazil’s government does not refute that the dam would displace individuals, but claims that the number is significantly less than 20,000.

David Fleischer, a political science professor at Brasilia University, said the government “is going to move forward with the Belo Monte project regardless of any complaints or protests.” Higher federal courts have rejected legal challenges to the project.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Brazil Rejects Request to Halt Belo Monte Dam in Amazon – 6 April 2011

Forbes – OAS Human Rights Group Weighs in on Brazil’s Amazon Dam – 5 April 2011

New York Times – Brazil Rejects Panel’s Request to Stop Dam – 5 April 2011

Voice of America – Commission Urges Brazil to Halt Dam in Brazil – 5 April 2011