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Venezuela Anti-Government Protests Ends in Deadly Violence

By Ellis Cortez
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – At least three people were shot dead as violence erupted during anti-government protests in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on February 12.

Opposition demonstrators throw stones against riot police during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas February 15, 2014. REUTERS-Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Opposition demonstrators throw stones against riot police during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas on February 15, 2014. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)

A crowd of demonstrators, many of them students, marched to the federal prosecutor’s office to demand the release of 13 protesters who they say were illegally detained in previous marches. The demonstration was the latest in a series of mass protests against the policies of President Nicolas Maduro.

A small group of protesters stayed behind after the end of the main march and clashed with security forces. It was at that time that a number of armed men on motorcycles shot at the crowd, triggering a stampede. Two people died after the gunmen opened fire and a third died in later clashes.

Authorities on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for Leopoldo Lopez, head of the Venezuelan opposition party, Popular Will, on charges including conspiracy and murder in connection with the recent clashes. President Nicolas Maduro accused Lopez of instigating violence that led to the death of three people during the protests on February 12. Lopez, who has maintained his innocence, said he only called for peaceful protests. Military officials visited Lopez’s house in Caracas, and the residence of his parents, yesterday and showed a warrant that included the charge of intentional homicide.

Lopez said he’ll lead a march on February 18 to the Interior Ministry in Caracas where he’ll enter alone and present four petitions that declare the government responsible for the February 12 violence, ask for the release of students currently being held, and ask for the disarmament of pro-government groups known as collectives.

Young Venezuelans clashed again Friday where police used teargas and water cannon to clear some 1,000 protesters from Altamira Square in eastern Caracas, where some of them had lit trash bonfires and blocked streets. On Saturday, supporters of the opposition gathered again to sing and chant slogans in the square. Many then set off to block a major highway.

President Nicolas Maduro condemned the incidents, which he blamed on a “neo-fascist upsurge”. The president called for peace, but stressed that those who engaged in violence would not go unpunished. Maduro said state and senior military officials will work together to reduce violence.

Venezuela’s state prosecutor said 25 of 99 people arrested in connection with this week’s violence had been freed pending trial.

Maduro insists he is facing a slow-motion coup. “I want to alert the world. We are facing a developing coup plan against the democracy and the government that I preside over, orchestrated by a small group of irresponsible leaders, violent, full of hatred and personal ambitions,” he said Wednesday.

The U.S. State Department expressed concerns about the state of affairs in Venezuela. “We are deeply concerned by rising tensions, by the violence surrounding this February 12 protest and by the issuing of a warrant for the arrest of the opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez,” said spokeswoman Marie Harf. “We join the secretary general of OAS (Organization of American States) in condemning the violence and calling on authorities to investigate and bring to justice those responsible for the death of peaceful protesters.”

Students are fed up with the lack of security and the poor state of Venezuela’s economy. Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world and is deeply politically polarized, with the opposition blaming the government for the country’s economic troubles and for shortages of basic products in stores. Inflation, at 56.2%, is the highest in the world. Amid stringent price and exchange controls, Venezuela is running out of hard currency to pay foreign suppliers of goods and services.

Maduro’s critics say he is ruining the economy by sticking with failed Chavez-era policies such as currency and price controls, which many local economists blame for the shortages.

For more information please see:

Fox News Latino – Venezuela Anti-Government Protests: Security Forces Search For Opposition Leader – 16 February 2014

Bloomberg News – Venezuela Opposition’s Lopez Says He’s Willing to Face Arrest – 16 February 2014

Reuters – ‘Chavistas’ march in Venezuela, opposition protests continue – 15 February 2014

CNN – Protests, violence continue in Venezuela – 14 February 2014

BBC – Venezuela student protest ends in deadly violence – 13 February 2014

North and South Korea Engage in ‘High-Level’ Talks

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea--North and South Korea have held their first “high-level talks” in almost seven years, in an apparent effort to improve strained relations at the suggestion of the North.

The talks, held Wednesday at a border village, came as South Korea and the United States prepared to engage in another round of military drills that have antagonized Pyongyang, Reuters reported.

The meeting was set up with unusual speed and great secrecy at the North’s suggestion last week. This is just the latest example of conflicting signals from Pyongyang, which abruptly cancelled an invitation for a US envoy to visit a few weeks ago.

Kim Jong-un, who requested the negotiations with the South, is believed to be using the talks as a jump-off for future plans to visit China. (Photo Courtesy Reuters)

The North is expected to repeat demands for the South and the United States to abandon their military drills. Both sides have numerous incentives to seek a deal that could break their long stalemate.

“For the North, if it comes back with an accomplishment in terms of improved South-North ties, it will mean a better atmosphere for Kim Jong-un to visit China and a justification to pursue high-level talks with the United States,” Cheong Seong-chang, an expert at the Sejong Institute outside Seoul, reported.

Kim is believed to be plotting a visit to China, Pyongyang’s largest ally and main benefactor, to reinforce his legitimacy as dictator in the eyes of a skeptical international community. Kim took power when his father died suddenly in 2010.

Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from the South Korean capital Seoul, said while the atmosphere surrounding negotiations appeared “calm,” any major announcement was unlikely to be brought out in the near future.

“We’re all a bit in the dark” as to the content of the discussions, correspondents said.

Seoul officials told the Associated Press that the meeting was requested by the North, which has launched a recent “charm offensive” after raising tensions last spring with threats to fire nuclear-tipped missiles at Seoul and Washington.

Pyongyang, which has repeatedly vowed to expand its nuclear arsenal and further develop nuclear technology, is trying to build nuclear-armed missiles that can reach the continental US. Most experts say the country has yet to master the technology needed to mobilize an atomic bomb via missile.

In addition to demanding a halt to the military drills, North Korea was expected to demand that South Korea agree to restart a lucrative joint tourism project and increase humanitarian aid efforts.

South Korea, meanwhile, was looking to discuss ways to ensure that planned reunions of families separated a half-century ago in the Korean War went smoothly, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said.

The South Korean delegation is led by President Park Geun-hye’s deputy national security adviser, while North Korea has sent its second-highest ranking official in the ruling Workers’ Party department, who is also in charge of maintaining ties with the South.

The meeting is the highest level in years between the Koreas, which held a series of similar meetings in 2007.

For further information, please see:

ABC–Koreas Hold Senior-Level Meeting at Border Village–11 Feburary 2014

BBC News–North and South Korea hold rare high-level talks–12 February 2014

Al Jazeera–Koreas hold rare talks to ease tensions–12 February 2014

CNN–North and South Korea to hold ‘high-level’ meeting–11 February 2014

Ex-Guatemalen Soldier Convicted for Failure to Disclosure Involvement in Massacre

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, United States –  Former Guatemalan special forces officer Jorge Sosa was sentenced Monday to 10 years in a federal prison for failing to disclose information in his immigration documents about his involvement in a massacre back in Guatemala. Sosa will also be stripped of his citizenship as part of the sentence.

Sosa, 55, is expected to be sent back to Guatemala after serving his ten year sentence. (photo courtesy of the LA Times)

Sosa was convicted of lying on his 2007 naturalization paperwork about his participation in the killing of at least 160 unarmed civilians in the village of Dos Erres in 1982.  The former second lieutenant was not tried for war crimes but instead found to have failed to disclose that he participated in the massacre.

Prosecutors said Sosa was able to become a citizen because he did not disclose his affiliation with the Kaibiles, an elite team of soldiers in the Guatemalan military.  During the trial, the prosecutors explained that Sosa’s unit was dispatched to Doe Erres to recover firearms but instead, at Sosa’s direction, his men raped and killed the villagers.  No weapons were ever recovered.

“These are the crimes the defendant lied about and didn’t disclose,” Judge Virginia Phillip said to the court. “The particular facts of what occurred on Dec. 7, 1982, at Dos Erres cannot be characterized in any other way than as crimes.”

Sosa is not the first to be prosecuted for his part in that massacre.  Several members of that unit have been prosecuted in Guatemala.

Sosa claimed innocence, saying he was not in the village during the massacre. His lawyer, Shashi Kewalramani, considered the sentence excessive and announced Sosa’s intention to appeal the conviction. Kewalramani added that the trial served as a forum to try Sosa for his alleged involvement in the massacre and not the charges at hand.

“Over our objections, the government made it a murder case, basically supplanted the Guatemalan court and decided to try that case up in the United States,” Kewalramani said.

For more information, please see:

Fox News – Ex-Guatemalan soldier linked to massacre is sentenced for lying on US citizenship forms – 11 February 2014

ABC News – Ex-Guatemalan Soldier Sentenced to 10 Years in US – 10 February 2014

LA Times – Ex-Guatemalan soldier linked to massacre gets 10-year sentence  – 10 February 2014

SF Gate – Ex-Guatemalan soldier sentenced to 10 years in US – 10 February 2014

USA Today – Ex-Guatemalan soldier sentenced to prison for lying – 10 February 2014

Syria Photographs Provide Evidence of Systematic Torture by Assad Regime

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – A team of international war crimes prosecutors and forensic experts has issued a report stating that there is “direct evidence” of “systematic torture and killing” by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

This image from the report purportedly shows ligature marks around the neck of a prisoner. (Courtesy of The Guardian)

Their report, based on thousands of photographs of dead bodies of alleged detainees killed in Syrian government custody, would stand up in an international criminal tribunal, the group says.

“This is a smoking gun,” said David Crane, the first chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and one of the report’s authors. “Any prosecutor would like this kind of evidence — the photos and the process. This is direct evidence of the regime’s killing machine.”

The bodies in the photos showed signs of starvation, brutal beatings, strangulation, and other forms of torture and killing, according to the report.

A Syrian government defector codenamed “Caesar” provided testimony and 27,000 photographs as evidence used in the report; in all 55,000 such images were brought out of the country. According to the report, Caesar worked as photographer in the military police. Once the war started, he was required to document “killed detainees.”

A complex numbering system was also used to catalog the corpses. The system allowed intelligence agencies to identify the corpses and then later to provide false documentation that the person had died in a hospital. According to the report the system may have also served other purposes such as documenting each person’s death without involving family members, proving that orders had been followed, or perhaps it was simply the way it had always been done.

The fact that all the bodies were photographed, the report’s authors say, strongly suggests that “the killings were systematic, ordered, and directed from above.”

The report was authored by Crane, Sir Desmond de Silva, former chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and Professor Sir Geoffrey Nice, former lead prosecutor against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

“Ultimately, the validity of our conclusions turn on the integrity of the people involved,” de Silva said. “We, the team, were very conscious of the fact there are competing interests in the Syrian crisis — both national and international. We were very conscious of that.”

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Why Syria’s Assad enters Geneva talks in a position of strength – 23 January 2013

CNN – Gruesome Syria photos may prove torture by Assad – 22 January 2013

Reuters – Dooming the Syria talks before they begin – 22 January 2013

BBC – Syria photos may prove claims of torture – 21 January 2013

Guardian – Syria regime document trove shows evidence of ‘industrial scale’ killing of detainees – 20 January 2013

North Korea Ousts Another Top Official

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea–In another sign of an escalating power struggle amongst North Korea’s elite, South Korea’s intelligence agency reported Tuesday the “No. 2 man” in the isolated North appeared to have been disposed from power.

Former Vice Chairman of the North’s National Defense Commission, Jang Seong-thek has been ousted from his powerful position according to South Korean intelligence sources. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

 

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) told South Korean lawmakers that Jang Song Thaek, uncle of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, was “recently ousted from his position” as Vice Chairman of North Korea’s powerful National Defense Commission, and that “two of his closest confidantes — Ri Yong Ha and Jang Soo-Kil — were publicly executed in mid-November,” according to opposition lawmaker Jung Cheong Rae.

Still unverified, Jang’s ousting could represent the most serious political shakeup in North Korea since former leader Kim Jong-Il’s death in December 2011.

Jang was widely regarded as second in command in the North Korean leadership, owing to his blood-link to the ruling family, and his visible presence abroad. He married the daughter of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung in the early 1970s and was a close confidant of late leader Kim Jong-il.

“The NIS has assessed the cause of Jang’s fallout to be an internal power struggle,” Cho Won-jin, a conservative lawmaker who was briefed by the NIS, told reporters. “It was a power struggle to consolidate Kim Jong-un’s one man rule.”

Jang was known to have played a critical role in ensuring the smooth succession of his nephew into his role as the head of North Korea’s intelligence and police agencies. Jang was also known as one of the more pro-market reformers among North Korea’s powerful elite.

His influence was on display during a state visit to China in August 2012, on which he brought along fifty North Korean representatives to discuss the two countries’ cooperation in special economic zones near the border. He was received by the then-Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabo.

Some South Korean experts suggest the instability created by this alleged power struggle could lead the isolated nuclear-armed state to take even greater provocative actions on the world stage, in an effort to quell discord and reinforce unity, and reinvigorate the North’s international perception.

“In looking at past cases, when the North Korean regime becomes unstable, there could be more frequent provocations directed against the South,” Yang Moo-jin, a North Korean expert at the University of North Korean studies in Seoul, told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. “If so, then the South-North Korean relations could worsen and the tension on the Korean peninsula will heighten.”

Other experts were not surprised by the reports of Jang’s ouster.

“The signs have been there for some time that Jang was fading. He has been appearing less and less frequently in Kim Jong Un’s presence, or indeed, at all. If that change in his previously high-profile visibility was not caused by health problems, it suggested a political problem,” said one expert, who spoke to CBS News. 

The expert also suggested that Jang’s appearance as a “top leader” was hyperbolic, and indicated that the regime is, and always has been, top-centric.

“There is no power in North Korea except that at the top. From the moment Kim Jong Il died almost two years ago, Jang was vulnerable. He probably had a lot of enemies, but he no longer had any top cover,” said the expert. “It wouldn’t be surprising if Kim Jong Il had told his son to watch Jang carefully, and to cut him down when the time came.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News–North Korea powerbroker ‘dismissed’— 3 December 2013

Washington Post–Kim Jong Un’s uncle ‘very likely’ removed from power— 3 December 2013

Bangkok Post–N. Korean leader’s powerbroker uncle ousted, says South Korea— 3 December 2013

CBS News–North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un reportedly sacks his uncle Jang Seong-thaek, No. 2 man in regime— 3 December 2013

Al Jazeera–N Korean leader’s powerbroker uncle ‘sacked’— 3 December 2013