by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LA PAZ, Bolivia – Yesterday police and a crowd of protestors clashed in the Plaza Murillo, the center of the national government.  Roughly 50 disabled individuals ended a 1,000 mile protest walk at the Plaza Murillo and were met by police barricades.

Upon entering the Plaza the group attempted to pass the barricades and the police stepped in to stop them.  Some of the protestors used their wheelchairs, canes and crutches to fight the police.  Pepper spray was used to disperse and end the riot.

La Razón, a daily news agency in Bolivia, reports that four protestors were detained by police and roughly 10 of the disabled had minor injuries from the confrontation.  The police report that about 10 officers were also injured.

The group began the protest on the 15 of November, roughly 100 days ago, in the streets of Trinidad, Bolivia.  Along the way the protestors were fed and given places to sleep by families in the towns they passed through.

The protestors sought to draw attention to a government statute, passed on the 5th of November, that kept monthly payment subsidies, to those disabled, at roughly $130 US.  The demand of the group was that payment be increased to $400 US; a more appropriate amount which they could viably live on.  They also want to establish a more integrated place in society for those with disabilities.

The march was especially symbolic as it claimed for those disabled a strong political identity just like any other social group.  They specifically chose to end the march at Plaza Murillo as that is where other groups typically gather for protests.

“Why not us?  It is a public space and like everyone we all have the right to protest,” said Camilo Bianchi, a leader of the group.

Living in Bolivia as a disabled individual is not an easy life.  Most of the buildings throughout the nation are not handicapped accessible and there is a strong prejudice that continues to exist against them.  Most who are disabled find it impossible to work or to attend school.

“It’s very hard to be a person with a disability. Even our own husbands abandon us because they feel ashamed of us. I look after my four children alone, washing and ironing clothes for people, and doing whatever I can,” said Domitila Franco, one of the protestors.

The group has now declared that 10 individuals will begin a hunger strike in an attempt to gain governmental acquiescence to their demands.  The government’s defense of its actions yesterday centered on the theory that the group had been “infiltrated” by other political activists.  This presented too great of a threat to the Plaza as a public forum and thus police barricades were erected.

For more information, please see;

BBC News – Bolivia’s Disabled Clash with Police Over Subsidies – 24 February 2012

Bolivia Weekly – Disabled Battle Police in the Street – 24 February 2012

The Guardian – Disabled Protestors Clash with Police in Bolivia – 24 February 2012

La Razón – Tras la Violencia, Discapacitados Ingresan en Huelga de Hambre – 24 February 2012

By Paula Buzzi
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela  — Jewish groups in Venezuela and around the world are urging President Hugo Chavez to stop using anti-Semetic attacks as a political tool against opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski. International groups are voicing concerns that Chavez’s campaign for presidency will only become more threatening and offensive as the October elections approach.

Last week, the government-run website of Radio Nacional de Venezuela posted a column that highlighted the Jewish ancestry of Capriles; his grandparents were Polish Holocaust survivors. The column labeled Capriles a secret follower of Zionism, which is a Jewish political movement that the column called “the most rotten sentiments represented by humanity.” The column urged Venezuelans to reject “international Zionism” by re-electing Chavez.

Abraham Foxman, the director of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, believes Chavez’s anti-Semitic remarks are an early attempt to cast Capriles as a “traitorous Jew” who is not worthy of the presidency. “The Venezuelan political campaign has just begun, and this early appearance of government-sanctioned anti-Semitism is a deeply troubling sign of the depths that President Chavez is willing to go to retain his oppressive power,” he said.

In 2008, A U.S. State Department report named Venezuela a country where its leaders and governments “fan the flames of anti-Semitic hatred within their own societies and even beyond their borders.” The report also criticized Venezuela’s government-sponsored mass media for functioning as a medium for anti-Semitism.

Other attacks coming from the Chavez campaign include accusations that Capriles is involved in a group that promotes the “Aryan race” with ties to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and that he is a pig and part of South America’s bourgeoisie. “You are not going to be able to disguise yourself, even if you look for advisers, masks. Dress yourself up however you dress yourself up. Pig’s tail, pig’s ears, pig’s nose: It’s a pig,” Chavez said.

Capriles, who spent four months in jail in 2004 on charges related to an attempted coup against Chavez, has denied the accusations against him in an interview and said he wants to focus his campaign on talking about the problems that really bother Venezuelans such as crime and unemployment. “They came here and they called me ‘Nazi,’ when my grandmother was in the Warsaw Ghetto,” Capriles told The Forward newspaper in response to the accusations.

Despite the aggressive campaign against him, Capriles is currently believed to be the most popular politician in Venezuela and a strong contender against Chavez, a socialist who has ruled Venezuela for the last 13 years. Chavez and Capriles will face off in October for the Venezuelan presidency.

For further information, please see:

International Business Times – Venezuela: Hugo Chavez’ Anti-Semitic Election Campaign – 24 February 2012

Bloomberg Businessweek – Chavez Media Say Rival Capriles Backs Plots From Nazi to Zionist – 21 February 2012

ABC News – Jewish Group: Chavez Foe a Target of Anti-Semitism – 17 February 2011

CNN – Jewish Groups Decry ‘anti-Semitic’ Venezuelan State Media Article – 19 February 2012