A Voice for the Voiceless

Former Argentinean Commander Sentenced to Prison

By Don Anque
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Santiago Omar Riveros, age 86 and former chief of the Argentinean Military Institutes Command, was sentenced to life in prison for human rights abuses while he commanded the Campo de Mayo military barracks on the outskirts of Buenos Aires during the 1970s.

He is accused of more than 40 crimes against humanity involving victims of the era’s so called desaparecidos or “disappeared.”

Amid the wave of accusations, Omar-Riveros was found guilty of torturing and beating to death 15-year-old Floreal Avellaneda, a member of the Communist Youth Federation, and abducting his mother, Iris. Floreal Avellaneda and his mother were abducted in 1976 by a military squad and tortured to find out the whereabouts of the boy’s father, a Communist Party union leader.

“They applied an electric current to my armpits, breasts, mouth, genitals and did exactly the same to my son,” Iris described her torture experience to the Argentinean court.

Floreal and Isis were first taken to the police station at Villa Martelli and tortured.  Afterwards, they were taken to Campo de Mayo.

Over the court of the trial, the prosecution presented evidence that Floreal was thrown into the River Plate from a plane that departed from Campo de Mayo. In August of 1976, Floreal’s body was found impaled on the shores of Rio de La Plata in the Uruguayan city of Colonia de Sacramento.

The court found the defendants tactics “unacceptable.”  Their main argument was that Floreal’s death was part an accident.

Another former Military Institutes Command intelligence chief, Fernando Verplaetsen, was also sentenced to 25 years in prison in connection with the human rights abuses.  Four other defendants were sentenced to serve between eight to 18 years in prison.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – ‘Dirty war’ general found guilty – 13 August 2009

Yahoo News – Perpetua para Santiago Omar Riveros – 12 August 2009

Yahoo News – Argentine general gets life for rights abuses – 12 August 2009

Telam Noticias – Dan a conocer la sentencia en el juicio por el secuestro y asesinato de Floreal Avellaneda – 12 August 2009

Child Malnourishment at Alarming High in Central African Republic

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BANGUI, Central African Republic – According to the UN Children’s Fund, 700,000 Central African Republic children under the age of five are suffering from severe malnutrition.

“In both the conflict-affected north and the more stable south, almost 700,000 children under five are living below acceptable standards, and now many are moving toward the outer edge of survival.  The situation of children in the south is of particular concern due to the rapidly deteriorating nutritional status in tandem with an increasingly bleak funding outlook,” said UNICEF’s acting representative in CAR Jeremy Hopkins.

Three provinces – Mambere Kadei, Sangha Mbaere, and Lobaye – were preliminarily assessed.  An estimated 16,710 children there are at risk.  The assessment found that 16 percent of children under five are acutely malnourished and 6.6 percent are severely acutely malnourished.

This comes on top of already high rates of malnutrition where more than one in ten children aged between 6 and 59 months suffers from global acute malnutrition and 2.3 percent suffer from severe acute malnutrition.  These alarming rates are attributed to devastating poverty, the ongoing conflict and lack of security, and the loss of income due to the decline in diamond mining affected by the global economic downturn.

According to UNICEF, this is “far above the emergency thresholds of two per cent for severe acute malnutrition.”  The risk of death is nine times higher for severely malnourished children.

UNICEF has appealed to donors for $1.5 million.  The agency would like to use the funding for lifesaving supplies, food, and drugs.  In addition, UNICEF wants to conduct a national nutritional survey and use some of the money to train community health workers in early detection for compromised nutritional status.

“These children’s lives, their ability to learn, to earn, and to lead productive lives is being stunted by this tragic crisis,” said Hopkins. “These children could be leading normal lives. We must try harder to fulfill their rights.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – 700,000 Children Malnourished in Central African Republic: UN – 11 August 2009

UNICEF – Malnutrition Among Children in Southern CAR Alarming – 11 August 2009

UN News Centre – UN Seeks $1.5 Million to Tackle Rising Malnutrition Among Central African Children – 11 August 2009

VOA – Children Acutely Malnourished in Central African Republic – 11 August 2009

Uruguayan Military Officer Extradited to Argentina

By Don Anque
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Brazil’s Supreme Court has approved the extradition to Argentina of retired Uruguayan military officer, Manuel Juan Cordero-Piacentini, wanted for his role in Operation Condor.

Cordero-Piacentini pictured here.  Photo by AFP.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Operation Condor was a covert operation in which the dictatorships of the Southern Cone countries of South America coordinated efforts to kidnap, murder and “disappear” leftists and other dissidents.  In addition to the disappearances, the dictators also shared intelligence information in order to pinpoint target.

An estimated 30,000 people were “disappeared” in Argentina, while an unknown number of people in neighboring Uruguay were held as political prisoners and tortured.

Cordero-Piacentini is wanted by Argentina for the torture, disappearance and killings of leftist Uruguayan activists in 1976 in the “Automotores Orletti” secret detention center in Buenos Aires, Agrentina. At age 70, Cordero-Piacentini has been under house arrest since December 19, 2008 in Brazil.  He has been able to avoid prison and the extradition due to heart surgery which occurred earlier this year.

During hiding, Cordero-Piacentini married a Brazilian woman 32 years ago. After three years at large, the former Uruguayan Army colonel and intelligence officer was arrested in February 2007 in Santana do Livramento, Brazil. Santana do Livramento is just across the border with Uruguay.

The Brazilian Supreme Court said that Argentina requested the extradition of Piacentini-Cordero to Argentina because that is where the crimes took place. Piacentini-Cordero is wanted for his alleged involvement in the disappearance in 1976 of Adalberto Soba Valdemar-Fernandes, who was then only 10 years old. Valdemar-Fernandes has never been found.

For more information, please see:

Yahoo News – Brazil court okays Cordero extradition to Argentina – 07 August 2009

IPS News – URUGUAY-ARGENTINA: Hunting the Condor, 28 Years On – 20 May 2009

Uruguay Al Dia – Cordero extraditado a la Argentina – 07 August 2009

Associated Press – Brasil extradita a militar uruguayo retirado – 07 August 2009

Missionaries Murdered for Helping Amazon Indigenous

By Mario A. Flores
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru — Peruvian police captured Félix Mejía Ascencios, allegedly one of the leaders of a Shining Path cell in the jungle region known as Upper Huallaga Valley, an area of coca cultivation and cocaine production.

According to the police, Mejía Ascencios, 31, is a high ranking Shining Path guerrilla leader in charge of security for “Comrade Artemio,” the terrorist group’s only remaining top commander who has not been captured or killed.

Very little is known about Comrade Artemio and even his real name is unconfirmed. Although he has appeared in video tapes wearing a ski mask, it is often with an extra piece of cloth sewed on to hide not only his face but also his eyes.

The Shining Path terrorized Peru in the 1980s and has been widely condemned for its brutality, including violence directed at peasants, trade union organizers, elected officials and the general civilian population.

But since the capture of its leader Abimael Guzmán in 1992, the Shining Path has only been intermittently active. Remnants of the group now claim to fight in order to force the government to reach a peace treaty with them.

Although authorities believe Comrade Artemio is the current leader of the terrorist group, he claims that he is only the regional commander of the Shining Path for the Huallaga Valley. Officials believe this might be because he takes the imprisoned former leaders, Abimael Guzmán, or his successor, Oscar Ramirez Durand, to be the true leaders of the guerrilla group.

Under Comrade Artemio’s leadership, the remnants of the Shining Path have reinvented themselves as a highly efficient cocaine smuggling operation, working with drug cartels and staging attacks on security forces.

Mejía Ascencios, known as “Comrade Mono” was arrested on Sunday afternoon having a drink at a bar as he provided security for a drug hoard intended for drug dealers.

The suspected guerrilla has an outstanding warrant for his arrest on charges of terrorism. He is accused of taking part in police ambushes, and in selective killings of peasants and authorities.

Subsequent to his arrest, Mejía Ascencios was transferred to Lima for questioning. The police believe he has key information that may lead to the location of Comrade Artemio.

President Alan Garcia said last week that the remaining Shining Path guerrillas “must be exterminated.” Garcia admitted that it will take time and patience but he emphasized that the problem of terrorism is “not even a tenth or a hundredth of what it was in the 80s.”

For more information, please see:

La Republica – Trasladan a Lima al “Camarada Mono” – 11 August 2009

La Republica – Cae la seguridad del “camarada Artemio” – 10 August 2009

Latin American Herald Tribune – Suspected Guerrilla Leader Captured in Peru– 10 August 2009

RPP Noticias – Anuncian captura de integrante de seguridad de camarada ´Artemio´ – 09 August 2009

La Republica – Alan García: Hay que “exterminar” remanentes de Sendero Luminoso – 08 August 2009

Suu Kyi Issued Guilty Verdict

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar– Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel laureate and democratic leader, was convicted for violating her house arrest by allowing an uninvited American man into her residence.  Suu Kyi had denied the charge claiming that the man had swam across a lake into her home, but the Myanmar court ordered Suu Kyi to serve another 18-month sentence of house arrest.

Suu kyi2 Aung San Suu Kyi (Source: AFP)

Human rights activists are calling this verdict politically motivated and that the decision is an example of Myanmar military government’s abuse of power.  Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch said, “This trial was a farce, a brutal distortion of the legal process.  By silencing prominent opponents through bogus trials, the generals are clearly showing why the elections they have been touting for next year won’t bring change.” Adams’ organization is demanding Suu Kyi’s immediate and unconditional release.

Human Rights Watch is also urging Myanmar’s allies and trade partners to denounce Suu Kyi’s guilty verdict and impose financial sanctions against Myanmar’s military leadership, in addition to asking the UN Security Council to take measures condemning the country’s military leaders.

Furthermore, world leaders have expressed their disgust and disapproval.  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he “deplores” the verdict, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the verdict “monstrous,” and French President Nicolas Sarkozy referred to the verdict as “brutal and unjust,” while U.S. President Barack Obama described Suu Kyi’s trial as “a show trial.”

Suu kyiYoung girl at a demonstration supporting Suu Kyi (Source: AFP)

Suu Kyi’s trial was closed to the public, and foreign diplomats and the press were only allowed to observe on a few occasions.  Criminal trials of political prisoners in Myanmar do not meet international standards.  Myanmar judges are not independent and the defense is not given sufficient opportunity to present its case.

Suu Kyi has told her defense team to proceed with an appeal, and her lawyers filed a petition with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights claiming that Suu Kyi is being arbitrarily detained in violation of international human rights law.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi Verdict ‘Reprehensible’ – 11 August 2009

MSNBC – Myanmar court convicts Nobel laureate Suu Kyi – 11 August 2009

UPI – Rights group: Suu Kyi verdict power abuse – 11 August 2009