A Voice for the Voiceless

Provincial Judge, Juan Ramirez, was fired after he blocked the Electoral Tribunal from unseating 57 legislators in Ecuador. The tribunal fired Ramirez, saying the removal was justified because Ramirez acted illegally when blocking the Tribunal’s actions. The 57 fired lawmakers were opposing a referendum on a constitutional change that was supported by President Rafael Correa. The change would send a referendum to the people seeking approval for a national assembly to look at constitutional reform and potentially rewrite the Constitution. The Supreme Electoral Court announced that the referendum would proceed. The legislature then replaced the president of the court. The court came back and fired 57 lawmakers out of the 100 member assembly.

Following the removal of the lawmakers, the Constitutional Court found that the firings were unconstitutional and ordered them to be reinstated.  On the following day all nine judges of the Constitutional Court were removed by Congress who stated that the judges terms had meant to expire in January 2007. However, the judges have a four year term under the constitution and were appointed in February of 2006. President Correa insisted that the lawmakers did not deserve their jobs back and condemned the Supreme Court ruling to reinstate the lawmakers as a violation of legal procedures.

Human Rights Watch said that these actions have undermined the country’s democratic institutions and that disagreement between factions cannot justify the removal of judges. Such actions are a gross interference with the autonomy of another branch of government continued Human Rights Watch. There is a trend of Ecuadorian officials resolving political differences by removing their opponents rather then through other, more democratic, means. The democratic institutions in Ecuador have been in crisis for years as presidents have been removed before completing their terms and Congress has fired and replaced Supreme Court judges.

For more information:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6505485.stm

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/a912a7f83d7a74051cd413b70e5e3376.htm

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2007/05/11/ecuado15909.htm

http://news.bbc.uk/2/hi/americans/6590245.stm

http://www.iht.com/article

Buenaventura, a Colombian port city with a population of about 300,000, has emerged as one of the poorest and most dangerous urban centers in South America.

Buenaventura is an important port for both legitimate business and the cocaine trade. In 2005, one-third of all cocaine captured along the Pacific coast was captured in and around Buenaventura. Corruption plagues Buenaventura, even prompting President Alvaro Uribe to demand the arrest of the city’s top security official for taking bribes in 2006.

Cocaine dealers and traffickers combine forces with rebel groups and demobilized paramilitary veterans to fight the overwhelmed 2,000 soldiers and police officers that patrol the area. Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) knocked out the city’s power with a grenade attack a year ago last Friday. These groups control the slums, where young people are recruited to be foot soldiers, informers, or hit men. Killings in this city rose by 30 percent in 2006, giving Buenaventura Colombia’s highest homicide rate (144 per 100,000). This is seven times the rate in Bogotá, the nation’s capital, and twenty-four times the rate of New York City. Two-hundred and forty-four people have been killed so far this year.

Homes here are made of cinderblocks and discarded wood. Fresh water is obtained from rusty barrels that collect drops from metal roofs. The unemployment rate is 28 percent, forcing many to turn to the cocaine trade. The city has a large refugee population: over 42,000 people, mostly Afro-Colombians, have arrived since 1998. Some nongovernmental groups say that Afro-Colombians make up a quarter of the Colombian population. Over 80 percent of Buenaventura’s residents are black, and live on less than three dollars a day. Critics say that authorities have neglected Buenaventura’s problems because Afro-Colombians do not receive sufficient federal attention.

For more info, see:

“Cocaine Wars Make Port Colombia’s Deadliest City” New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/world/americas/22colombia.html 22 May 2007

“Colombia Port City Is Battleground” Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122800636.html 28 December 2006

“Colombia City Power Grid Attacked” BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5001442.stm 20 May 2006.