Colombia Peace Talks in Cuba to Resume Following Release of FARC Kidnapped General

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia — President Juan Manuel Santos suspended peace talks in Cuba this week, which are quickly approaching their second year, amid the kidnapping of General Ruben Dario Alzate.

FARC lead negotiator Ivan Marquez in Cuba / Photo courtesy of Reuters

Today, Colombian Marxist rebels agreed to release General Alzate.  Colombians hope that this will diffuse the situation and resume the peace talks to end conflict that has spanned over five decades.  The rebel forces, also known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) also agreed to release four other captives, that have been captured in the past two weeks.

President Juan Manuel Santos’s office responded immediately to the announcement, pledging to resume talks as soon as the hostages are free.

Alzate and two others were seized on Sunday by a FARC patrol as they left a boat in the poor and crime-ridden coastal region of Choco, prompting Santos to halt talks and throwing into doubt the two-year peace process under way in Cuba.

Just days earlier, the rebels had kidnapped two soldiers in eastern Arauca department.

“The government will give its total collaboration to guarantee the safe return of these people to their homes, which we hope will be in the shortest time possible,” Santos’s office said in a brief statement.

“Once they are all free, the government’s delegation will return to Havana.”

The FARC’s decision to release the captives may counter critics of the peace process who say the rebels are not serious about ending Latin America’s longest-running war, which has killed more than 200,000 people since it began in 1964.

The suspension of talks is the most serious setback to peace efforts after months of complicated discussions resulted in partial accords on three out of five agenda items.

Wednesday, the FARC defended the negotiations aimed at ending the half-century conflict. A FARC commander best known by his alias Ivan Marquez said the biggest achievement so far is a growing sense of reconciliation among Colombians.

The two sides have already reached agreements on agrarian reform, political participation for the FARC and how to jointly combat illicit drugs in what was long the world’s largest cocaine producer.

But the remaining issues, including how the FARC will lay down their arms and whether commanders will face prosecution for atrocities and drug-trafficking, are some of the thorniest.

The most recent peace process with the FARC collapsed in 2002 after the group used the breathing room of a demilitarized zone to build its fighting force, intensify its cocaine trafficking, and take hostages.

The final straw came when the FARC boarded a commercial plane and seized a senator, who was held captive for six years.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Colombia Rebel-Held General a Bookish Strategist – 20 Nov. 2014

BBC News – Colombia kidnap: Farc agrees conditions for release – 19 Nov. 2014

ABC News – Colombia, Rebels Agree on Steps to Free General – 19 Nov. 2014

Reuters – Colombia rebels to free general, opening door to resume peace talks – 20 Nov. 2014

Endemic Corruption in the Solomon Islands Raises Concerns over Elections

By Max Bartels 

Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania 

 

Honiara, Solomon Islands

Corruption is endemic in the Solomon Islands, the small island nation is in the process of an election and there are concerns that there is no cure to suppress the rampant corruption. A High Court Judge in Australia has stated that the country is in desperate need of a special taskforce to tackle the corruption. According to the Judge it is so prevalent that there is no debate about its existence and no attempt to hide any corrupt practices. Corruption dominates every aspect of society, from government, politics, the police, to private industry and business. There is a call for an international and independent commission; the corruption would immediately taint any commission formed domestically.

IW#25 Solomon Islands
Local and international election monitors observe the election process in the Solomon Islands. (Photo curtesy of Radio Australia)

The Current election in the Solomon Islands is the first since an Australian led peace keeping force has scaled down operations in 2013. The operation was deployed to stop systemic ethnic violence and restore order. An anti-corruption watchdog called Transparency Solomon Islands has asked all candidates to sign an anti-corruption pledge. The pledge simply states that if the candidate is voted into office the candidate promises not to accept bribes or give bribes. So far 73 out of the 400 candidates for political office have singed on.

At present, Transparency Solomon Islands is concerned about the integrity of the election process and election fraud is a major concern. There is not the same international support for the election in the Solomon Islands as there was a few months ago for the Fiji election but Transparency states that the concern is just as pressing. Transparency claims that part of the problem is that education is not advanced in many of the rural areas of the islands, and that there is a lack of awareness that corruption, such as vote buying and selling is counterproductive to the democratic process.

Many voters will take days and even weeks to get to the nearest poling station, arriving by foot and by boat. 280,000 voters are registered for the election from across the many islands that make up the Solomons’. This final number was reached after 160,000 fraudulent registrations were screened out by an audit. The election is being conducted according to a biometric voter registration system. Registered voters receive a individualized biometric registration card, in an effort to cut down on fraud and keep others from voting in someone’s stead. However, once the cards were issued many were sold and exchanged as currency for money or gifts.

For more information, please see: 

ABC News — Independent Commission Needed in Solomon Islands to Tackle Endemic Corruption: Outgoing High Court Judge Says — 19 November 2014 

Reuters — Solomon Islands Stages First Election Since End of Peacekeeping Intervention — 18 November, 2014

BBC News — Solomon Islanders Vote in First Post- Ramsi Election — 19 November, 2014 

ABC News — Polls Close in Solomon Islands’ Genreal Election — 19 November 2014

Peru Activists Killings at the Forefront of Climate Talk

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru — In less than two weeks Peru will host a key global climate conference.  However, the country has again come under fire for failing to protect activists who were murdered in an attempt to save the country’s quickly diminishing rainforest and other ecosystems.

Illegal loggers in the Amazon / Image courtesy of BBC.com/Felipe Aberu

According to the NGO Global Witness, the South American country has become the fourth most dangerous state in the world for environmental and land defenders.  The NGO also accused Peru’s government of placing too much emphasis on exploitation of the land opposed to conservation.

In a recent report at least 57 activists have been killed in Peru since 2002, where more than 60% of the deaths have been within the last four years.  The other three most dangerous countries are Brazil, Honduras and the Philippines.

The report, with the updated death toll comes just in time as Lima prepares to host ministers from around the world for the United Nations climate conference, even though the host nation hasn’t been spot on addressing green issues.

Deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon – which accounts for about half of the country’s carbon emissions – nearly doubled in 2012, as farmers, miners and illegal loggers sawed deeper into the forest.  The World Bank estimates that almost 80% of the country’s timber exports were felled illegally.

Sources detail that most of the activist murders were related to conflicts over land or resistance to mining projects or illegal logging operations.  A large number of the victims were from indigenous tribes who had been granted reserves or applied for land titles, but receive little to no protection or enforcement from the government.

In a recent case, anti-logging campaigner Edwin Chota and three other Ashéninka leaders were killed in Ucayali in September over land they had spent a decade trying to secure for their community.  The community planned to use the forest sustainably.

Chata asked for protection before he and his colleagues were murdered.  He told the police he was receiving death threats from illegal loggers, and sent them photographs of the suspects.  Currently many of the suspects have been arrested, but the authorities are being accused of negligence.

“The murders of Edwin Chota and his colleagues are tragic reminders of a paradox at work in the climate negotiations,” said Patrick Alley, co-founder of Global Witness. “While Peru’s government chairs negotiations on how to solve our climate crisis, it is failing to protect the people on the frontline of environmental protection … The message is clear, if you want to save the environment, then stop people killing environmental defenders.”

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Widows: Probe Into Peru Activist Killings Stalled – 17 Nov. 2014

the guardian – Spotlight on murders of activists as Peru prepares for Lima climate talks – 17 Nov. 2014

Yahoo news – Peru activist killings condemned ahead of climate talks – 17 Nov. 2014

herald online – Widows: Probe into Peru activist killings stalled – 17 Nov. 2014

Report Uncovers Psychologists’ Role In Military Interrogations

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

 WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America – The nations largest organization of psychologists are inquiring into whether it supported the government’s use of torture in the interrogation of prisoners during the Bush administration. The APA inquiry comes after author, James Risen, wrote a book detailing the relationship between psychologists and the Bush administration in the post-9/11 era. The APA has hired David H. Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor, to lead the investigation.

A New report uncovers the role of Psychologists in military interrogations (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian).

Human rights advocates have raised questions regarding the role of American psychologists in the implementation of Bush-era interrogation programs for years. Critics have said that the participation of psychologist allowed the Bush administration to ague that the interrogation procedures did not constitute torture because trained psychologists were monitoring the interrogations. There are claims that Psychologists were involved in developing enhanced interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects.

The report documents how psychologists consulted with the military under their official role of Behavioral Science Consultation Teams. Their key role was to identify any vulnerability of the detainees. The psychologists were then expected to collaborate with interrogators in exploiting them.

What has led to more criticism is the APA’s 2002 decision to modify its ethics rules which essentially gave psychologists greater coverage in aiding with the interrogations. The most significant change in the APA’s guidelines was a new rule that states that if a psychologist was conflicted between the APA’s ethics code and a lawful order, the psychologists could follow the law. This led many APA members to disapprove of the organization’s decision, as they seen it as essentially giving psychologists permission to ignore ethical concerns if ordered by the government to aid in these interrogations. The list of interrogation methods used is troubling, consisting of: beatings, exposure to extreme cold, sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, exposure to prolonged yelling, exploitation of phobias, cramped confinement, prolonged stress positions, forced feeding, deprivation of basic items, and waterboarding.

The APA has long defended its activities against critics who have questioned the ethics of the organization.

 

For more information please see the following:

ALL GOV – American Psychological Association Finally Agrees To Investigate Collusion in Bush Torture Program – 17 Nov. 2014.
THE GUARDIAN – The Dark Side of Psychology in Abuse and Interrogation – 5 Nov. 2013.
THE NEW YORK TIMES – U.N. Commission Presses U.S. on Torture – 13 Nov. 2014.
THE NEW YORK TIMES – Psychologists to Review Role in Detainee Interrogations – 13 Nov. 2014.

Workers Commemorate Massacre in Guyaquil with Hope for Labor Code Reforms Package

By Delisa Morris

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

On Saturday, President Rafeal Correa of Ecuador presented the labor code reforms package, which coincided wight eh 92nd anniversary of the workers massacre in Guayaquil.  President Correa spoke to an audience of about 100,000 people.

Workers rally in Guayaquil / image courtesy of telesur

In the coastal city of Guayaquil, before more than 100,000 workers, President Rafael Correa presented the final package of reforms to the labor code to the President of the National Assembly Gabriela Rivadeneira.

Carlos Marx Carrasco, minister of labor relations spoke about Ecuador’s labor reforms, following the massive show of support.

“Of course, these reforms represent a milestone int eh region and surely, unions, the governments, entrepreneurs from other countries will be watching us.  And hopefully these dreams of our workers are made into reality throughout Latin America also,” said Marx.

The document seeks to expand workers rights, the reforms are universalizing the social security system, extending benefits to some 1.5 million homemakers.  Furthermore, the reforms seek to give rester proaction to workers from historically marginalized groups as well as eliminate fixed-term contracts, among other gains for employees.

“Some have all their right guaranteed, and others, like the campesinos, informal workers, and homemakers did not have anything.  This is why we are presenting these reforms to the labor code and to social security.” said President Correa on Saturday.

Several of the workers attending Saturday’s rally are members of a recently formed union, the United Workers Trade Union Federation (CUT).

The event purposely coincided with the 92nd anniversary of a massacre of about 1,500 workers in the city of Guayaquil who were involved in a general strike.  The fall of cacao prices under the presidency of Dr. Jose Luis Tamayo following World War I obliterated the country’s export potential, greatly affecting the national economy as well as working conditions and salaries.

The strike led to a freeze of all economic and political activities in Guayaquil.  On November 14, several trade union leaders were arrested.  Several people demanded they be released as well as greater protection rights, reasonable work hours and adequate living salaries.  These demands attracted other workers, an their demonstrations were violently repressed.  Around 3,000 members of the military attacked crowds, killing both workers and civilians.

The massacre is commemorated each year with a ceremony, where workers and civilians leave crosses and flower crowns to drift in the river.  The reforms package will not be debated within the National Assembly.

For more information, please see:

Cuenca High Life – Ecuador marks 90th anniversary of ‘Guayaquil Massacre’, as many as 1,500 labor demonstrators died in hail of bullets – 15 Nov. 2014

telesur – Massive Ecuador Rally Commemorates Workers, Advances Revolution – 15 Nov. 2014

el ciudadano – Workers’ massacre of 1922 was hidden by the media in Guayaquil – 11 Nov. 2014

telesur – Ecuador: As Reforms to Labor Code Pushed Forward, Past Remembered – 15 Nov. 2014