Uruguay: Threats against judges in human rights cases

A video in which apparent members of the military threaten judges and prosecutors who conduct investigations into crimes against humanity during the last military dictatorship (1973-1985) has caused alarm in Uruguay, writes Mexican daily El Universal. The tape was revealed on Wednesday by weekly Búsqueda. It shows three men in combat uniform, with their faces covered in balaclavas, who announce the start of "military operations in the whole country" to "secure the freedom of the political prisoners", as they call the members of the military accused of torture, forced disappearance, and other crimes. Defence minister Luis Rosadilla confirmed the existence of the video and said that it was the job of the police to investigate.

Video consterna a Uruguay (Universal)
Rechazo general por un video con amenazas de supuestos militares (El Pais, Uruguay)

Peru: Memory Museum 'to be neutral'

La Republica has an article today which I will reproduce in full and then translate:

El escritor peruano Mario Vargas Llosa, quien preside la comisión de alto nivel encargada de la construcción del Museo de la Memoria en su país, aseguró hoy que este proyecto incluirá de forma objetiva y neutral todas las visiones sobre los años del terrorismo (1980-2000). Vargas Llosa dijo que el Museo de la Memoria presentará a todas las víctimas "sin ninguna excepción, parcialidad o sectarismo".
"De tal manera que quienes han expresado desconfianza estoy seguro que van a quedar tranquilos cuando vean la objetividad, la neutralidad, con que ese museo va mostrar el sufrimiento que causa el fanatismo y la falta de legalidad en una sociedad", agregó.
Así, el escritor responde a las críticas generadas con la decisión de construir ese museo, algunas de las cuales provienen del interior del propio Gobierno, y que siempre apuntan en la misma dirección: una supuesta parcialidad del proyecto en contra de las Fuerzas Armadas.
Entre los principales opositores al Museo de la Memoria están el vicepresidente peruano, Luis Giampietri, el titular de Defensa, Rafael Rey, y su antecesor, Ántero Flores Aráoz, así como sectores conservadores, como el arzobispo Juan Luis Cipriani y la política Keiko Fujimori.
El escritor peruano enfatizó que "es importante que una sociedad tenga viva la ocurrencia del pasado, sobre todo si ese pasado ha engendrado secuelas tan atroces como las del terrorismo. Eso es muy importante de cara a las nuevas generaciones".
Vargas Llosa también destacó que el Museo de la Memoria sea construido en el distrito limeño de Miraflores, barrio que fue escenario en 1992 del atentado con coche bomba en la calle Tarata, uno de los más grandes y traumáticos ocurridos en Lima.
La construcción del Museo de la Memoria, que fue aprobada el pasado 31 de marzo tras un mes de polémica, será financiada con una donación de dos millones de dólares del Gobierno alemán, aporte que fue rechazado en un primer momento por el gabinete peruano.
La violencia en Perú entre 1980 y 2000 se saldó con 69.280 muertos, según el informe final de la Comisión de la Verdad y la Reconciliación, que atribuyó casi la mitad de las víctimas a Sendero Luminoso y al menos un tercio a "agentes del Estado" (policías y militares).

The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, who is heading the high level commission charged with the construction of the Museum of Memory in his country, today insisted that the project would include all viewpoints of the years of terrorism (1980-2000) in an objective, neutral fashion.
Vargas Llosa said that the Museum of Memory would present all victims "without exception, bias or sectarianism".
"In this way, I am sure that those who have expressed their concern are going to be reassured when they see the objectivity, the neutrality, with which this musuem is going to show the suffering which fanatism and the lack of legality causes in a society," he added.
This the author responded to criticism directed at the decision to build the museum, some of which has come within the government itself, and which always points in the same direction: the supposed bias of the project against the Armed Forces.
Among the principal opponents of the Museum of Memory are the Peruvian Vice President, Luis Giampietri, the Defense Minister Rafael Rey and his predecessor, Ántero Flores Aráoz, and conservative factions such as the archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani and politican Keiko Fujimori.
The Peruvian author emphasised that "it's important that society keeps alive what happened in the past, above all if this past has engendered such terrible consequences as terrorism has. This is very important for future generations".
Vargas Llosa again pointed out that the Museum of Memory will be built in the district of Miraflores, in Lima, the suburb which was the scene of the truck bomb in Tarata street in 1992, one of the largest and most traumatic to occur in Lima.
The construction of the Museum of Memory, which was approved on 31 March after a month of fierce debate, will be financed by a donation of two million dollars by the German government, an offer which was initially refused by the Peruvian cabinet.
The violence in Peru between 1980 and 2000 left 69,280 dead, according to the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which attributed almost half of victims to Shining Path and at least one third to "agents of the State" (the police and armed forces).

Such calls for 'objectivity' are in fact nothing more than thinly-veiled attacks on the entire idea of any form of public commemoration that deviates from the state-sanctioned, military parade type. The use of descriptions such as 'neutrality' is utter fiction. The critics will accept nothing less than a eulogy to the bravery of the security forces who managed to slaughter over 20,000 civilians in a twenty-year period. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the TRC report and the Yuyanapaq photography exhibition already contain details of the deaths of servicemen and their grieving relatives and really give ample time to the atrocities of the Shining Path and the (far less active) MRTA.

Now, I don't blame Vargas Llosa for his comments, because he is trying to appease some powerful people here. But to go a little further than his statements, I would say that there is a limit to this 'presentation of all points of view' which he mentions. There is a widely-held misconception that a lack of bias means giving space to all shades of opinion, however extreme. If a few people adhere to a genuine belief that the Earth is flat, do we need to devote fifty percent of geography lessons to debunking this view, for the sake of 'fairness'? No, because given the limited amount of time and resources available, we can go with the consensus - that the Earth is round - and not be hijacked by a tiny minority.

It is truly disgusting that top figures in government can continue to rail and scaremonger against a project accepted and approved by the government itself; and it is high time that President Alan Garcia told them to shut up, get over it, and stop justifying crimes against humanity. I have no hope that he will, because there are some pretty murky incidents from his own first term in office which he would rather received as little public attention as possible, but this would be the decent thing to do.

Vlargas Llosa asegura que Museo de la Memoria sera objetivo y neutral (La Republica)

Colombia News Round-Up

Sexual Violence as Weapon of War (IPS)

Marquez targeted by Mexican intelligence agency, files show (Guardian)

Threats against mothers of Soacha victims (Plan Colombia and Beyond)

UN urges Colombia to stop harassment of human rights activists (Colombia Reports)

Colombia Round-Up

A whole series of posts from Colombia Reports that I've been meaning to link to, and one other. Just the statistics in some of these headlines...

Colombia's military investigated for 2,000 murders of civilians
NGOs to present war crime cases to the ICC
Over 27 thousand people currently missing in Colombia
Criminals released due to inefficient prison system
Colombia holds record for most landmine victims in the world (all from Colombia Reports)

“The attempt on the life of Islena Rey is a tragic and all too common demonstration of the precarious situation still facing human rights defenders in Colombia,” said Marcelo Pollack, Amnesty International’s researcher on Colombia.

Colombian Human Rights Activists at Risk (Impunity Watch)

Peru: Salomon Lerner Responds

Salomon Lerner, former head of the Peruvian truth commission (CVR) and current vice president of the commission on the museum of memory, is interviewed in the current issue of Caretas about the death threats he has been receiving. The whole thing is worth reading, but here is my translation of some key parts on recent events and Lerner's view of the importance of memory for Peru:

- Was there any prior warning of what happened last week? [the poisoning of
Lerner's dogs and death threats against him]
- There were prior incidents of harm. At the beginning of the year, my Wikipedia entry was changed to present me as one of the principal allies of the terrorists. I tried to change it and it was changed back. This is people who are linked to the fascist right, among whom many are young people. [...] I understand that it was a very right-wing youth who attacked my page, he has a blog and claims to be a follower of Karl Schmidt.
[...]
What happens is that sometimes, without meaning to, one becomes a symbol for something. To my misfortune, I have become a symbol for what they call 'caviares' and what were previously called 'civicos'.* [...] But it's not just that. It's a collection of manifestations against me and the CVR which some newspapers, which are not very democratically oriented, have been making for some time.
- You are referring to Expreso and La Razón?
- And Correo. I've gone public about the matter with the dogs so that these situations do not happen with impunity. They accuse me of playing the victim because of the situation with the book by Abimael Guzmán. I shouldn't buy those papers but I do. A bit of it is masochism and also to know where they are coming from.
- But anyone who has read Guzmán's book knows that it is directed against the CVR.
- I was talking to a friend and he said that I should write a book called The Misfortune of Not Being Loved. But it's not true, I have received solidarity, even from people who I don't know. Ollanto Humala, Alejandro Toledo, prime minister Velásquez Quesquén. The Minister of the Interior has been in touch. Even [defence minister] Rafael Rey had some kind words. I am grateful to all of them. There are other people who want to deceive some people and they use a phrase which is no more than ten words long: I'm really sorry about what is happening to Lerner. But I disagree with him that... And they give eleven reasons why I'm not much more than a criminal. This is hypocrisy, manipulation. I don't accept that sort of solidarity.
[...]
- Don't you think that the members of the CVR placed an emphasis on work surrounding Memory? Doesn't this just perpetuate the pain?
- I don't say that one should continually recreate the pain, but that one should process it. This is the only way to free oneself from it. Understanding what happened, mourning and then looking ahead. If we don't do that, we are going to leave a little stone in our shoe which won't leave us in peace. Memory prevents the threat of fanaticism and intolerance. The grand masters of intolerance were the senderistas and Guzmán is the king of intolerance. Those who say that the wounds are closed, what is it that they said when Guzmán wrote his book?: Remember what he did! [...]
- What did you think of the book?
- I haven't read it, I don't intend to read it, I'm free to not read it. I've spoken with Guzmán. Knowing the author, I really doubt the quality of his ideas.
[emphasis mine, trans mine]

'Es la Derecha Fascistoide' (Caretas)

*'Caviar' - a derogatory word for a left-winger, particularly an intellectual, urban left-winger who doesn't understand 'the real world'. Wikpedia suggests 'champagne socialist' as a translation.