Argentina/US: Intelligence Files Move

Argentina has welcomed a vote by the US House of Representatives to force intelligence agencies to reveal information they may have on dictatorship-era human rights abuses. It's early days, but:

If approved by the US Senate and President Barack Obama, the measure could provide key evidence for human rights trials under way in Argentina and possibly help some 400 families find children who were stolen at birth from women who were kidnapped and killed by the dictatorship, according to Argentina's ambassador to the U.S., Hector Timerman.

(Ambassador Timerman, of course, has a personal interest in such matters).

US House Approves Sharing Spy Files on Argentina (NY Times)

Peru: Fujimori's Daughter to Wed in Jail

Alberto Fujimori is to give away his youngest daughter Sachi in the Peruvian jail where he is serving a life sentence for human rights abuses.

Keiko Fujimori had previously stated,

"My sister (Sachi) is prepared to marry in the prison yard, the parking lot, or any part of the jail; what she wants is for my father to walk her down the aisle,"

Such petitions are not always met with mercy.

In May 1994, Alberto Fujimori denied current President Alan Garcia's request to return from exile in Colombia for five hours to attend his father's funeral.

His chief of staff, Javier Velasquez, suggested the youngest Fujimori's wedding wish may come true.

"You do not do, in a democracy, the things you do in a dictatorship," Velasquez said. "We are not going to do what they did to us."

And, indeed, permission has now been granted. Fujimori is the only prisoner in the penitential unit of Diroes (Dirección de Operaciones Especiales de la Policía Nacional del Perú) east of Lima and some have complained that he is allowed too many special privileges. The wedding will not quell such concerns, but it does seem to be within prison regulations and reports suggest that Fujimori's "good behaviour" led to the request being approved.

Casamiento en una carcel VIP (Pagina/12 via CNDDHH)
Fujimori daughter wanted jailed dad to walk her down the aisle (AFP)
INPE: se le otorga permiso especial a Fujimori por "buena conducta" (La Republica)
Gobierno concede permiso a hija de Fujimori para que se case en Diroes (La Republica)

Guatemala: Exhuming the Disappeared

There has been some focus on the identification of bodies in mass graves in Guatemala recently. A few weeks ago, Latin America News Dispatch had a photo essay on exhumations outside Villalobos. The Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Association is now also investigating mass graves in Verbena cemetery, where they believe over 800 people may be buried.

Guatemalans are calling for further government action to resolve the cases of the disappeared, and so is the Red Cross.

News Round-Up

Chile
Dirty War Corpses Identified (The Latin Americanist)

Colombia
Ten year anniversary of El Salado massacre (Lat/Am Daily)
El Salado, 10 years later (Plan Colombia and Beyond)

Argentina: Another Grandchildren Found

Ladies and gentlemen, meet found grandchild number 101: Francisco Madariaga Quintela.

The Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo) are the tireless old ladies who investigate disappeared children and restore the identities - as they put it - to the grandchildren. As it turns out, DNA tests show that Francisco is the son of Abel Pedro Madariaga, who is currently the Grandmothers' own secretary (yes, despite being a dad, and not a gran). There must be particular celebrations in the Grandmothers' office this week.

Son Stolen at Birth 32 Years Ago Meets Father (NY Times)
"Tener identidad es lo mas lindo que hay" (Pagina/12, also image source - and as an aside, isn't this headline just begging to be translated as "Having an identity is the best thing ever!")

Colombia: Relatives of 'False Positives' Speak Out

From the excellent magazine Cambio, which, sadly is apparently soon to lose its current investigative format, comes a video clip focusing on the female relatives of men killed in Colombia's conflict. The victims were so-called 'false positives' - young men dressed up to look like guerrillas and murdered to boost the 'success rate' of the armed forces' counterinsurgency drive. It's Spanish only but I have attempted to provide a transcript below - it's not perfect and you can see that I had difficulties understanding one of the interviewees in particular, so if you speak Spanish, watch the original, but English-only readers should be able to get a rough guide.



Jaqueline Castillo: My name is Jaqueline Castillo, I'm the sister of Jaime Castillo, who was disappeared on 12 August 2008.

Ana Paez: I'm the mum of Eduardo Garzon Paez, disappeared 4 March 2008.

Ana Cecilia Arenas: My name is Cecilia Arenas, I'm the sister of Mario Alexander Arenas, disappeared 2 January 2008.

Screen text: Stories of families of three of the 16 young people disappeared in Soacha and then presented by the Army as fallen combatants.
False positives
WE DON'T BELIEVE IN JUSTICE

ACA: On this journey, this year, it's two years already, during which we haven't had any type of support, whether financial or regarding justice. Personally, I've realised that the public prosecutors [fiscales] aren't doing anything for us. I'm a bit pessimistic in this case.

JC: Really, the idea of justice in Colombia makes one nostalgic. There is evidence, there is strong evidence, which shows that the army really did kill all those people, and the fact that this isn't enough to get convictions, it's very sad.

AP: We're really tired of them taking us, bringing us, using us and in reality, we are exactly where we were on the first day [...] Why? Because we don't have any answers. We don't have protection, we don't have anything.

Screen text: WE ARE THREATENED.

[..] I don't think it's fair that the police can say to us, "Come here, come here, now, or for three days" and what for? [...] When I get there, they say, don't come now. I don't accept protection from them.

ACA: We have been threatened. We feel threatened, we can't have a quiet life thinking that if we go out, we are frightened, thinking that they are planning something, we don't know if someone might be following us. We're often even frightened to use the phone, because we know that phones can be bugged, so we can't even talk on the phone in privacy.

AP: [...]
Screen text: WE ARE GOING TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURTS

JC: Yes, our intention and that of most of the families is that there should not be impunity here and we will go to the international court if necessary. We have asked the court to take action in this case.

AP: We are going to ask them to help us abroad. Because I don't believe in it here - there's nothing here. When are they going to help us here? There's nothing, nothing. We want the truth. We want the names of those who did it to appear in the media, in the newspapers. This is what I want.

ACA: We are waiting for an answer from the International Criminal Court, because here, I don't believe they are going to take care of us and the best thing we can do is go elsewhere. Go and look outside the country and see what we can do.

[Source]

Chile: Museum of Memory

Via Dirty Wars and Democracy, I was pleased to find a first-hand account of a visit to Santiago's new museum of memory, complete with pictures.

I find the walls of photos of the disappeared particularly striking, and I'm not the only one.