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)

US/Peru Events

An event, and a related exhibition, which may be of interest to New York-based readers - apologies for the short notice. The symposium has some truly excellent speakers, including Kimberly Theidon, Mary Louise Pratt and Diana Taylor, so I would highly recommend it for anyone who is able to attend. More info here.

Guatemala: Reopening Old Wounds

People in the town of Ixcán in northwestern Guatemala could relive the pain of the country's 36-year civil war if the army reopens a military base in the area, where more than 100 massacres of indigenous villagers were committed during the armed conflict.
[...]
"Seeing them (the soldiers) on the streets again brings back everything that happened," he added.

The town and surrounding rural villages of the frontier municipality of Ixcán, which is bordered by the Mexican state of Chiapas to the north, were among the areas that bore the brunt of the 1960-1996 armed conflict.

Between 1979 and 1988, 102 massacres were committed in Ixcán, with a total of 2,500 victims, and a full 96 percent of the population was forcibly displaced from the municipality, according to the United Nations-sponsored Guatemalan Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH).

Town that Suffered Military Terror Fights Reopening of Base (IPS)

Uruguay: Impunity Law Declared Unconstitutional

There are important moves in Uruguay regarding the amnesty law known as the Ley de Caducidad. In February, key parts of the law were already ruled unconstitutional. In June, enough signatures were collected to initiate a referendum. On Sunday, during the presidential election, the population of Uruguay will be asked whether or not the law should be annulled.

Now events have taken another turn. As part of the case regarding the death of Nibia Sabalsagaray, who was killed in a military barracks in 1974, the Supreme Court has ruled that the law violates the separation of powers and was not properly approved. Officially, the ruling applies only to this case. However,

A lawyer representing her family told the Associated Press that while each case was unique, "it's understood that this sets a precedent and that the Supreme Court won't change if presented with a similar case".

Sunday's referendum will apparently go ahead.

"If the law is annulled, there won't be any sense in ruling that it's unconstitutional, but if the referendum doesn't get enough votes, there is the possibility of making this argument in other cases," prosecutor Mirtha Guianze, who brought the Sabalsagaray case to the Supreme Court, told Reuters news agency.

It is questionable, however, whether the referendum will approve the annulment; polls are apparently showing those in support of it in the low 40%s. So the unconstitutional ruling could indeed turn out to be significant.


Uruguay dirty war amnesty illegal (BBC)
Uruguayan Court throws out special amnesty for crimes under dictatorship (Mercopress)
Ley de Caducidad: sentencia de la SCJ establece importante precedente (Espectador)
"Ley violo separacion de poderes" (La Republica [Uruguay])
Para anular la ley de impunidad (Brecha) [requires registration, source for image used above]

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: Monterrico Metals in the High Court

It seems to be only the Guardian reporting on this so far, but their articles are good and include the video embedded above.*

As regular readers will recall, this is about the mine at Majaz from where photographic evidence of torture emerged last year.

Two protesters were shot in their legs, one man lost an eye to gunshot wounds and a farmer called Melanio Garcia, 41, suffered a fatal gunshot. Photographs allegedly taken by a Monterrico supervisor, which the protesters say support their allegations of abuse by the police, show Garcia lying on the ground, apparently alive but badly injured. Several other pictures taken 30 hours later, according to their time and date stamps, clearly show Garcia to be dead.

Now the mining company is being sued for damages in London.

Richard Meeran, of Leigh Day, the London law firm bringing the high court case, said the evidence of torture was incontrovertible and that it was inconceivable the company could have been unaware of what was happening on its site.

"The company must have been aware of the inhuman treatment of the victims during their three-day ordeal at the Rio Blanco mine," he said. "Yet there is no evidence of it taking any steps to prevent the harm. On the contrary, it would appear that the company was working in cahoots with the police. It is vital that multinationals are held legally accountable for human rights violations occurring at their overseas operations."

The mining firm is denying the allegations.

Abuse claims against Peru police guarding British firm Monterrico (Guardian)

British mining company faces damages after allegations of torture in Peru (Guardian)

I'll try to keep updating on this.

*Richard, was it you who uploaded the video on Youtube? Thanks!

Paraguay: Dictatorship Archives Opened

Human rights activists in Paraguay, led by Martin Almada, now have access to military archives apparently containing information about the Stroessner era. In addition, the files seem to include material on Argentines as well, leading to hopes that it could reveal more about Operation Condor, the pan-Latin American intelligence campaign.

"Many relatives of disappeared prisoners don't know where their loved ones are buried. Maybe these documents will provide clues," Almada said.

Paraguay unveils archives from dictatorship (AP)

See also excellent photos here