Human Rights Watch Blasts Venezuelan “State of Exception”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) today called on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to eliminate controversial “state of exception” measures enacted amidst increased political tension and economic uncertainty in the South American country.

“Until recently, the Maduro administration has been able to jail opponents and trample the rights of ordinary citizens without fearing any response from the other branches of government,” said HRW Americas managing director Daniel Wilkinson in a statement from the group.

“But now that the opposition controls Venezuela’s National Assembly, the president has given himself the power to deprive this body of its authority to sanction government officials,” he added.

Under the sixty-day “State of Exception and Economic Emergency” that went into effect on Monday, power to the opposition-led legislature is curbed by directly allowing Maduro to spend funds and enter into contracts. The new law permits the government to employ the military and police to ensure “the correct distribution” of goods, and permits the Foreign Ministry to suspend agreements by Venezuelan individuals and groups accused of purportedly attempting to "destabilize" the Maduro regime.

Maduro earlier today defended the “state of exception” that he enacted against perceived domestic and foreign threats against Venezuela, and threatened with expanding it beyond the sixty-day period.

“The National Assembly wants to remove me and tie my hands, you know why? If they had my hands tied and I could declare a state of emergency then we wouldn’t have been able to make any decisions,” he added.

Daily Headlines: March 31, 2016

* Mexico: A new Human Rights Watch report concluded that Mexican immigration officials broke the law as part of their push to deport thousands of unaccompanied minors from Central American states ravaged by violence.

* Brazil: Brazil may be mired in a political crisis and ongoing recession but that hasn’t stopped the Bovespa stock index and national currency to improve by around 19% and 10% this year, respectively.

* Puerto Rico: A proposal by the House Natural Resources Committee to alleviate Puerto Rico’s nearly $70 billion dollar debt has allegedly been assailed by commonwealth politicians and officials.

* Ecuador: Will WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange end his asylum later this year at the Ecuadoran embassy in London where he has been protected since 2012?

YouTube Source – AFP (Video uploaded on June 26, 2015).

Online Sources – ABC Online, CNBC, The Latin Americanist, Vocie of America, NBC News

Daily Headlines: October 26, 2015

* Latin America: Elections were held in four countries of the Americas yesterday including Guatemala where Jimmy Morales became president-elect while a runoff will be needed to see who will replace Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

* Brazil: A recent Human Rights Watch report blasted Brazilian prison authorities for allowing inmates to takeover severely overcrowded Pernambuco prisons.

* Mexico: Six people died in Mexico as a result of accidents related to Hurricane Patricia though damage was minimal and the death toll was lower than anticipated.

* Colombia: Forensics investigators last week positively identified the remains of three women who may have been tortured and killed by security forces during the 1985 Palace of Justice siege.

YouTube Source – euronews (Official results of Haiti’s presidential elections, which involved a whopping fifty-four candidates, are expected to be revealed around November 4th).

Online Sources – Human Rights Watch, Fox News Latino, Colombia Reports, Reuters, CNN

Daily Headlines: May 29, 2015

* Mexico: Human Rights Watch has called on Mexican authorities to fully and impartially investigate a May 22nd shootout between security forces and alleged gang members that left 42 people dead.

* South America: Teams from four different Latin American countries including Tigres UANL from Mexico and Argentine side River Plate qualified for the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores.

* Argentina: The discovery of a new offshore oil field near the Falklands could lead to increased drama in the diplomatic battle between the U.K. and Argentina over the disputed archipelago.

* Peru: Bolivian authorities captured Martin Belaunde, the fugitive former adviser to Peru’s president who has been accused of corruption.

YouTube Source – ODN

Online Sources – Al Jazeera America, ESPN FC, SBS, The Telegraph, Reuters

Daily Headlines: July 30, 2014

* Brazil: A Human Rights Watch report released this week documented some sixty-four cases of torture in Brazil since 2010 and noted, “impunity in cases of serious abuses by police and prison guards is the norm.”

* Venezuela: One of the numerous proposals by the U.S. Congress to sanction the Venezuelan government for human rights abuses could soon come to a vote in the Senate.

* Colombia: The Colombian government blamed the FARC guerillas for causing a blackout that left 500,000 people in the key port city of Buenaventura without power.

* U.S.: A new study found that “women and minorities who promote diversity from corporate leadership positions tend to get lower evaluations from their bosses and colleagues.”

Video Source – Sky News via YouTube (“An investigation was launched in Brazil (in 2013) after video emerged of a police helicopter machine gunning the car of a suspected drug dealer in a built up area of Rio de Janeiro”.)

Online Sources – The Huffington Post; Colombia Reports; Miami Herald; The Latin Americanist; ABC News

Daily Headlines: May 5, 2014

* Dominican Republic: Dominican health officials have documented some 3500 suspected cases of the chikungunya virus, which is a mosquito-borne virus that causes intense joint and muscle pain and has spread throughout the Caribbean over the past five months.

* Venezuela: A Human Rights Watch report published today blasted “Venezuelan security forces” for being behind “an alarming pattern of abuse” against opposition protesters and civilians since early February.   

* U.S.: Did the judges rob Argentine boxer Marcos Maidana from what would have been the first defeat in welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s career?

* Uruguay: Uruguayan officials set guidelines for the legal selling and production of marijuana including limiting individuals to purchases of 40 grams of the drug per week and set the price at less than $1 per gram.

Video Source – YouTube user ExcélsiorTV (The chikungunya virus, which is commonly found in Asia and Africa, has spread throughout several Caribbean countries and, as seen in this video, reached the Mexican state of Jalisco). 

Online Sources – The Huffington Post; Human Rights Watch; The Latin Americanist; USA TODAY; The Independent

Daily Headlines: February 13, 2014

* Mexico: Members of the media in the Mexican state of Veracruz decried the recent murder of journalist Gregorio Jiménez and expressed doubt that he was killed due to a personal vendetta.

* Haiti: The Haitian government has launched a new program aimed at providing documentation to expats including the tens of thousands whose citizenship was controversially stripped in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

* Honduras: A report from Human Rights Watch blasted Honduran authorities for failing to properly investigate the deaths of scores of people due to land disputes.

* Argentina: Reports of Buenos Aires officials ordering a cruise ship to lower down its British flag has become the latest point of tension in the diplomatic relations between the U.K. and Argentina.

Video Source – YouTube user CadenaTres

Online Sources- Global Voices Online; Washington Post; The Latin Americanist; Los Angeles Times; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: October 11, 2013

* U.S.: Latin American finance ministers urged the U.S. government to fix its fiscal impasse and warned that a potential debt default would lead to “devastating consequences” throughout the region.

* Venezuela: President Nicolás Maduro said that the Venezuelan central bank could auction off more than $900 million every week as a measure in order to boost an economy with a 49.4% annual inflation rate.

* Ecuador: Human Rights Watch blasted Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa for “his abuse of power to suppress those he sees as his enemies (that) has reached new and alarming heights”. 

* Mexico: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s name has been used in ads as part of a campaign opposed to a proposed tax on soft drinks in Mexico.
 
Video Source – YouTube via the Associated Press

Online Sources- NBC News; Reuters; Fox News Latino; Human Rights Watch

Daily Headlines: August 14, 2013

* Latin America: At a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota blasted a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program monitoring Latin America that “runs the risk of casting a shadow of distrust over our work.”

* Ecuador: Human Rights Watch urged President Rafael Correa to revoke a decree that “grants far-reaching powers to the government to oversee and dissolve nongovernmental organizations.”

* Cuba: Numerous Cuban media outlets commemorated former leader, Fidel Castro’s 87th birthday yesterday though he continues to keep a low profile since stepping down in 2006.

* Chile: Researchers believe that the deaths of twenty condors can be blamed on “poisoning after they were exposed to insecticides used for agriculture.”

Video Source – YouTube via user telesurenglish (“The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (on Monday)…and defended the U.S. spying program as defense against attacks like that which happened on September 11th.”)

Online Sources- The Latin Americanist; Bloomberg; GlobalPost; Huffington Post; The Guardian

Report Highlights “Disappearances” in Mexico

Around 250 people are believed to have disappeared in Mexico during the administration of former President Felipe Calderón according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The HRW report, which was released on Wednesday, found that 149 people between December 2006 and December 2012 were victims of “enforced disappearances” committed by “all branches of the security forces”.  Furthermore, the report noted how in more than sixty cases evidence was uncovered linking “state agents” with criminal groups such as drug gangs to organize disappearances and extort money from the families of victims.

HRW explained that they uncovered evidence in an apparent disappearance case showing how police in a Nuevo León town “arbitrarily detained” nineteen construction workers in 2011 and gave them to an organized crime group. 

The human rights group believes that there is “little doubt” that there are unofficially  “thousands” more cases of disappearances in Mexico.  An Interior Ministry official confirmed this hours after the HRW report was published when she admitted that there are over 27,000 disappearance cases in Mexico.

None of the 249 cases investigated by HRW have led to a conviction in a court of law.  “All too often, (prosecutors and law enforcement officials) blame the victims and tell families it is their responsibility to investigate,” according to the report.

Days after coming to office last December 1st, current President Enrique Peña Nieto announced the creation of a new national police force which he said would be better trained and equipped to fight crime.  Nevertheless, one senior HRW official also observed how current President Enrique Peña Nieto must take more decisive action:

Daily Headlines: September 7, 2012

* Haiti: The Turks and Caicos Islands will lift the temporary ban on deportations of Haitian migrants that was first established shortly after a January 2010 Haiti earthquake.

* Mexico: U.S. investigators will look into the death of a Mexican citizen who was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent.

* Cuba: Could an experimental debit card program lead to the end of the island’s dual currency system?

* Colombia: Human Rights Watch claimed that the resignation of an auxiliary Supreme Court judge investigating the “para-politics” corruption scandal is a “loss for justice”.

Video Source – YouTube via user WIV4 (Note: This video was uploaded in 2008).

Online Sources- CBS News, MSNBC, ABC News, Human Rights Watch

Daily Headlines: December 13, 2011

* Mexico: According to the Mexican archdiocese over 5.6 million people visited the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City this year.

* U.S.: The Supreme Court agreed to listen to a case next year involving Arizona's controversial anti-immigration S.B. 1070 law.

* Colombia: Human Rights Watch blasted a proposed judicial reform that could “virtually guarantee impunity for human rights violations committed by the security forces.”

* Caribbean: Representatives of several countries including the U.S. and Cuba reportedly met last week in order to discuss potential problems with increased Cuban offshore oil drilling.

Image Source – Flickr via Joaquin Martinez (Mexicans domestically and worldwide commemorated the annual celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe yesterday).

Online Sources – Miami Herald, MSNBC, Bloomberg, AFP

Daily Headlines: August 30, 2011

* Venezuela: Human Rights Watch urged the Venezuelan government to protect Umberto Prado, an activist who has been highly critical of the country’s prison system.

* Haiti: Political infighting and gridlock have hindered Haiti's reconstruction in the three months since President Michel Martelly was inagurated.

* Honduras: According to the country’s Human Rights Commissioner roughly 2400 women “died violently” since 2002 including twelve femicide victims whose bodies were found over the past week.

* Bolivia: Seven members of a Bolivian Mennonite community where sentenced to twenty-five years in prison after being convicted of raping over one hundred girls and women.

Image – AP via BBC News (“An inmate's relative argues with national guardsmen outside the El Rodeo I prison.” Venezuelan prison authorities were heavily criticized after twenty-two people died in a riot at that facility last June.)
Online Sources- Honduras Weekly, AlertNet, Voice of America, BBC News

Report: Argentina poor in meeting women’s healh needs

Argentine women are suffering due to a lack of enforcement of health care laws and policies, concluded a report published by Human Rights Watch today.

According to the study, there have been problems with the distribution of contraceptives to women including “being given expired contraceptives in public health centers, or were given one form of birth control at one visit, and then another at the next.” The study further noted an instance when a judge allegedly told a rape victim that she “must not have been very traumatized” from being violated due to the way she dressed.

The report also focused on abortions, which are legal in Argentina only in exceptional cases like if the mother’s life is in danger. Yet the human rights group said that doctors tend to delay or even reject performing legal abortions and ties forces some women to seek illegal and high-risk abortions. Hence, the report claimed that the lack of proper access to contraception is why nearly 40% of Argentine pregnancies end in abortion.

One of the most vulnerable groups at risk are women with disabilities despite Argentina recently ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:

"Women and girls with disabilities face all the same barriers as women without disabilities, and then some," (Americas director Jose Miguel) Vivanco said. "Apart from straight-up access issues - are there ramps at clinics, or is information translated into Braille or sign language, for example - there is a larger question of prejudice. Some doctors just don't think women with visual or hearing disabilities, have sexual relationships or can remember to take their contraception."

Image- EFE
Online Sources- Human Rights Watch, MSNBC, BBC Mundo, The Guardian

World Watch: Pugilistic parliamentary procedure

* Ukraine: The above video shows how some Ukrainian legislators threw eggs and launched smoke bombs in protest over Russia’s military presence there.

* World: Stock indexes worldwide fell in trading on Tuesday after Europe’s debt crisis worsened.

* Zambia: Several human rights groups including Human Rights Watch condemned Zambian prisons as “’death traps’ beset by overcrowding, malnutrition and rampant disease.”

* South Korea: South Korea’s Oh Eun-sun became the first woman to climb the world’s fourteen highest mountains.

Online Sources- YouTube, USA TODAY, FOX News, New York Times, BBC News

World Watch: Don’t copy that floppy!

* World: The end of the floppy disk seems to be forthcoming after Sony said that it would stop sales of the 3.5-inch version of those devices in Japan by 2011.

* Sudan: President Omar Hassan al-Bashir may’ve won reelection yet Human Rights Watch claimed that the elections were “marred by widespread irregularities and gross human rights violations.”

* Poland: The twin brother of recently deceased president Lech Kaczynski said that he would run for the presidency.

* Japan: Protestors in Okinawa rallied on Sunday against the massive Kadena air base that is run by the U.S. military.

Image – BBC News
Online Sources- CBC, Voice of America, ABC Online, Al Jazeera English

Daily Headlines: April 7, 2010

* Brazil: At least 95 people are dead in Rio de Janeiro after floods and mudslides were caused by nearly twelve inches of rain falling during a 24-hour period.

* Peru: Human Rights Watch has called on the government to investigate the deaths of six people who were slain during clashes between striking miners and police.

* Cuba: Images of a now 16-year-old Elian Gonzalez emerged showing him attending the Cuban Young Communist Union conference.

* Argentina: Lionel Messi continues to prove that he’s the world’s best soccer player; yesterday he scored all four of Barcelona’s goals and led the Spanish side into the Champions League semis.

Online Sources- YouTube, Bloomberg, BBC News, MSNBC

Rights group warns against Colombian “neo-paramilitaries”

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report published yesterday highlighted the resurgence of criminal groups linked to Colombia’s rightist paramilitaries.

The HRW study entitled points out the crime and abuses by criminal groups that have emerged from the demobilization of the country’s AUC paramilitaries between 2003 and 2006. Most of the 30,000 demobilized soldiers have never really left the AUC structure and new recruits have taken their place according to the
scathing report.

The report also warned about the sharp increase in violence in urban areas as a result of paramilitary successors and comes after public backlash against president Alvaro Uribe’s unusual plan to pay Medellin schoolchildren as informants.

As to be expected the government’s reply was to strongly denounce the report; a Defense Ministry statement claimed “Colombian paramilitaries have been extinguished.” Such a shortsighted view was rebutted by HRW:

"Whatever you call these groups - whether paramilitaries, gangs, or some other name - their impact on human rights in Colombia today should not be minimized," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "Like the paramilitaries, these successor groups are committing horrific atrocities, and they need to be stopped."

The HRW report comes at a sensitive time for a proposed U.S.-Colombia free trade pact that has been stalled due to the concern of Democratic lawmakers over violence and human rights abuses.

Image- CBS News (“A member of the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) raises his weapon during a demobilization ceremony in Tibu, northeast of Bogota, December 10, 2004.”)
Online Sources- UPI, CNN, Human Rights watch, Colombia Reports, Reuters, El Espectador

HRW: Withhold Security Aid to Mexico

In a letter sent yesterday to Secretary Clinton, Human Rights Watch called on the State Department to withhold tens of millions of dollars in security aid to Mexico unless it agrees to allow recent human rights abuse allegations to be tried in civilian courts.

Human Rights Watch states in the letter a finding from its recent report on Mexican military abuses that, "Mexican military courts-which routinely take over the investigation of military abuses against civilians-have not produced over the past 10 years a single conviction against a member of the military accused of committing a serious human rights violation."

Under the $1.4 billion aid package that is known as the Mérida Initiative, the US must withhold a 15% portion of the funds until the secretary of State reports that Mexico is meeting specific human rights conditions. Those conditions include prosecuting human rights abuses in accordance with Mexican and international law.

Online sources-Los Angeles Times, Human Rights Watch

Image-MSNBC

Daily Headlines: June 11, 2009

* Brazil: The country may be officially in recession but that won’t stop the government from making a $10 billion loan to (not from) the International Monetary Fund.

* Dominican Republic: Dominican cacao farmers are learning the pros and cons of fair trade as cited in the Christian Science Monitor.

* Cuba: Cuba’s ambassador to the U.N. launched heavy attacks against Human Rights Watch calling them a “clown act” paid to act as "mercenaries" for the U.S. government.

* Caribbean: British and Canadian researchers concluded that climate change is to blame for the destruction of Caribbean coral reefs.

Image- CNNMoney.com (“Partial view of a Petrobras off-shore oil platform in Angra dos Reis, 180 km south of Rio de Janeiro.”)
Online Sources- Christian Science Monitor, AP, BBC News, LAHT, Reuters