In Brief
Struggle for Human Rights Continues in Argentina BUENOS AIRES-On the afternoon of May 25, Marfa Alejandra Bonafini-the 35-year-old daughter of Hebe Bonafini, president of the human rights...
...The complaint, filed on behalf of some 30,000 mostly indigenous people, alleged that the New York-based company deliberately polluted their water and land...
...Court Throws out Indigenous Ecuadorians' Suit Against Texaco NEW YORK-On May 30, a Federal District judge in New York threw out the lawsuits against Texaco brought by Indians from the Ecuadorian and Peruvian rain forest...
...The class-action suit alleged that a Texaco subsidiary dumped billions of liters of toxic waste into their environment while extracting oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon between 1964 and 1992...
...The poll was carried out June 1418 among 2,000 Brazilians from various regions...
...Continued on page 52 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 The protagonists of this relatively new method of protest are known here as "piqueteros" (pickets...
...Pedro Domico had led efforts to win compensation for his community for the damages caused by construction of the Urra hydroelectric project...
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...He had survived two assassination attacks this past April...
...Human rights groups and families of the dictatorship's victims did have one reason to celebrate, however...
...They also alleged that the TransEcuador Pipeline, constructed by Texaco, leaked large amounts of petroleum into the environment...
...The virulence of the protests has increased along with their frequency...
...InterPress Service -Latin American Weekly Report Sources Weekly News Update on the Americas is published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York...
...Texaco denied any wrongdoing and asked that the cases be dismissed on grounds they should be tried in courts T where the plaintiffs are a located...
...The District Court had dismissed the suits in 1996 and 1997 saying the case should be tried in Ecuador rather than in New York...
...Since 1997, seven people have died while taking part in roadblocks, two of them on June 17 when police tried to break up the protest underway in the northwest province of Salta...
...The older Bonafini learned of the attack after returning home on May 27...
...Domico had participated in a recent demonstration in Tierralta demanding the safe return of his kinsman Kimy Pernia Domico, an Embera Katio leader who was abducted on June 2 by right-wing paramilitaries from the Campesino Self-Defense Forces of C6rdoba and Uraba (ACCU), an affiliate of the AUC...
...The demonstrations have persuaded the government to extend job creation schemes...
...It's clear that our phones are tapped, because these guys knew that we had requested telephone repair service," said Bonafini...
...After she regained consciousness they covered her head with a nylon or plastic bag and suffocated her nearly to death in what is known as the "dry submarine," a torture commonly used by Argentine security forces during the brutal 1976-1983 dictatorship...
...Secue Tombe was president of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) and indigenous governor of the Corinto reservation...
...The same poll, conducted by IBOPE for the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), shows Lula as the current favorite for the 2002 presidential elections...
...At night, they head back home, leaving the men to keep watch so that no car or truck passes through the barricades of burning tires...
...According to the IBOPE poll, Cardoso's drop in popularity is a result of the government's failure to adequately explain its measures to address an energy crisis, which was partially provoked by drought...
...In 1997, a year when Argentina's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 8.7%, there were an average of 11 roadblocks erected in protest each month, for a total of 132...
...The June 27 demonstration marked the start of a wave of protests organized by the National Forum of Struggles, a coalition which includes the PT, unions and leftist organizations...
...Over the past two years, 17 members of the Embera Katio nation-five of them top leaders-have been killed by various armed groups fighting for territorial control of C6rdoba...
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...Facing legal and other challenges to this policy, the government finally backtracked, asking households and industry to voluntarily reduce consumption by 20%, but warning that electricity blackouts may be necessary...
...In 1998, however, the U.S...
...opposition to the president grew from 31% to 45% in the same period...
...In mid-1998, Argentina's economic expansion ground to a halt and the final quarter of that year saw negative growth...
...The indigenous leaders insisted they will keep searching for Domico through other means...
...Court of Appeals...
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...We remain hopeful that Kimy is alive," said Francisco Rojas, a senator and indigenous rights activist, "and we hope that he will be returned to us soon...
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...Police estimated 30,000 protesters, -NotiSur while organizers said there were 50,000 to 60,000...
...recently he joined a group of indigenous leaders who met with the Interior Minister and the Governor of C6rdoba to discuss protection for the Embera-Katio communities in C6rdoba...
...They are police agents...
...The attackers identified themselves as telephone repairmen...
...District a Judge Jed Rakoff agreed "The s is record establishes overwhelm- h ingly that these cases have si everything to do with Ecuador C and nothing to do with States," said Rakoff...
...In the northern department of C6rdoba, Embera Katio leader Pedro Alirio Domico, governor of the Esmeralda River Indigenous Reserve in the region of Tierralta, was abducted over the weekend of June 23, reportedly by the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC...
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...Employment and social programs have proved insufficient, Ishii pointed out...
...They know that I won't shut my mouth and that's why they persecute us...
...The court's dismissal of the communities' billion-dollar claim sent the case back to the U.S...
...The Court level, diverse crowd of students, "ecedent for campesinos, unionists, leftists and companies anarchists filled the Esplanade of ne country Ministries, a broad plaza ringed damages by government offices...
...In May, the government announced fines of up to 200% of electricity rates for those who don't reduce their consumption by 20% or who exceed 200kw an hour per home, and electricity cutoffs of up to six days for repeat offenders...
...Some 5,000 militarized police were deployed to keep order...
...In 2000, the GDP fell another 0.5%, and there were 42 barricades reported each month...
...The "situation of unrest extends throughout the whole country," warned Carlos Reutemann, governor of the central province of Santa Fe...
...Police in Popayan, the departmental capital of Cauca, said they have launched an investigation into his murder...
...Alejandra Bonafini let them into the house because she had called previously to request telephone line repairs...
...Women have proven to be key figures in the protests, setting up tents to care for protesters' children and cooking meals for everyone...
...The attackers searched the house but did not take anything...
...The plaintiffs brougi to New York because convinced they could justice in Ecuador, since Texaco no long there...
...The police attempted to break up the protest using force and, as a result, two people were killed and dozens injured...
...The looting of supermarkets on June 20 in Jos6 C. Paz, a populous town in Buenos Aires province, shows that "the people are hungry and they are losing patience," said mayor Mario Ishii...
...The assailants blindfolded her, tied her hands with tape, beat her with a rubber hose (or a chain or stick covered in rubber), and burned her with cigarettes until she passed out...
...The resulting contamination killed off fish and wild game, which indigenous communities depended on for food...
...she warned other activists to be careful, because "as long as these monsters are free, this is going to keep happening...
...Weekly News Update on the Americas Protests in Argentina Intensify with Deepening Crisis BUENOS AIRES-Roadblocks, a form of protest that has become standard in Argentina, mushroomed from an average of four to 71 a month since the second half of 1998, which marked the beginning of an economic recession that has no end in sight...
...The Humanitarian Mission of Indigenous Authorities, established to find Kimy Pernia Domico, suspended the search on June 23 with no new evidence of his whereabouts...
...Argentine judge Marfa Servina de Cubrfa ordered the preventive arrest of Astiz, although it is unsure whether he will be extradited to Italy, given the precedents of the Argentine government's protection for military leaders in similar cases...
...The Indians said they and their families suffered various injuries, including poisoning, and developed pre-cancerous growths...
...a On May 30, U.S...
...They are workers whose employers have closed up shop, or they are the unemployed who survive on social subsidies, which are threatened by a deepening budget deficit...
...From 1997 through early 1998, the roadblock phenomenon had fallen from an average of 11 to just four each month...
...Weekly News Update on the Americas "-InterPress Service U.S...
...On July 2, former Navy captain Alfredo Astiz, a symbol of the impunity of the 1976-1983 dictatorship, was arrested in Buenos Aires at the request of an Italian court, on charges related to the disappearance of three Italian citizens...
...Hebe Bonafini, who lives at the home of her daughter, was at a conference in Brazil at the time...
...The litigation stems from two suits filed in 1993 and 1994 by residents of the Oriente region of Ecuador and residents of Peru who live downstream from that region...
...Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed those rulings and sent the case back to the District Court for reconsideration...
...Alejandra is her only living child...
...Texaco is headquartered in White Plains, New York, within the Second Circuit's jurisdiction...
...On June 17, a roadblock in Salta begun three weeks earlier ended in tragedy...
...According to a poll released June 27 by the consulting firm IBOPE, Cardoso's support dropped to 19% in June, down from 26% in March...
...At a press conference the next day, May 28, Bonafini blamed the government for allowing the continued impunity of those who tortured and killed during the military regime...
...The coalition will also organize a grassroots plebiscite to assign blame for "the blackout, corruption, unemployment, hunger and all the outrages this country is suffering," explained Forum leader Sandra Cabral...
...Indeed, it is believed that the Salta protests themselves were inspired by previous demonstrations near Buenos Aires...
...Energy Crisis and Corruption Spark Protest in Brazil BRASILIA-Thousands of people arrived in buses from all over Brazil for a June 27 march and rally in Brasilia to protest the t the cases policies of President Fernando they were Henrique Cardoso-particularly a not obtain new electricity rationing proespecially gram-and what the protesters er operates saw as rampant corruption within ns are suc- Cardoso's administration...
...The following day 27 people were arrested during a confrontation between 1,000 police and a group of unemployed workers...
...The next round of demonstrations, slated to take place in every Brazilian state, is scheduled for July 20, to coincide with the meeting of the G-8 nations in Genoa, Italy...
...The plaintiffs claimed that Texaco, ignoring oil-industry standards, dumped the substances in local rivers, directly into landfills, or spread them on the local dirt roads instead of pumping them back into emptied wells...
...All the provincial governors he has talked with, he said, share his fear of a "contagion" from Salta...
...he had been shot seven times in the head and chest...
...The blockades are intended to call the attention of political leaders and the media to the population's distress under the government's economic policies...
...This demonstration is a por- trait of the opinion polls, reflecting popular discontent with of peo- Cardoso's policies, which cohabit Continued on page 4 with corruption and promote the blackout," said Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers Party (PT), referring to the electricity rationing program...
...they finally left after someone called them over a two-way radio and apparently gave them instructions...
...If the Ecuadoria cessful at the Appeals the case could set a pri groups seeking to sue in the companies' hon for environmental abroad...
...The activist's two sons were disappeared during the regime's dirty war against leftist activists...
...His body was found on June 26 in the village of Alto Guarumal, in Tierralta...
...They beat my daughter and didn't take anything from the house...
...Since last January, with forecasts for a new economic decline by the end of 2001, the number of roadblocks has jumped to an average of 71 a month, for a total of 425 so far this year...
...Latin America Weekly Report is published weekly by Latin American Newsletters...
...In 1999, a critical year that began with the devaluation of the currency in neighboring Brazilin the aftermath of Russia's ruble crisis-Argentina's GDP dropped 3.4% and roadblocks increased to 21 a month...
...Weekly News Update on the Americas Indigenous Leaders Under Attack in Colombia COLOMBIA-Paez indigenous leader Cristobal Secue Tombe was murdered by unknown assailants on June 25 near the town of Corinto in the southwestern Colombian department of Cauca...
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...Struggle for Human Rights Continues in Argentina BUENOS AIRES-On the afternoon of May 25, Marfa Alejandra Bonafini-the 35-year-old daughter of Hebe Bonafini, president of the human rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo-was tortured by two men who entered her home in the city of La Plata, in Buenos Aires province...
...Forty percent of the labor force in Jos6 C. Paz is out of work and 60% of the population lives below the poverty line...
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Vol. 35 • July 2001 • No. 1
