Judi Lynn
Judi Lynn's JournalA social leader is killed every 4 days in Colombia: Report
written by Stephen Gill July 18, 2017
A social leader is killed every four days in Colombia, according to a report from the Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation (PARES).
The organization that monitors armed conflict in the South American country recorded 55 assassinations of community leaders and human rights activists this year alone.
“Every four days a homicide is committed against a social leader in Colombia and every two days, there is one threatened,” said the report.
“The vulnerability of leaders and human rights defenders in Colombia remains critical. The acts of violence against this population show high degrees of systematic behavior.”
More:
https://colombiareports.com/social-leader-killed-every-4-days-colombia-report/
Uribe ignores court, calls columnist child molester and gets sued again
written by Adriaan Alsema July 15, 2017
Former President Alvaro Uribe on Twitter took his aggressive behavior against journalists another step further on Friday, calling a satirical columnist a “child molester” on Twitter.
Uribe’s outburst followed a satirical column in which Semana magazine columnist Daniel Samper, the nephew of former President Ernesto Samper, made fun of Uribe’s regionalism and harshly reminded the president about his expected appearance before a transitional justice over his stained human rights record.
Uribe confirmed that “child molester Samper” had offended Antioquia.
. . .
Samper immediately announced legal action against the increasingly erratic former president, whose family was intimately close to the Medellin Cartel. In the 1990s, Uribe was an active promoter of the formation of paramilitary groups that ended up committing tens of thousands of human rights violations.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/uribe-ignores-court-calls-columnist-child-molester-gets-sued/
Brazil's former president sees politics in Silva conviction
Mauricio Savarese, Associated Press
Updated 5:13 pm, Friday, July 14, 2017
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Friday that the corruption conviction of her mentor and predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is aimed at keeping him out of next year's presidential election.
In an interview with The Associated Press in Rio de Janeiro, Rousseff said no candidate allied with President Michel Temer has the votes to beat Silva, universally known as Lula.
"The 2018 elections are an enigma. They do not have a candidate to compete against Lula," Rousseff said. "You can't know what the result will be, but they know people noticed they had meaningful gains when he was in office. They want to stop Lula from being eligible."
Rousseff was impeached last year for manipulating the fiscal budget and was succeeded by Temer. Silva was found guilty of corruption earlier this week and sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison, although he remains free while an appeal is heard.
More:
http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Brazil-s-former-president-sees-politics-in-Silva-11289952.php
Chile, Germany establish Colonia Dignidad commission
Source: Deutsche Welle
Germany and Chile have signed an agreement on the notorious cult of Colonia Dignidad founded by a pedophile former Nazi. The cult operated with impunity for decades, committing dreadful crimes.
Germany and Chile agreed to establish a joint commission to document the crimes of a secretive cult founded by a pedophile ex-Nazi in 1961, Chile's foreign ministry said Thursday.
The agreement will create a documentation center for the community, and a memorial for victims that were tortured and killed within the confines of Colonia Dignidad. The cult was started by Paul Schäfer, a German lay preacher, former army medic and convicted pedophile who fled West Germany to Chile after World War II
Over 30 years countless boys were raped and forced to labor at the remote commune hidden behind security fences. Schäfer brutally suppressed and controlled his followers, including brainwashing, draconian punishments and enforcing a vow of secrecy. Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet used the German commune as a torture camp, and hid weapons and poison gas on the premises.
Read more: http://www.dw.com/en/chile-germany-establish-colonia-dignidad-commission/a-39682775
Uribes last-ditch effort to avoid Colombias war crimes tribunal?
written by Stephen Gill July 12, 2017
Colombia’s former president Alvaro Uribe, implicated in multiple war crime investigations, on Tuesday urged the country’s impending war crimes tribunal to only seek justice for crimes committed by the FARC.
Uribe, who was president between 2002 and 2010, demanded on Twitter that members of the police, the army and civilians allegedly involved in war crimes be excluded from the special tribunal that is being set up to bring justice to the country’s 8 million victims of Colombia’s five-decade long armed conflict.
“It is unacceptable that our military and police, members of the Armed Forces of democracy and not of a dictatorship, be brought to the International Criminal Court in many cases for false accusations or to the justice of terrorism so that they have to recognize crimes not committed as a condition to avoid going to jail,” said the current Democratic Center senator.
Uribe’s latest proposals include a suggestion that instead of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), members of the armed forces and third party actors accused of war crimes be brought before a temporary room in the Supreme Court to analyse the accusations.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/uribes-last-ditch-effort-avoid-colombias-war-crimes-tribunal/
New details emerge on Moscow real estate deal that led to the Trump-Kremlin alliance
Michael Isikoff
Chief Investigative Correspondent
Yahoo News July 11, 2017
While in Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant in November 2013, Donald Trump entered into a formal business deal with Aras Agalarov, a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, to construct a Trump Tower in the Russian capital. He later assigned his son, Donald Trump Jr., to oversee the project, according to Rob Goldstone, the British publicist who arranged the controversial 2016 meeting between the younger Trump and a Kremlin-linked lawyer.
Trump has dismissed the idea he had any business deals in Russia, saying at one point last October, “I have nothing to do with Russia.”
But Goldstone’s account, provided in an extensive interview in March in New York, offers new details of the proposed Trump project that appears to have been further along than most previous reports have suggested, and even included a trip by Ivanka Trump to Moscow to identify potential sites.
According to the publicist, the project — structured as a licensing deal in which Agalarov would build the tower with Trump’s name on it — was only abandoned after the Russian economy floundered. The economic downturn resulted in part from sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the European Union following Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
More:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/new-details-emerge-moscow-real-estate-deal-led-trump-kremlin-alliance-190126219.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=433beca8-469f-3942-9fad-a13615dd8aa8&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Mexico spying targeted international experts in student kidnapping case
Source: Associated Press
Investigation finds spyware targeted international group of experts who took issue with Mexico’s inquiry into the disappearance of 43 students
Associated Press in Mexico City
Monday 10 July 2017 13.29 EDT
Investigators have revealed that targets of high-tech spying in Mexico included an international group of experts backed by the Organization of American States who had criticized the government’s investigation into the disappearance of 43 students.
Previous investigations by the internet watchdog group Citizen Lab found that the spyware had been directed at journalists, activists and opposition politicians in Mexico.
But targeting foreign experts operating under the aegis of an international body marks an escalation of the scandal, which so far involves 19 individuals or groups. The experts had diplomatic status, making the spying attempt even graver.
“This must be investigated to find out who sent these messages, because they could put at risk a lot of contacts and sources,” said the former Colombian prosecutor Angela Buitrago, a member of the group of experts.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/10/spyware-mexico-kidnapping-investigation-targets-43-students
Colombias jailed anti-corruption chief seeks help from top US lawyer
written by Adriaan Alsema July 10, 2017
Colombia’s former anti-corruption chief who was arrested on bribery charges early this month, has arranged to meet an attorney known for representing top drug traffickers, according to newspaper El Tiempo.
Cuban-American lawyer Ruben Oliva told the newspaper that he would travel to Bogota in the coming hours to meet with the disgraced Luis Gustavo Moreno, who is currently being held in La Picota prison.
The attorney has a history of defending high-profile Colombian drug lords in the US, including Eugenio Montoya, of the Norte del Valle cartel; Javier Antonio Calle, alias “Comba” of the Rastrojos drugs cartel; and Daniel “El Loco” Barrera Barrera. The attorney also represented Beaudouin “Jacques” Ketant, a Haitian cocaine kingpin.
Oliva’s focus on seeking plea deals for his high-profile clients previously caused tensions, as the Miami New Times reported in 2003.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/colombias-jailed-anti-corruption-chief-seeks-help-top-us-lawyer/
Medellin elite a lot deeper in narco trouble than willing to admit
written by Adriaan Alsema July 10, 2017
When Medellin‘s mayor last week said he will continue his “relentless” fight against crime, he did not mention the fact he has personally been accused of being an associate of Medellin Cartel heir Oficina de Envigado.
This became clear at the parole hearings of Mayor Federico Gutierrez‘ parole hearing where the judge said there was enough evidence meriting the jailing of the mayor’s right-hand man, dynasty politician Gustavo Villegas.
Villegas, reportedly a long-time friend of former President Alvaro Uribe and presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo, was arrested on charges he had been working together with La Oficina for years.
Additionally, one of the attorneys of the Oficina members has said the local arch bishop “blessed” the bartered surrender to authorities of mid-level commanders of La Oficina.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/medellin-elite-lot-deeper-narco-trouble-willing-admit/
ICC wants Colombias armed forces commander prosecuted over execution of civilians
written by Adriaan Alsema July 10, 2017
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said in a report that 23 generals and six corporals, including the Colombia’s Armed Forces commander, must be prosecuted for the execution of more than 1,200 civilians.
While Colombia’s authorities and the country’s mass media have mainly focused of the prosecution of the 7,000 demobilized members of guerrilla group FARC, the prosecution of Colombia’s war crime-ridden military is more of a concern in The Hague where the court is located.
This means that if either normal or transitional justice do not adequately call the suspected state mass murderers to justice, the ICC could indict them for war crimes itself.
. . .
According to Colombia’s prosecution, more than 4,000 civilians were assassinated between 2002 and 2010 when former President Alvaro Uribe was president.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/icc-wants-colombias-armed-forces-commander-prosecuted-execution-civilians/
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