NotiSur, 07/06/01-Brazil, Colombia Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [this is a private reading copy for your use only. it may not be re-distributed according to our subscription with LADB -- NY Transfer] ------------------------------------------------------------ L A T I N A M E R I C A D A T A B A S E NotiSur - South American Political & Economic Affairs ISSN 1060-4189 Volume 11, Number 25 July 6, 2001 ------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 2001, Latin America Data Base (LADB), Latin American Institute, University of New Mexico Director: Rebecca Reynolds Bannister Editor: Patricia Hynds Staff writers: Carlos Navarro, Robert Sandels LADB ARCHIVES: Back issues are referenced to provide historical background relevant to the articles in this newsletter. These can be accessed with a subscription to the LADB searchable on-line archives at http://ladb.unm.edu/ by clicking on Search Archive. For subscription information, e-mail info@ladb.unm.edu or call 1-800-472-0888. In This Issue: BRAZIL: COLONEL SENTENCED FOR PRISON MASSACRE * Guimaraes blames prisoners for massacre * Jury finds Guimaraes guilty * Human rights workers pleased with verdict COLOMBIA: REBELS RELEASE MORE THAN 300 PRISONERS * Pastrana threatens war, offers peace * FARC threatens war, calls for shared governing * Advisor calls for constituent assembly * Release not a sure step to peace ____________________________________________________________ ********************* BRAZIL ********************* BRAZIL: COLONEL SENTENCED FOR PRISON MASSACRE Former police colonel Ubiratan Guimaraes was found guilty on June 30 of the 1992 massacre of 102 inmates after he ordered police to quell an uprising at Sao Paulo's Carandiru prison complex, Latin America's largest. Guimaraes was sentenced to more than 600 years in jail. His lawyers said they have already appealed the verdict. Human rights activists say the conviction will help end impunity for the country's notoriously violent police. Nearly nine years ago, on Oct. 2, 1992, a Policia Militar riot squad entered the prison to quell a routine fight between rival gangs. Human rights groups and even the Brazilian government called the result the worst massacre in the country's history. Although the official death toll was 111, unofficial accounts by human rights groups and survivors have placed the death toll at nearly 300. Guimaraes blames prisoners for massacre The trial was delayed in 1994 when Guimaraes was elected to the Sao Paulo state legislature, which gave him parliamentary immunity until 1998. The trial was postponed again last year after one of the jurors was hospitalized. After more lengthy maneuvering, Guimaraes went on trial in Sao Paulo on June 20, charged with 111 counts of murder. "All my client did was order the troops to go into the prison and quell the riot," said defense lawyer Vicente Cascione. "If some individual police used excessive force, they, and not my client, should be put on trial." Cascione also blamed the prisoners for the massacre. "The inmates were armed and the police troops, who were not sent in there to be become martyrs, had to protect themselves," he said just before the trial began. Guimaraes, who runs a private security firm, denied the charges and has never indicated any remorse for the deaths. "In the same circumstance," he said in an interview in Rio de Janeiro daily O Globo before the trial, "I would do my duty all over again." In his opening remarks, Guimaraes said, "There were 2,200 inmates in Cellblock Nine [where the uprising took place] and at least 14 of them had weapons. If we intended to commit a massacre, how come only 111 died?" On June 22, Luis Antonio Fleury, a congressional deputy, testified on behalf of Guimaraes. At the time of the massacre, Fleury was governor of Sao Paulo. "Col. Ubiratan Guimaraes received a legitimate order and acted correctly," said Fleury. "If I were once again governor and the colonel were again in charge of the Policia Militar, I would authorize the invasion, even knowing the consequences." Fleury backed Guimaraes' version of what happened the day of the massacre--that the police had orders to clear the cellblock so firefighters could control a fire started by the prisoners. However, on June 26, forensic expert Osvaldo Negrini testified that the police entered the prison intending to kill. Negrini said the bullet trajectories showed that the prisoners did not fire on the police, as the defense said. "The story was written on the walls," said Negrini, explaining that the bullet holes showed all the shots were fired from outside the cells and that no evidence indicated any gunfire originated inside the cells. He said the police fired machine-gun barrages into the cells, where 85 of the 111 died. Negrini said that, in addition to the bodies of the victims, more than 500 casings were recovered, showing that the police fired indiscriminately. Witnesses said many inmates were shot execution-style or from outside their cells as they hid behind their mattresses for protection. Many were found naked, a sign of surrender, said human rights workers. During his closing remarks, Cascione told the jury, "If you condemn this man, you will condemn all police officers who risk their lives every day combating crime." Prosecutor Felipe Locke Cavalcanti said Guimaraes used excessive violence to put down the uprising. "Instead of sending in troops with shields, helmets, and bulletproof vests, he sent in police armed with machine guns," Cavalcanti told the jury. Jury finds Guimaraes guilty After deliberating for four hours, the seven-member jury handed down their verdict, voting four to three to convict. The jury held Guimaraes responsible for 102 of the 111 deaths and for five attempted murders. Although Guimaraes originally was charged with 111 counts of murder, during the trial prosecutors reduced the number to 102, saying nine inmates were stabbed to death and the prosecution could not prove the police were responsible for those deaths. Judge Maria Cristina Cotrofe sentenced Guimaraes to six years for each of the 102 inmates summarily executed during the raid, with an additional 20 years for the five counts of assault with intent to commit murder. Although sentenced to 632 years in jail, Guimaraes faces no more than 30 years, the maximum sentence permitted under Brazilian law. After five years, he would be eligible for transfer to a prison farm or work camp. Guimaraes will be allowed to remain free during his appeal process. Many of the nearly 120 police who participated in the raid have also been charged with murder and are awaiting trial. But, because of delays in the case, charges of assault with injury against 29 officers had to be dropped because the statute of limitations had expired. Eight others pleaded guilty to lesser charges in return for having their sentences commuted to community service. Brazilian human rights groups said none of those involved has been expelled from the police force for use of excessive force in the attack or received disciplinary sanctions, and at least four senior officers have been promoted. Human rights workers pleased with verdict "In Brazil, police violence is a huge problem, and the condemnation of Col. Guimaraes sends a message against police impunity," said Sandra Carvalho, spokeswoman for the Centro de Justica Global, a Brazilian human rights group. "This is a really important day in Brazil," said Tim Cahill of London-based Amnesty International. "Police officers can no longer enjoy the impunity they had enjoyed." "We will wait for a decision from the justice system on the appeal, but without a doubt this was a very positive step toward ending impunity, a very big move forward for democracy," said Sao Paulo state congressman Renato Simoes. To many Brazilians, the trial raised issues that go far beyond the actions of Guimaraes and his troops, spotlighting the brutality of the country's jails. It underscored the squalid and overcrowded conditions in the prison system, which still exist. The extremely overcrowded Carandiru prison, which was built for 3,200 inmates, now holds close to 8,000 and violence is a constant. In February, seven prisoners were killed by police and 13 were killed by fellow inmates in Brazil's biggest prison riot ever involving 29,000 inmates in 27 jails, including Carandiru (see NotiSur, 2001-03-02). [Sources: The New York Times, 06/21/01; Notimex, 06/22/01; Spanish news service EFE, 06/26/01; Associated Press, CNN, Reuters, 06/30/01; The Miami Herald, 07/01/01] ********************* COLOMBIA ********************* COLOMBIA: REBELS RELEASE MORE THAN 300 PRISONERS During the last week in June, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) released just over 300 prisoners, bringing the total released in the past month to more than 350. The releases have been one of the few successes in the slow-moving peace talks that began when President Andres Pastrana removed the military from a 42,000-sq km area of southern Colombia in November 1998 to start the peace process. But many political, business, and church leaders are questioning whether Pastrana can accomplish in the year he has left in office what he has not achieved in three--a peace accord with the FARC rebels. In an agreement signed June 2, the rebels agreed to release several dozen captured military and police in exchange for 15 rebels held in government prisons (see NotiSur, 2001-06-08). But the FARC, which had nearly 500 soldiers and police officers in custody, released many more in what it called a "unilateral peace gesture." The process began June 5, when the FARC turned over four police to government officials. It continued on June 16 with an exchange of another 55 military for 14 rebels, all of them ill. The FARC freed another 242 captured police and military on June 28 in the town of La Macarena within the FARC-controlled demilitarized zone in southern Colombia. The soldiers, many held nearly four years in rebel camps, were released to peace commissioner Camilo Gomez and members of the International Red Cross (Comite Internacional de la Cruz Roja, CICR). Government transport planes then flew them to the Tolemaida air base near Melgar, 100 km southeast of Bogota. During the following weekend, another 63, in several groups, were freed in Antioquia province in northeastern Colombia. They were taken to a military base near Medellin. In all, 364 police and soldiers were released, but another 42 are still being held. The FARC proposed exchanging them for some of the hundreds of jailed guerrillas, but the government rejected any possibility of such an exchange. The FARC has responded to the government's refusal to exchange prisoners with massive attacks on various prisons to rescue jailed rebels. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the release, but remained concerned "by the increasing violence affecting the civilian population and by threats that fighting could spread further into urban areas," a UN spokesperson said. Annan "hopes that the release of imprisoned troops will be a step toward greater confidence and concrete agreements in ongoing peace talks between the government of Colombia and the FARC." Pastrana threatens war, offers peace Pastrana welcomed the soldiers at Tolemaida. He had turned down the FARC's invitation to attend the ceremony at La Macarena. Pastrana told those gathered to welcome the released prisoners that the armed forces and police were ready to defeat the guerrillas militarily. "We are not going to retreat," said Pastrana. "We are prepared to confront you with the military and police strengthened, well-trained, and armed as never before to defeat you and end this long conflict." At the same time, the president called on FARC commander Manuel "Tirofijo" Manulanda Velez to move forward with the talks (Mesa Nacional de Dialogo y Negociacion). "We must quickly reach agreements on the points of the agenda and on reducing the conflict, especially kidnappings," said Pastrana. To date, the talks have not progressed past discussing the first point of the 12-point agenda agreed upon by the government and the FARC. That issue is unemployment, which, along with underemployment, affects 30% of Colombia's 40 million citizens and which has risen even while the talks have gone on. The violence has also created 1.5 million internally displaced people, while another 6 million have left the country. FARC threatens war, calls for shared governing Some political experts said the FARC's action was a strategy to maximize publicity and further its own agenda. Besides the public relations benefit, the release frees up resources used to maintain the prisoners. Whatever public relations gains the rebels made with the release were offset by their threats to continue kidnappings and to take the war to the cities. Senior FARC commander Jorge "Mono Jojoy" Briceno said the FARC plans a new kidnap campaign, targeting lawmakers, judges, and government ministers to use as bargaining chips to secure the release of rebels from prisons. "We have to grab people from the Senate, from Congress, judges and ministers, from all three branches of government, and we'll see how they squeal," said Briceno. A few days later, the FARC suggested it share in governing beginning in August 2002. The proposal was raised first by Briceno and repeated by FARC spokesperson Raul Reyes. Reyes said a shared "government of national reconstruction" would be "a pluralistic, patriotic, and democratic government, where the most varied social, economic, and even business sectors could participate." "With the magnitude of the political and institutional crisis in Colombia, the alternative is to reach economic and political agreements in the Mesa Nacional de Dialogo that lead to a government of national reconciliation and reconstruction," said a FARC statement. The government has not responded, but the statements set off a national debate between those calling for more efforts to defeat the guerrillas militarily and those who favor still more concessions to find a stable peace and facilitate economic recovery. Advisor calls for constituent assembly In another effort to accelerate the peace process, a member of the Comision de Notables, formed two months ago as an advisory group to the peace process, proposed a cease-fire, the convocation of a constituent assembly, and a plebiscite to ratify the assembly's decisions. "A bilateral cease-fire for a precise time would help the process of dialogue and negotiation continue without the sound of guns or the smell of gunpowder," said Alberto Pinzon, a member of the committee. The bilateral cease-fire would imply that "the military stay in their barracks and the guerrillas in their camps," said Pinzon. But the proposal did not include a way to end the kidnapping and extortion, which the government considers essential for any cease-fire. In an Asamblea Nacional Constituyente, delegates from the government and from the guerrillas would debate the 12-point agenda and incorporate into a constitution the reforms they agreed on, said Pinzon. The results would then be ratified by referendum. Pastrana, on July 4, said the 1991 Constitution needs to be updated to conform to agreements yet to be reached in the peace talks. Release not a sure step to peace Many experts and politicians warned that the release of prisoners was not necessarily a step toward peace, noting that the days preceding the release saw bold rebel attacks and threats of future military actions, including in the cities. They pointed out that the government has not been able to convince the rebels to agree to a cease-fire in more than two years of negotiations. "All of this signifies much in humanitarian terms, but unfortunately no promise that peace and reconciliation will advance," said Noemi Sanin, a leading presidential candidate and former government minister. "If it did, it would be accompanied by other gestures. The way it is happening now is always accompanied by other threats." "All the actors in the conflict are arming: the state, the guerrillas of the left, and the paramilitaries of the right. Colombia is on the road toward increased violence and armed confrontation," said historian Gonzalo Sanchez. Even as Pastrana pushes peace, the state is preparing for intensified conflict. Military spending has gone from US$499 million in 1980 to more than US$3 billion in 2001, which does not include the US$1.3 billion approved by the US Congress for Plan Colombia, said investigator Libardo Sarmiento. Sarmiento said also fueling the war machine in Colombia are the businesses that profit from war. The helicopter plants in the US alone are guaranteed more than US$600 million through Plan Colombia. Private US companies, often run by former military, that supply the contract mercenaries for Plan Colombia also stand to make millions from the war. While the war machine continues to gear up, most politicians, analysts, and historians say the only alternative to the seemingly unstoppable escalation of the conflict is to support the peace process, even amid the ongoing violence. Most of the prospective successors to Pastrana favor a more hard-line approach in the peace process and, with only a year left, time is running out for the Pastrana model. "The war is going to move to the cities and only when we understand the need to negotiate peace will we find the way out. It will not be the beginning of the end, rather the beginning, perhaps, of the way out," said independent lawmaker Antonio Navarro Wolf, former commander of the Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19) guerrilla group that was active in the 1980s. [Sources: Associated Press, 06/28/01; Reuters, 06/28/01, 06/29/01; The New York Times, 06/29/01; Spanish news service EFE, 06/27/01, 06/28/01, 07/01/01; La Opinion (Los Angeles), 06/28/01, 07/02/01; El Nuevo Herald (Miami), 06/29/01, 06/30/01, 07/02/01; Notimex, 07/01/01, 07/03/01, 07/04/01] ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= pvtsa-07.05.01-18:51:17-19979