The Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (IACHR) held hearings yesterday on human rights practices in the United
States, but the U.S. government deflected questions by claiming it lacked
sufficient time to prepare due to the recent shutdown.
The independent human rights monitoring
body of the Organization of American States (OAS) is holding its 149th session
in Washington, DC from October 28 to November 1. The session kicked off
yesterday morning with hearings in which U.S. representatives were called upon
to explain the conditions of detainees at the Guantanamo prison, the treatment
of undocumented migrants and the digital surveillance of foreign countries.
Yesterday’s hearing on NSA surveillance
programs marked the first time that U.S. diplomats were asked to explain the
practice to the international community at large. But as Foreign
Policy reports, the commission received little in the way of
explanation. Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the OAS Lawrence Gumbiner
said he could not provide a response, because of the October 1-16 federal
government shutdown. “With the government closed and most of its employees
furloughed, we lost the time essential for us to engage our inter-agency
colleagues and prepare for this hearing,” Gumbiner told the IACHR.
According to the AFP and EFE, Gumbiner gave
the same answer in the hearings on Guantanamo
Bay prison conditions and immigration,
invoking OAS member states’ right to respond to the commission’s concerns in
writing within 30 days.
This response was criticized by some human
rights advocates, who pointed out the hearings had been scheduled months in
advance, and that the controversies at stake had been occurring for several
years. UN Special Rapporteur against Torture Juan Mendez was especially
critical of the U.S. response, telling reporters that the shutdown was no
excuse because “[t]his case is a decade old.” Similarly, the Center for Justice
and International Law (CEJIL) -- a member of the coalition which backed the
IACHR petition regarding immigration rights -- notes that
the IACHR issued a number of recommendations on
immigration detention and due process in 2010, which the U.S. has yet to implement.
While little progress was made in these
hearings, it is significant that the IACHR began the latest session with an
emphasis on the United States. The commission came under fire this year from
left-wing governments of the ALBA bloc, who accused it of serving as a tool of
U.S. foreign policy. These countries proposed a number of reforms, including
moving the IACHR from its current office in Washington DC to a country which,
unlike the United States, has ratified the American Convention. Although
these proposals
were defeated, left-wing governments in the region continue to call for
changes to the IACHR. At a meeting in Cochabamba last month, for instance,
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and Bolivia’s Evo Morales agreed to give
the IACHR until June 2014 to alter its performance, when both governments
would “assess what alternatives to take.”
News Briefs
- Protests rocked São Paulo late last night after the weekend
shooting of teenager Douglas Rodrigues, who was killed by an officer
responding to reports of disturbance of the peace. Some 90 people were arrested following riots in the north of the city last night. No
further details about the teen’s death have been given by police, though
authorities say the shooting was accidental. O Globo reports that the boy’s father says he will file charges,
as a witness -- Rodrigues’ brother -- claims the victim was shot with no
warning by the officer.
- According to the Associated Press, the weekend attacks on power plants in Mexico’s Michoacan state by presumed criminal networks
were followed by armed clashes between local community self-defense groups
and the Knights Templar cartel in the drug gangs’ home turf, the city of
Apatzingan. Animal Politico reports that authorities say they have secured the city
after the clashes, and arrested three individuals who may be linked to the
attacks. While this incident has once again fueled speculation about a
rising “narco-insurgency” in the country, InSight Crime’s Marguerite Cawley
argues that this is inaccurate, as
drug gangs “fail to meet the most basic criteria of an insurgency --
wanting to overthrow the state.”
- There has been a great deal of reporting in the English
language press recently on proposed tax reforms in Mexico, which President Enrique Peña Nieto has said will bring in
badly-needed resources to help fund government programs. By comparison,
however, Oscar Arredondo Pico of transparency advocacy group Fundar writes
in an op-ed for CNN Mexico that the government has failed to provide detailed
information on its current spending. Meanwhile, El Universal reports that the Mexican Senate has approved new series
of which oblige state and local entities to comply with federal
transparency laws, which proponents claim will cause state governments to
be more accountable.
- While Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s creation of the
“Vice-Ministry for the Supreme Social Happiness of the Venezuelan People”
was met by criticism from some, Daniel Pardo of BBC Mundo in Caracas reports that some in the country have leapt to
the defense of the position, arguing that happiness is something more
governments should take seriously.
- The Cuban government has released new statistics on foreign
travel, which suggest that Cubans are taking advantage of loosened travel
restrictions for overseas visits in record numbers. According to Colonel
Lamberto Fraga Hernandez, the deputy director of immigration on the
island, 226,877 Cubans had traveled abroad since reforms went into effect
on January 14, a 35 percent increase compared to 167,684 during the same period in 2012. Fraga
was careful to add that close to two-thirds -- 58 percent -- had already
returned. “Cubans are not fleeing, they are traveling normally,” he told
reporters.
- A team of United Nations investigators visited Havana last week
to question Cuban authorities about North Korea-bound arms shipment
intercepted in Panama earlier this year. The Miami
Herald claims that the visit “clearly signaled that the Cuban
government has been cooperating with the U.N. inquiry.”
- The
Guardian reports that a team of researchers in Peru have, for the
first time, mapped the extent of the Peruvian Amazon that has been lost to
gold mining in the past 12 years. According to their observations, the
area affected by illegal gold mines in Peru's south-eastern Madre de Dios
region increased by 400 percent from 1999 to 2012.
- The newly-created
party of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has officially
nominated a candidate ahead of presidential elections in May 2014. Former
Finance Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga took 56 percent of the votes at the
the Uribe Centro Democratico convention in Bogota, beating former Vice
President Francisco Santos for the nomination, Semana reports.
This is good news for President Juan Manuel Santos, as a recent
poll showed Francisco (his cousin) was more popular than him by
two points.
- El Salvador’s El Faro has
published an investigation documenting the Armed Forces’ continuing
celebration of deceased war criminal Domingo Monterrosa, who commanded the
unit behind the El Mozote massacre in December 1981. This continues
despite a decree by President Mauricio Funes last year, which ordered the
military to cease this practice.
- Although Argentine President Cristina Fernandez’s ruling party,
the Front for Victory (FPV), has retained majorities in both houses of
Congress after legislative elections on Sunday, the fact that it has
rejuvenated the opposition has, for the AP anyway, made her a “lame-duck leader.” The Economist has an in-depth profile of opposition leader Sergio
Massa, who is seen as the big winner in Sunday’s vote. However, 2015
presidential elections are a long way off and, as the magazine points out,
it remains to be seen if Massa can hold onto popularity and effectively
marshal his diverse coalition into a coherent bloc.
- On Monday the two historically dominant parties in Uruguay, the
National and Colorado parties, announced they would create a
new alliance to sponsor a joint
candidate in the race for Montevideo intendant in May 2015. The position
has been held by the ruling Frente Amplio coalition since former President
Tabare Vazquez won the local election in 1990, and polls show that the
“blancos” and “colorados,” as they are known, have no chance of beating
the FA in the capital city unless they unite under the banner of the new
“Concertacion Party.” El Pais notes that the alliance is a major historic development,
as the National and Colorado parties have been bitter rivals since the
1830s, with the 19th century marked by repeated violent clashes between
the two.
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