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| Latin America beset by torture, killings, arbitrary
detentions: AI |
Washington / AFP
05/27/2005
“Political armed groups and criminal gangs, principally
those engaged in drug trafficking, had an increasing impact on people’s
fundamental rights. Poverty and discrimination affected millions of
people, particularly the most vulnerable groups: women, children,
indigenous people and Afro-descendant communities,” it added.
The group said some progress was marked in campaigns by rights defenders,
“who held both governments and armed groups to account, in defiance
of harassment and persecution. Courts in several countries gave rulings
that brought closer the prospect of bringing to trial military and
political leaders responsible for massive human rights violations
in previous decades.”
“The ‘war on terror’
and the ‘war on drugs’ increasingly merged and dominated
US relations with Latin America and the Caribbean. Following the US
elections in November, the Bush administration encouraged governments
in the region to give a greater role to the military in public order
and internal security operations,” it added, noting that governments
such as those in Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Paraguay
deployed military forces to deal with crime and social unrest.
Civilians remained the main victims of political violence, the report
said.
The report also highlighted “political polarization and instability”
in Venezuela and recalled that “instability in Haiti reached
crisis levels after a military uprising toppled the government of
President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Political violence and widespread
human rights violations persisted, despite the presence of a UN military
and police force.”
The United Nations, in a report on Guatemala, warned that failure
to achieve effective social, economic and political reforms could
promote conflict.
On the positive side, campaigns across the region against impunity
for gross human rights violations in previous decades gained momentum,
the report said.
In communist-ruled Cuba, which Amnesty noted it has not been allowed
to visit since 1988, the group said “70 prisoners of conscience
remained imprisoned at the end of the year, although the true number
could be higher.” Dissident groups in Cuba have put the figure
closer to 300. |
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