Argentina: Appropriation of Children 'Crime against Humanity'

An Argentine court has ruled that the appropriation of the children of disappeared parents during the dictatorship, and the subsequent suppression of their true identity, is a crime against humanity. This is important because means that no statute of limitations applies to them.

The ruling comes as part of the review of a case of a former military man and a couple sentenced to between 7 and 10 years in jail for the appropriation of María Eugenia Sampallo Barragán. The couple illegally adopted her aged three months old and registered her as their biological child. The Times reported on her case last year:

“These are not my parents,” Ms Sampallo said at a press conference on Monday. “They are my kidnappers . . . there is no emotional bond that binds me to them. These are my parents,” she said, picking up photos of her biological parents.

Maria Barragan succeeds in getting adoptive parents jailed (Times)

Declaran de lesa humanidad la apropriacion de hijos (Critica Digital)

Peru: Burials in Abancay

For the first time in the region of Apurímac, the remains of five individuals who were murdered by the armed forces in 1988 will be returned to their families for burial tomorrow.

The bodies of the victims were found in a common grave in a place known as Chaupiorcco. DNA tests have identified them as Armando Huamantingo, Manuel Niño de Guzmán Ayvar, Juan Pablo Carbajal Hurtado, María Elena Zavala Cayllahua and Simona Pérez Tapia.

A wake will be tomorrow and then the funeral service on Saturday.

Entregaran restos de desaparecidos en Abancay (CNDDHH, from La Republica)

Peru: Dialogue without Persecution

Human rights organisation APRODEH, in conjunction with the CNDDHH, has initiated a campaign called Dialogo sin Persecucion (Dialogue without Persecution) aimed at improving cooperation between the state and other actors in the wake of the Bagua crisis. They point out - correctly - that government harassment of indigenous groups will only prevent progress in the resolution of such conflicts. The campaign now has a blog with updates, and Peruvian residents can also find a sample letter to write to Garcia and other politicians.

Argentina: Disappeared Child Found

Here's one for the Spanish-speakers: an interview with found grandchild Martin Amarilla.

"Nunca di tantos abrazos en la vida" (Pagina/12)

Lat Am Events in the UK

The Peru Support Group is holding its annual conference in Oxford next week. See flyer here (pdf).

The London Latin American Film Festival is also currently underway - apologies for late notice. There looks to be many excellent films being shown. Of interest to this blog would be the documentaries Victims of Democracy (dir. Stella Jacobs), The Loss/La Perdida (dir. Javier Angulo & Enrique Gabriel) and Our Disappeared (dir. Juan Mandelbaum).

El Salvador: Progress

Two pieces of good news from El Salvador; firstly, on the twentieth anniversary of their deaths, six murdered Jesuit priests will be posthumously awarded the country's highest honour as a puclic "act of atonement" by the government. Secondly, the Funes government has also promised to investigate the assasination of archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980. See Tim's El Salvador blog here and here for more details.

Peru: Elsa Malpartida

Peruvian politician Elsa Malpartida is facing a storm this week following her admission that she was a member of Shining Path/Sendero Luminoso. The MP and former coca farmer claims she was forced to cook for the terrorists during the height of the conflict in the region near Tingo Maria.

Malpartida is now also claiming that the news stories are putting her life, and the lives of her family, in danger from Shining Path members, and this may well be true.

Naturally, there are pretty polarised reponses to these revelations. Is Malpartida a victim, like so many highland Peruvians, who was forced to work for the guerrillas for fear of her life? Or was she more willingly involved?

Part of the issue turns on whether Malpartida took advantage of the Ley de Arrepentimiento (Repentance Law) in the early 1990s. This gave former senderistas the chance to become re-integrated into mainstream society in return for officially renouncing violence and informing on comrades. Many news reports are reporting that she did turn to this legislation, although others are saying that she is denying this on the grounds that she had committed no crime.

As a politician, Malpartida must accept that the public will have an interest in her past. I don't think that it's realistic to exclude anyone who may ever have been involved with Sendero from any participation in public life; in a pervasive conflict like this one, so many were involved that cutting them all out would be very difficult. Besides, roles could be fluid and the same people could find themselves on one side of the battle at one time and then, a few years ago, on the other side. And that's without getting started on the issues of coercion and force. Nevertheless, difficult though it may be, a certain amount of openness would seem to be a prerequisite for those involved in politics - and for the 'reconciliation' part of 'truth and reconciliation' to get started.

Parliamentarian claims she was forced to be a member of Shining Path (Living in Path)
El Milagro de Malpartida (Caretas)
"Ella ha estado en el corazon del terrorismo" (Correo)
Fiscalia analiza vinculo de Malpartido con SL (El Comercio)