Peru President Alan Garcia backtracks on 'amnesty law'

[Judi Lynn]

13 September 2010
Last updated at 22:32 ET
Peru President Alan Garcia backtracks on 'amnesty law'

President Alan Garcia of Peru has asked Congress to repeal a controversial decree which critics say protects the military from prosecution for abuses.

The reversal came hours after Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa called the decree "an amnesty in disguise".

Mr Vargas Llosa resigned as head of a commission to build a memorial to victims of Peru's past conflict.

The decree, issued by Mr Garcia last month, put a 36-month limit on trials for abuses committed before 2003.

~snip~
Almost 70,000 Peruvians died in the conflict between the security forces and the Maoist Shining Path rebels in the 1980s and 1990s.

Peru's truth and reconciliation commission found that the security forces were responsible for widespread atrocities, but few have been brought to justice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11292138

[Peace Patriot]

1. You gotta laugh about Chavez being called a "dictator" when true tyrannical actions like this are

committed by U.S. "friends" (what few there are) in Latin America. Garcia putting prosecution for death squad murders and other atrocities out of the reach of prosecutors and survivors. Where does he GET powers like this? Or Uribe, in Colombia--and U.S./Bushwhack ambassador William Brownfield--secretly, in the dead of night, "extraditing" material witnesses to death squad crimes in Colombia, to the U.S., where they are charged with mere drug trafficking and their cases are completely sealed, putting them out of the reach of Colombian prosecutors.

Death is the ultimate tyranny, no? Whom has Chavez killed? No one. Yet thousands have been murdered in Colombia--trade unionists, human rights workers, teachers, community activists, journalists, peasant farmers--by the Colombian military and its closely tied rightwing death squads. Uribe was spying on everybody and making "lists" of trade unionists and others, likely for death squad targeting. What has Chavez done to merit the accusation "dictator," compared to the entire government of Colombia built on a mountain of body parts and blood? Nothing is the answer. Yet Chavez gets demonized, day in, day out, and Uribe gets honored by the Obama administration.

Tyranny, fascism, murder and mayhem are rewarded. Someone who cuts poverty in his country by half, and extreme poverty by 70%, and who greatly expands access to education and health care, is reviled, and it actually turns your stomach when you come across something like this...

"Rumsfeld likens Venezuela’s Chavez to Hitler"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11159503/

[Wilms]

2. kick n/t

[Judi Lynn]

3. Peru revokes law denying justice for victims of past crimes

Peru revokes law denying justice for victims of past crimes
15 September 2010

Amnesty International has welcomed the Peruvian president's decision to revoke a new law which could grant amnesties to military personnel alleged to have committed human rights violations during the country's 1980 - 2000 internal armed conflict.

President Alan García asked Congress on Monday to repeal a presidential decree issued two weeks ago which could have meant that those responsible for human rights violations committed before 2003 would not face trial.

Amnesty International had warned that because of the hundreds of cases of human rights violations still pending from that time, the decree, could have made it impossible to bring successful prosecutions against agents of the state.

"President García's decision to revoke the law is a positive step to ensuring that those victims of crimes against humanity at the hands of the military and police will receive the justice they deserve," said Guadalupe Marengo, Deputy Americas Director at Amnesty International.

Thousands were killed, tortured, disappeared and raped at the hands of the military during the conflict in Peru.

More:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGNAU2010091518635&lang=e&rss=recentnews