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- Path: sparky!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!sgi!cdp!hrcoord
- From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
- Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
- Date: 28 Dec 92 11:50 PST
- Subject: LATIN AMERICA: A YEAR BLOTCHED BY V
- Sender: Notesfile to Usenet Gateway <notes@igc.apc.org>
- Message-ID: <1476700916@igc.apc.org>
- Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700916:000:6450
- Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord Dec 28 11:50:00 1992
- Lines: 162
-
-
- From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
- Subject: LATIN AMERICA: A YEAR BLOTCHED BY V
-
- /* Written 12:11 am Dec 26, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in igc:ips.englibrary */
- Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved. Permission to re-
- print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.
-
- Title: LATIN AMERICA: A YEAR BLOTCHED BY VIOLATIONS //YEARENDER//
-
-
- an inter press service feature
-
- by ivannia mora
-
- san jose, dec 23 (ips) -- latin america's balance sheet for 1992
- is stained by thousands of blotches, silent witnesses to the
- human rights violations which continue to be perpetrated in the
- region.
-
- the 2,840 people who died as a result of the civil war in peru
- and the thousands of amerindian victims of army repression in
- guatemala put paid to any illusions that the end of dictatorial
- regimes in the region might also mean the end of abuses.
-
- so did the 50 journalists assassinated in mexico and the
- almost 200 million poor throughout the region.
-
- the list of human rights violations in the americas is almost
- endless. this year haiti, guatemala, brazil, colombia and peru
- earned top honours as the continent's most dangerous countries.
-
- two attempts to overthrow venezuela's government, president
- alberto fujimori's self-imposed coup in peru and the military's
- insistence on remaining in power in haiti placed a question mark
- on the democratic process in the americas.
-
- in these three countries, human rights suffered a severe
- setback, since their governments eliminated important
- constitutional guarantees, either to retain and extend their
- power or in response to real threats to democracy.
-
- generally, the american continent has shown a tendency to move
- away from the idea that human rights related only to the
- political sphere, as obtained during the era of dictatorships.
-
- the concept has now been extended to other areas such as the
- environment, the economy and society.
-
- human rights activists insist that economic repression is now
- the main, the most serious, violation against the right to live
- in dignity in the americas.
-
- they feel that the unjust distribution of wealth forces the
- poor to protest and struggle for more worthy lives, but the
- responses of governments and private bodies to this struggle have
- been repression, imprisonment, persecution, torture or death.
-
- ''what happens with the structural adjustments and debt
- payments is that latin america is poorer, and poverty is one of
- the biggest human rights violations,'' says sonia picado,
- executive director of thee inter-american institute of human
- rights. (more)
- ----
-
-
- in its latest annual report, the humanitarian organization
- ''america's watch'' indicates that in latin america periodic
- elections and transference of power have not automatically
- improved the quality of democracy.
-
- it is evident that the poor were disillusioned by
- democratization this year. roberti cuellar, assistant director of
- the inter-american institute of human rights, said that people
- wanted development alternatives. so far democracy has not
- provided these.
-
- while the most severe violations of human rights were
- perpetrated within the context of armed conflicts and the fight
- against drug trafficking, violence and repression have also
- spread considerably in other spheres.
-
- street children, peasants, the poor, people detained without
- trial, delinquents and battered women are the new groups on whose
- defence human rights activists are now focussing.
-
- forecasts for 1993 range from guarded optimism to deep
- pessimism.
-
- ''i am optimistic,'' admits sonia picada, ''latin america has
- great development potential and it is important to take advantage
- of all the changes in the international context to integrate the
- large marginalized majorities.''
-
- the coordinator of the central american commission for the
- defence of human rights, silvia porras, feels the horizon is
- still bleak.
-
- ''nothing will change as long as the development model does
- not change. i therefore have little hope that things will change
- in the short term,'' she said.
-
- human rights officials forecast outbursts of political
- violence without ideological motivations in countries like
- brazil, nicaragua and venezuela.
-
- ''countries which peacefully resolved armed conflicts, like
- nicaragua and el salvador, are going to rearm, not because of
- ideological issues, but because of economic ones,'' roberto
- cuellar predicted.
-
- the arrival of president-elect bill clinton in the white house
- will give thousands of latin americans hope that they will be
- able to experience the sweet taste of economic reactivation
- promised by the incoming u.s. head of state.
-
- ''if the bodies that control economic policy in latin america
- do not become aware of the situation of misery, there will be no
- barrier, no electric hurdle, nor any rio bravo (rio grande)
- capable of stopping latin americans from going to the united
- states in search of clinton's gold,'' cuellar said. (more)
- ----
-
-
- all agree that the controversial issue of human rights will
- not lose its pertinence in 1993.
-
- san jose, costa rica, will be the venue in january of the
- biggest human rights meeting ever held on the american continent:
- the regional preparatory meeting for the international conference
- on human rights, scheduled for june in vienna.
-
- the regional encounter will be preceded by a meeting of latin
- american non-governmental human rights organizations, key
- witnesses of the suffering of the region's poor. the
- inter-american commission on human rights estimates that there
- are 290 formally constituted rights groups in the region.
-
- industrialized and developing countries of the hemisphere are
- expected to be on opposite sides of the fence on at least one
- issue: whether or not economic rights should be included in the
- general discussion on human rights.
-
- ''the countries of the north have separated economic
- development from human development. for them the economic aspect
- should not be taken into account,'' sonia picado explained.
-
- the south, on the other hand, insists that violations of
- economic rights should be considered as serious as or even more
- serious than torture and physical violence.
-
- ''if economic, cultural and social aspects are not taken into
- consideration, it will be very difficult to achieve civil and
- political'' aspects, picado said.
-
- poverty, insecurity and uncertainty cloud the horizon in latin
- america. it will not be easy to wipe out the stains they leave.
- (end/ips/trd/so/im-mso/kb/92)
- ----
-
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