Month: June 2005

US Loses War Crimes Exemption
NEW YORK – Facing strong opposition, the US has abandoned its quest to obtain UN Security Council exemption from war crimes prosecution against soldiers for a third consecutive year. Washington needed nine “yes” votes in the 15-member council, but more than seven countries vowed to abstain. First adopted in 2002, to the chagrin of human rights advocates, the current exemption ran out June 30.

In the past, the Bush administration threatened to veto UN peacekeeping missions if the resolution giving it immunity from the new International Criminal Court (ICC) wasn’t adopted. UN ambassador James Cunningham declined to say whether it would carry out the threat. read more

US Weapons Make Colombia Murder Capital
BOGOTA – A RAND Institute report, “Arms Trafficking and Colombia,” concludes that US Plan Colombia is largely responsible for making the South American nation’s murder rate the highest in the world, at 77.5 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. The gun culture has created a cross-border refugee and drug crisis that is destabilizing the region, from Panama to Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador.

About 85 percent of Colombia’s murders are committed with small arms. The report, released April 23, says that most of them come from the US, either directly through Plan Colombia, or indirectly through old stockpiles of US weapons supplied to El Salvador, Honduras, and the Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s and 90s. read more

Tribunal Fumbles Milosevic Case
THE HAGUE – Over two years ago, former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic was charged with 66 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. At the time, CNN called it “the most important trial since Nuremburg.” But during the proceedings, the prosecution couldn’t clearly establish Milosevic’s responsibility for atrocities, some witnesses were exposed as liars, and even the crimes’ scope has been questioned. read more

Left-leaning Latinos Fuel Resistance
CARACAS — Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was scheduled to speak at the UN in late September. But he abruptly cancelled his US trip. The main reasons given were security concerns and a lack of enthusiasm for UN summits. "A dialogue of the deaf,” Chavez called them, arguing that the world body is fundamentally undemocratic and should be democratized.

Meanwhile, weeks of rising anger and police violence in Bolivia climaxed in a September 29 general strike by unionists, backed by peasants, students, and merchants. Two days later, miners joined, paralyzing production. As a result, President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned and fled to Miami. The confrontation, inspired by Evo Morales, popular leader of Indian coca farmers, involved a deal that would have sold Bolivian natural gas to the US and Mexico, via a Chilean port. read more