Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 15 november 2017

Rights group urges Colombia to scrub 5 officer promotions

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO bat.
Associated Press According to Human
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) Rights Watch, a sergeant
— Human Rights Watch is told prosecutors that Cruz
urging Colombia’s govern- Ricci was “informed” after
ment to cancel promo- Morales and the other vic-
tions for five military officers tim were killed and award-
it says are strongly linked to ed a trip overseas after re-
the killings of civilians who porting the deaths.
were falsely reported to be “This shows that justice has
leftist rebels slain in com- not worked,” Alexander
bat. Montana, who is represent-
In a report Tuesday, the ing Morales’ family, said.
rights organization detailed While hundreds of mostly
the cases of four coronels low-ranking soldiers in-
and one general who were volved in the extrajudicial
overseeing commands in killings have been convict-
which authorities were in- ed in Colombian courts,
vestigating so-called “false many senior army officers
positive” cases. believed responsible have
Security forces killed sever- escaped charges and
al thousand civilians, many In this April 7, 2011 file photo, students hold a sign that reads in Spanish “Impunity Soacha equals been promoted. Under
poor farmers, between false positives” during a protest where police stand guard in Bogota, Colombia. international law, com-
2002 and 2008 during the Associated Press manders could be criminal-
height of the military’s of- ly responsible if they knew
fense against the Revolu- Americas director of Hu- suspected role in the killing by his family’s lawyer as or should have known that
tionary Armed Forces of man Rights Watch. “But of two civilians in 2004. Hu- a community leader who a subordinate committed
Colombia. Officers count- promoting them while they man Rights Watch investi- was abducted and tor- a crime and did not try to
ed the civilians as guerrillas are still under investigation gators say they obtained tured by paramilitaries and prevent or punish it.
in order to inflate reported would signal that Colom- access to evidence impli- then handed over to a mili- Ricci is slated to be pro-
combat deaths and ob- bian authorities are not se- cating him in the crimes, in- tary sergeant. Officers later moted to major general. A
tain coveted vacations rious about ensuring justice cluding the confession of a delivered his bullet-ridden document from the chief
and bonuses. for false positives.” soldier who said Ricci may body to a hospital in Pu- prosecutor’s office shared
“Naturally, each of these Among the five officers is have ordered the civilians’ tumayo, a southern state with The Associated Press
five officers enjoys the pre- Brig. Gen. Francisco Javier deaths. along Colombia’s border by Human Rights Watch
sumption of innocence,” Cruz Ricci, who prosecu- One of those civilians was with Ecuador, dismissing confirms that he is under
said Jose Miguel Vivanco, tors are investigating for his Silvio Morales, described him as rebel killed in com- investigation. q
Thousands protest proposal

for total abortion ban in Brazil

Brazil.Many protesters car- sure that would remove cities around Brazil on Mon-
ried their children in their those exceptions, provok- day. Women in Rio carried
arms or on their shoulders, ing widespread outrage signs reading “Secular uter-
shouting: “Our bodies are though many Brazilians us” and “I don’t deserve to
ours!” Some scuffles broke hold conservative views bear the child of my rapist.”
out between protesters on abortion.Rodrigo Maia, Others called for broader
and police when the march speaker of the Chamber legalization of abortion.
reached the Rio state legis- of Deputies, has said that While Brazilian law severely
lature. Police fired tear gas, any ban on abortion with- restricts abortion, in prac-
but calm soon returned. out an exception for rape tice wealthy women tend
Women march against a proposal for a total ban on abortions, Abortion is currently al- won’t pass his chamber. to have access to safe pro-
without exceptions, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Nov. 13, lowed in Brazil in cases of The measure is part of a cedures in private clinics,
2017. The sign reads in Portuguese: “What is sin for some, can rape, a pregnancy that constitutional amendment, while the poor often rely on
not be a crime for all.”
Associated Press threatens a woman’s life so it would need a super- risky ones. An academic
or a fetus with anenceph- majority in both Congress’ survey partially funded by
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Monday to protest a recent aly, a birth defect involv- lower house and the Sen- the Ministry of Health es-
Thousands of women congressional committee ing the brain. But the con- ate to become law.The timated that more than
marched through the vote to make abortion il- gressional committee last demonstration in Rio was 400,000 women had an
streets of Rio de Janeiro on legal without exception in week adopted a mea- one of several organized in abortion in Brazil in 2015.q