The Americas Post - President Funes placed flowers at the monument to civilians killed in El Mazote

Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes on Monday apologized for the massacre of 936 civilians in the town of El Mazote during a 1981 army counterinsurgency operation.  He acknowledged the government’s responsibility for the killings and referred to the operation as “the largest massacre of civilians in the contemporary history of Latin America.”

Government soldiers entered El Mazote on Dec. 11, 1981, in search of rebels and supporters.  Over the course of three days the troops killed anyone they could catch, including women, children and babies.

Mr. Funes’ speech marked the 20th anniversary of the 1992 peace agreement that ended that country’s 12-year civil war.   He also requested forgiveness from relatives of approximately 12,000 victims who disappeared during the conflict, which cost 75,000 lives.

A former journalist, President Funes was elected in 2009 as the candidate of the FMLN, the party of the former leftist guerrilla movement.

The Americas Post - Apparently you don't need to be tall to burn down a casino

Police in Mexico have arrested an alleged member of the Zetas drug cartel for masterminding  a casino fire that killed 52 people in the northern city of Monterrey, authorities said Friday.

The Americas Post - Al-Saadi Gadhafi wanted to go Al Puerto Vallarta. Photo Credit: AP

Mexican authorities said Wednesday that a surviving son of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and three other relatives planned to enter Mexico under false names and hide at a Pacific coast resort.

The plan to smuggle in al-Saadi Gadhafi allegedly involved two Mexicans, a Canadian and a Danish suspect, all of whom have been arrested according to Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire.

The plot was discovered by Mexican intelligence agents in September as al-Saadi fled Libya shortly after his father’s downfall.  He never made it as far as Mexico, ending up in the Western African country of Niger where he currently resides.

The plotters allegedly flew to Mexico, opened bank accounts and bought safe houses in several parts of the country, including one just outside Puerto Vallarta.

“The great economic resources which this criminal organization has, or had, allowed them to contract private flights,” Poire told a news conference.

Poire named Canadian Cynthia Vanier as the group’s ringleader.  He said she had been picked up on Nov. 10 and is now under house arrest with three other suspects on suspicion of document falsification, human smuggling and organized crime.

Poire said Vanier “was the direct contact with the Gadhafi family and the leader of the group, and presumably was the person in charge of the finances of the operation.”

The plot also allegedly depended on a Mexican woman living in the United States, who Poire said obtained the falsified Mexican identity documents.

A Danish man acted as “the logistic liaison” for the plan, Poire said.  He said the alleged conspirators also traveled to Kosovo “and several Middle Eastern countries.”

The Mexican officials made no mention of Moammar Gadhafi himself being involved in the plan, and Poire did not say which relatives may have planned to accompany the son to Mexico. The elder Gadhafi fell from power in late August and was killed in Libya on Oct. 20.

Poire said that false documents were issued in the names of “Daniel Bejar Hanan, Amira Sayed Nader, Moah Bejar Sayed and Sofia Bejar Sayed.”  The Gadhafi name does not appear anywhere in the documents.

The Americas Post - Comrade Artemio has reached the end of the Shining Path. Photo Credit: AP

One of only two surviving leaders of the Shining Path guerrilla group has announced that his insurgents will halt attacks,  and called for a truce to begin peace negotiations with the Peruvian government.

Known by his war name of Comrade Artemio, Jose Flores Hala told journalists gathered in his jungle hideout Friday he “isn’t going to deny” that government forces have won.

Flores, however, was not able to speak for another Shining Path leader known as Comrade Jose, who has not declared a similar cease-fire.

Flores operates in the Central Peruvian Huallaga Valley, a hotbed for coca production, while Comrade Jose is based in the country’s southeast Apurimac-Ene river valley, which also produces a high volume of coca.

Flores said that his approximately 150 guerrillas would not disarm without a “process of frank and real negotiations.”  He added however, that “We have no intention of continuing the armed struggle.”

The Shining Path is dramatically smaller than when it controlled large areas of rural Peru in the 1980′s.  Government soldiers captured leader Abimael Guzman in 1992 and his replacement Comrade Feliciano in 1999. The remainder of the group has since split into the two small remaining factions.

The Americas Post - There's a new sheriff on the streets of Tegucigalpa. Photo Credit: Xinhua

The Honduran legislature decided this week to deploy the army against Mexican drug cartels, hoping to put the brake on growing violence in the most murderous country on the planet.

Lawmakers voted by an overwhelming majority to follow the model used by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who launched a military campaign against powerful drug gangs after taking office in 2006.

Following that decision, over 45,000 people have been killed in Mexican drug violence.   On a per capita basis, however, the small nation of Honduras is leading every other country in the world in homicides, with 82 murders per 100,000 people last year according to the United Nations.   Some 20 people are killed there on a daily basis.

Officials blame most of the murders on cartels, smuggling South American cocaine through Central America to consumers in the United States.  Honduras also suffers from violent youth street gangs that extort local businesses with death threats.

“This legislation will allow the armed forces to take on policing roles to confront organized crime and drug traffickers operating across the country,” congressman Oswaldo Ramos said.

Some human rights activists say the military is not trained to deal with civilian crimes and have accused Mexican soldiers of torture and disappearances in the drug war.  Those concerns are taken seriously in Honduras, where the military overthrew leftist President Manuel Zelaya in a 2009 coup.

“We have serious doubts about the implications of sending the army to do policework,” said leftist congressman Sergio Castellanos. “They are not prepared to deal with civilians and this will only strengthen their position in society after the coup,” he said.

Recent polls have shown that the move does have popular backing and that people feel safer with soldiers patrolling the streets.

The Americas Post - Netzai Sandoval is going all the way to the top. Photo Credit: Reuters

Mexican activists have filed a war-crimes complaint against President Felipe Calderón at the International Criminal Court, claiming some  470 cases of human rights violations by the army or police in their war on that nation’s drug cartels.

Attorney Netzai Sandoval said that Mexican drug lords have also committed crimes against humanity in the conflict, which has cost 35,000 to 40,000 lives since late 2006.  The complaint filed at the court in the Netherlands on Friday also names Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Calderón’s administration denies the charges, saying it’s an elected, democratic government combating crime with established mechanisms to protect human rights.  Mexico’s Interior Department issued a statement saying “the public safety policy that has been implemented by no means constitutes an international crime.”  It claimed the government’s actions “are aimed at stopping criminal organizations and protecting all citizens.”

“The Mexican government is not at war, and there is no generalized or systematic attack against civilians, nor any government policy in that direction,” said the statement.

Violence in Mexico is increasing between competing cartels as well as between the cartels and the Mexican government. The two leading groups, the Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel, are now engaged in an all-out war to control major cities including Veracruz and Guadalajara.

The Americas Post - Dilma Rousseff wants the whole world to see Brazil's dirty laundry.

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff on Friday approved the formation of a Truth Commission to investigate human rights abuses committed during and prior to that nation’s military dictatorship, which ran from 1964 to 1985.

The creation of the seven member commission is the strongest step yet taken by the Brazilian government to resolve the many incidents of violence and torture during their dictatorship, in spite of not having authority to prosecute those responsible.

That catch is frustrating for human rights activists, who want to see Brazilian soldiers on trial like their counterparts in Chile and Argentina.

“Today we honor the generations of Brazilians who died, not by a process of vengeance, but by a process of reconstructing the truth and memory”, said Rousseff.  The former left wing activist, who was tortured by the military herself, spoke at a ceremony in the presidential palace.

“The truth about our past is fundamental to ensure that these deeds staining our history can never be repeated”, she added.

With a two-year mandate, the commission will be able subpoena witnesses to investigate abuses committed by the government as well as by the opposition.  That process is limited, however, by the 1979 amnesty law, approved by the dictatorship, that protects alleged torturers from trial.

Unlike its neighbors in the region, until now Brazil has avoided a formal discussion of crimes and human rights abuses perpetrated during its military dictatorship, and has never jailed a member of the military for those.

“This development shows Brazil’s commitment to deal with human rights in their country, just like the rest of the world”, said UN Human Rights commissioner Navi Pilley in a statement for the press.

Around 500 Brazilians were killed or disappeared during their military dictatorship, while many others were tortured.  Most victims were left-wing activists.

Rousseff also signed a Freedom of Information law guaranteeing the public free access to government documents.  That law allows sensitive information to be kept secret for 25 years, renewable to 50 years, but prohibits the concealment of any document related to human rights.

The Americas Post - Colombian President Santos has pulled the plug on an intelligence agency. Photo credit: Reuters

On Monday Colombia shut down a controversial intelligence center for surveillance and illegal interception of communications to magistrates, journalists and politicians who opposed the administration of ex-president Alvaro Uribe.

President Juan Manuel Santos said that responsibilities of the Administrative Security Department  (ASD) will be taken over by other agencies like the Ministry of Foreign Relations, the Ministry of the Interior, the Justice Dept and the National Police.

“This is not a transformation, this is not reform”, said president Santos.  ”In the case of the ASD, it’s a liquidation.  The ASD is closed.”

The Colombian leader said that 92% of the 6,000 ASD staff members will be transferred to other agencies while the rest continue with the process of shutting down the agency.

Santos took the step using special powers authorized by the Colombian congress to modernize the state, under which he re-established the Ministries of Justice and Labor.

Illegal surveillance by the ASD resulted in one of the most serious scandals faced by the Uribe administration during that president’s second term.  Uribe led the nation of 46 million from 2002 to 2010.

The Americas Post - Machetes aren't the only tools used for hacking. Photo credit: YouTube

An online video was released this week threatening Mexico’s Zetas drug cartel with public exposure of their friends in the police and media, unless the group frees a kidnapped member of the international hacker movement known as “Anonymous.”

The YouTube message signed by Anonymous “Veracruz, Mexico and the world,” said it is “tired of the criminal group the Zetas, which is dedicated to kidnapping, stealing and extortion,” and threatened to strike back using information instead of weapons.

The video claimed to be able to name police officers, journalists, taxi drivers and others on the Zetas payroll.  Referring to an unidentified kidnapping victim in the coastal city of Veracruz, it says: “You have made a great mistake by taking one of us. Free him.”

The hacker group, which takes credit for attacks on corporate and government websites worldwide, threatened to act if their activist is harmed or not freed by Friday.

“We cannot defend ourselves with weapons, but we can with their cars, houses, bars,” the message said, alluding to property held by cartel supporters. “It’s not difficult. We know who and where they are.”

“Information is free,” it says. “We do not forgive. We do not forget.”

An official with the Veracruz state attorney general’s office, who asked not to be named, said the office could not confirm authenticity of either the video or the  kidnapping.

An oil state on the Gulf of Mexico with a port city of the same name, Veracruz has suffered a burst of drug violence recently in a battle between the Zetas drug cartel, and its competitors.  Dozens of bodies have been found in recent weeks, including 35 dumped in rush-hour traffic on a major road in Boca del Rio.

Since July two other Internet announcements have introduced a group called the “Mata Zetas,” or Zeta Killers, who authorities speculate are aligned with the powerful Sinaloa Cartel.  Others have questioned whether the group’s members are paramilitary vigilantes taking justice into their own hands against the Zetas.

The latest message, featuring a spokesman wearing the trademark Anonymous theater mask, was first reported Friday on the website of the global intelligence think tank Stratfor but reportedly uploaded to websites early this month.

In its analysis of the video, Stratfor said anyone exposed by Anonymous as a Zetas collaborator — correctly or not — could be targeted by rival gangs, and the Zetas might respond by attacking Internet activists regardless of any affiliation with Anonymous.

Three bloggers were killed recently in the northern states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas by Zetas who blamed them for releasing information about the gang on the internet.

The Americas Post - Peruvian family members are demanding answers. Photo Credit: EPA

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peruvian “disappearance” victims in the conflict that raged there from 1980 to 2000 are double the number previously calculated by that nation’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 2003.

Rafael Barrantes, Red Cross director for that agency’s Disappeared Persons Program, said that records from the Peruvian Institute of Legal Medicine and Anthropological Forensic Team indicate that between 15,000 and 16,000 went missing during the violence that wracked the country over two decades.

Barrantes complained that government deficiencies have prevented the consolidation of records into a single registry.  According to the final report issued by the TRC in 2003, of the 69,280 people killed in Peru during that period, 8,558 were declared as missing.

According to the Peruvian Reparations Council, the total number of victims could be as high as 100,000.

Barrantes cited Institute of Legal Medicine statistics showing that between 2002 and 2010 the remains of 1,497 missing persons had been located, of which 771 were identified and 671 returned to their families.  He called for the establishment of government offices to take charge of the search and investigation “case by case”.

Investigators have reports of 4,644 burial sites in Peru, but until now have only located 2,200 of them.