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[Translations of two articles from El Nuevo Diario of Santo Domingo for June 14 and 16. See originals here and here and related articles here, here, and here. Salcedo, a city of about 45,000 inhabitants, is the capital of the northern province of Hermanas Mirabal.]

Salcedo becomes a battlefield between demonstrators and police

by Miguel Cruz Tejada

Salcedo – The main streets of this city, especially those in the marginal neighborhoods, were turned into chaotic battle fields when demonstrators supporting an indefinite strike called by the Frente Amplio de Lucha Popular (FALPO – Broad Front for Popular Struggle) and other organizations joining the stoppage clashed with agents of the Black Helmet SWAT team, units of the elite “Linces” of the National Police and soldiers of the National Army, who were reinforcing the police, with gunshots, bombs, rocks, bottles and other objects, while more than 90 percent of businesses responded to the call for a strike. Beginning Wednesday morning, the strikers, led by FALPO, have taken to the streets, blocking commercial lanes, stopping the flow of vehicles, throwing stones and confronting the public forces, with the support of thousands of residents who see their protests as justified. (more…)

Former soldiers had marched on parliament

[Translation of an article from Agence Haïtienne de Presse for April 20. See original here and related articles here and here.]

Port-au-Prince, April 20 – A meeting was held Thursday evening between representatives of the Conseil Supérieur de la Police Nationale (CSPN) and the international community, 48 hours after the incursion into the parliament, then in full session, by a group of dozens of armed individuals in military fatigues at a time when the legislators were forming a committee to study the case of Laurent Lamothe, nominated as prime minister.

Without supplying details, the minister of justice, as well as the spokesman for MINUSTAH (United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti), have confirmed the meeting was held. Minister Pierre-Michel Brunache stated in a telephone conversation with Radio Solidarité that nothing concrete had come from the meeting. (more…)

((José Polanco Gómez - Listín Diario photo))

[Translations of three articles, from Noticias SIN for March 10, from Listín Diario for March 1 and from Diario Digital for March 10. See originals here, here and here and related articles here and here.  See related Amnesty International documents here and here.]

Human rights organizations back Amnesty International report on police violence

By Yudelki Guerrero

Human Rights Commissioner Domingo Porfirio Rojas Nina has backed a report by Amnesty International which stresses alarming violations of the rights of citizens of the Dominican Republic, stating that it is indisputable and true.

He stated that there is a sector, which he did not identify, that does not want the country to move forward in human rights matters. (more…)

[Translation of an article from El Faro of San Salvador for December 7. See original here.]

by Sergio Arauz

After a steady reduction in the armed forces from the signing of the Peace Accord until they were stabilized at around 11,000 men, the administration of President Mauricio Funes has increased the number of men under arms by almost 57 percent, according to data from the National Ministry of Defense.

This growth in the number of soldiers is added to the fact that never before since the signing of the Peace Accords has the military played such an active role in the life of the country as during this first administration of Funes and the FMLN [Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional] that brought him to power. During the present administration, the military has been charged with carrying out public security tasks they had lost in 1992 or that they had never had, like guarding the perimeters of prisons. (more…)

((Guardian photo))

[Translation of an article from El Faro of San Salvador, El Salvador, for December 1. See original here.]

By José Luis Sanz

To be a police officer in Honduras these days is to be looked at with fear and, above all, and this is new, with scorn. Last October 22 police agents killed two university students. Two more bodies in a country whose murder rate is the highest on the continent – 88 for every 100,000 inhabitants – and in which for years civil society organizations like the Centro de Prevención, Tratamiento y Rehabilitación de las Víctimas de la Tortura (CPTRT – Center for Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture) denounce systematic abuse of authority committed by the National Police, the influence of drug trafficking in its ranks and the operations of uniformed extermination groups. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Listín Diario of Santo Doming for April 14. See original article here and related article here. The population of the Dominican Republic is approximately ten million, about the same as Los Angeles or New York.]

by Juan Eduardo Thomas

According to a report issued by the Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDH – National Human Rights Commission), at least 260 people have died so far this year at the hands of the National Police in so-called “exchanges of gunfire.”

The figure includes  recent deaths in Boca Chica, where two youths lost their lives, as well as the youth who was shot to death by a police officer in Villa Faro on Monday, during the labor stoppage called by a group of social organizations.

According to Manuel María Mercedes, president of CNDH, some 429 people had been killed through August 16 of last year, during the tenure of former National Police chief Rafael Guillermo Guzmán Fermín. That same year some 2,155 people died in acts of violence.

Mercedes stated that there is a tendency in the country that should be corrected immediately, in which there are more and more incidents of several people being killed in what could be considered executions.

He cited the cases of Boca Chica, which took place last Sunday, and the supposed attack on a bar in the country in which four individuals lost their lives.

Mercedes reported also that of every five such instances in which a person is killed, a police agent is involved in four of them.

[Translation of an article from TeleSUR of Venezuela for November 10. See original article here.]

A video recording released on Tuesday by Televisión Pública of Ecuador shows the moment in which several uniformed police agents in rebellion attempted to enter the National Police hospital to assault President Rafael Correa on the day they attempted to overthrow him.

The images confirm the account by Ecuadorian Interior Minister Gustavo Jalkh, who said several days ago that last September 30 some of the police in rebellion had attempted to enter the hospital by force with the aim of an attempt on the life of President Correa. (more…)

by David Holmes Morris

Despite a national and international outcry, the Dominican National Police are continuing their tradition of violent repression of dissidents at a time when protests are becoming more common across the country. Some recent incidents in El Cibao, the agricultural and mining region in the north, have resulted in the arrests of many demonstrators, a number of injuries by tear gas and gunshot, and one death.

A delegation from Amnesty International had met with the Distrito Nacional prosecuting attorney as recently as early October seeking information on the large number of deaths of citizens at the hands of the National Police throughout the country and in the capital in particular. At least 226 unlawful killings by the police occurred in the country between January and August of 2009.  Thirty percent of the homicides in the Distrito Nacional during the same period were reportedly committed by the police.

In the most dramatic recent incident in El Cibao, a university student taking part in protests on October 12 against government neglect of poor neighborhoods in the area of Santiago de los Caballeros, the country’s second largest city, was shot to death when police fired into the crowd of demonstrators, and at least four others were injured. The demonstrators were demanding that roads be paved and reliable water and electrical power be provided. (more…)

Four articles

Recordings disclose police called for murder of president

[Translated from Diario Expreso of Guayaquil, Ecuador, for September 5. See original article here.]

A recording of the police radio includes voices of supposed officers calling for the killing of President Rafael Correa during a rebellion that left ten dead and 274 injured, according to audio distributed on Tuesday by the Andes public agency.

“Let them kill Correa so this can be over with, kill him and it will be done!” and “Kill him, kill the president!” are some of the comments heard on the half-hour recording of messages from the central radio facility released by Andes.

Last Thursday, protests against a law that eliminated bonuses for the police developed into a violent disturbance during which the president was detained for several hours in a hospital in Quito.

“Don’t let that son of a bitch [hijo de puta] go, make him sign (the police petitions) first, then he can leave; otherwise, that bastard [cabrón] doesn’t leave,” a voice demands. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Agence Haïtienne de Presse for May 31.]

A little more than 11 years ago today,  a national police patrol systematically executed 11 youths in the poor area of Carrefour-Feuilles in Port-au-Prince.  More precisely, it was on May 28, 1999.  That was during the first administration of President René Préval.  At that time the prime minister was Jacques Edouard Alexis.

That massacre aroused general condemnation and protests locally and internationally.  But the head of state made the correct decision to conduct an investigation, which  led to trials for those accused and to their conviction. (more…)