Tag: police state

Southern Cone

Brazil deploys army to conflicted Rio favela

Brazil's ongoing favela wars have taken a dramatic turn for the bloody—prompting the government to send military troops into Rio de Janiero's notorious Rocinha. This is the most violent of the city's sprawling favelas—informal urban settlements virtually abandoned by the government for anything other than militarized anti-drug operations. The violence in Rocinha is the deadliest since the launch of a "pacification" program in 2011 to push warring narco-gangs out of the city's favelas.

Southeast Asia

Philippines: Duterte threatens to kill his own son

Philippine President Rodirgo Duterte—whose "war on drugs" has now reached the point of mass murder—was put on the hot spot when his own son was called to testify before a Senate hearing on drug corruption. He thundered that he had ordered the National Police to kill his son like any other drug suspect. And amid the relentless police killings, he gutted the country's official human rights office, reducing its budget to an insulting $20 a year.

Southeast Asia

Philippines: Duterte in bed with narco gangs?

Is it really possible that Philippine President Rodirgo Duterte—who has unleashed a "war on drugs" that has now reached the point of mass murder—is himself mixed up in the drug trade? With the Philippine Senate now launching multiple investigations into the drug-related violence, charges of involvement in the narco trade have reached some of Duterte's closest family members.

Greater Middle East

Turkish court orders release of opposition leader

A Turkish court ordered the release of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) parliamentarian Ayhan Bilgen, who had been jailed over allegations of terrorism. The release followed a "Conscience and Justice Watch" at the Constitutional Court building to demand action for those they believed were unjustly and unlawfully imprisoned.

Southeast Asia

Duterte calls for genocide against drug users

National Police troops in the Philippines killed 32 people in a day of anti-drug operations in the working-class Manila suburb of Bucalan. In the resultant outcry, President Rodrigo Duterte expressed open enthusiasm for the bloodshed—and warned that it is just beginning. "There were 32 killed in Bulacan in a massive raid, that's good," Duterte boasted in a speech to his new newly formed anti-drug paramilitary force. "Let's kill another 32 every day. Maybe we can reduce what ails this country."

Southern Cone

Argentina: protests over ‘disappeared’ activist

Tens of thousands of Argentines held protests across the country, demanding answers one month after the disappearance of an indigenous rights activist. Demonstrators held photos of Santiago Maldonado, who was last seen when border police evicted a group of indigenous Mapuche from lands in the southern Patagonia region. In Buenos Aires, protesters converged on the Plaza de Mayo, iconic for its role in the struggle to demand justice for the "disappeared" under the military dictatorship.

North America

Arpaio pardon: green light for rights violations

Trump's pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio is a clear signal that constitutional and human rights violations are to be rewarded, not punished, under his administration. A federal judge found Arpaio guilty of criminal contempt last month, for violating a court order in a racial profiling case. In his announcement, Trump said that "Arpaio's life and career…exemplify selfless public service."

Southeast Asia

Duterte still defiant on draconian drug war

The Philippines' ultra-hardline President Rodrigo Duterte met in Manila with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and came away gloating that the new administration in Washington is unconcerned with his blood-drenched "war on drugs," that has left perhaps 8,000 dead since he took office just over a year ago. Duterte sneered to reporters at a press conference after the Tillerson meeting: "Human rights—you go there and you might have a bomb dropped on your head." That's no joke coming from a regime already accused of killing journalists.

North America

Rights violations seen in federal Mara crackdown

Civil rights organizations in New York are trying to determine if police and school officials on Long Island helped federal authorities detain immigrant students on the basis of dubious claims of ties to Central American gangs. The controversy comes after Trump's inflammatory speech before  Suffolk County police, in which he pledged to "destroy" the MS-13 gang, calling its members "animals."

Southeast Asia

Philippines: youth protest drug war ‘dictatorship’

A thousands-strong defiant youth-led protest was held outside the Philippines' House of Representatives as ultra-hardline President Rodrigo Duterte gave his second State of the Nation Address—in which he pledged to keep pursuing his bloody drug war that has left some 8,000 dead in his first year in office. Duterte offered drug dealers and users a choice of "jail or hell."

The Andes

Trump finally meets a ‘dictator’ he doesn’t like

Donald Trump, the buddy of Putin, Erdogan, Sisi and Duterte, now calls Venezuela a “dictatorship” and slaps sanctions on President Nicolás Maduro. All this proves is that Maduro is more useful to Trump as an external demon. Can we oppose Maduro’s power-grab without legitimizing Trump’s hypocrisy?

Greater Middle East

Egypt sentences anti-Mubarak protesters to life

An Egyptian criminal court sentenced 43 men to life in prison for charges of vandalism, rioting and attacking authorities during the uprising that led to the downfall of long-ruling dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Ten other protesters were handed down lesser sentences of five or 10 years, Mubarak, acquitted on retrial of ordering the killing of protesters during the 2011 demonstrations, was meanwhile released from prison earlier this year.