Skip to main content

Home/ Latin American Studies Resources/ Contents contributed and discussions participated by Courtney Connors

Contents contributed and discussions participated by Courtney Connors

Simple Middle Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics
Courtney Connors

The Relationship Between Genocide and Femicide in Guatemala (SB#4) - 0 views

kanan48.wordpress.com/...n-guatemala-by-colm-mcnaughton

Femicide Feminism Machismo Gender War Violence Corruption

shared by Courtney Connors on 18 Nov 09 - Cached
  • The war in Guatemala has never ceased
  • between January 2002 and January 2009 there were 197,538 acts of domestic violence
  • 13,895 rapes and 4,428 women were murdered
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • 97 percent impunity rate
  • It is a fiercely indigenous region which has resisted the colonialism and brutal immiseration forced upon the region since the times of the Spanish invasion
  • Centre for Forensic Analysis and Scientific Application (CAFTA) and it was part of their ongoing campaign against impunity for genocide in Guatemala
  • I talked and recorded survivors of the massacre
  • While at the community I met a young woman of sixteen who had a six month old baby, the father is a soldier and the conception method was rape
  • The community members began to really speak their minds to the soldiers
  • As she was leaving, one older woman said to the soldiers, “I am not afraid of you. Back in the eighties and nineties we used to kill you sort of people, and we’ll do it again if we have to.” The soldiers were visibly shaken by her words
  • Courtney Connors on 18 Nov 09
     
    In an effort to tie the three bookmarked articles together, this piece also discusses relevant material to Nelson's "Reckoning" alongside the movie, "When the Mountains Tremble". This article too discuses the idea and reality of Femicide or the genocide against women in Guatemala that still occurs to date. While the other readings set up an outline of what acts occur against women and the lack of influence police powers have, this article flashes numbers at the reader as a shock value to paint a picture of the immense number of women who have experienced brutality. While the other articles have mentioned the extent to which corruption influences the lack of punishment, this author seeks punishment in a different way. While doing research in Guatemala, he took victims who have been harmed themselves or have lost close ones to the war to the mountains to confront the militia men as a form of satisfaction or justice since the impunity rate is 97% in Guatemala. He explained that the gratitude of victims explaining their feelings to murderers would be far more reaching than formal punishment from the criminal justice system ever could be.
Courtney Connors

To Fight Femicide in Guatemala, New Law, But Same Culture (SB#4) - 0 views

www.rhrealitycheck.org/...emala-new-law-but-same-culture

Femicide Feminism Machismo Violence War Corruption

shared by Courtney Connors on 18 Nov 09 - Cached
  • Women are being tortured, raped and murdered on a regular basis, with total or almost total impunity, regardless of numerous and unanimous claims for justice from the civil society and even from the international community
    • Courtney Connors
      Courtney Connors on 18 Nov 09
       
      It is going to take more than "urging the Guatemalan Government" to make effective changes for them to actually occur. International sanctions for war crimes against human rights must take place.
  • gone unpunished mainly because of negligence and the lack of effective investigation and prevention strategies of the Guatemalan authorities.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Guatemalan
  • The CEDAW Committee and the European Parliament have both urged the Guatemalan government to take all necessary steps to effectively combat violence against women, ensuring full respect for human rights
  • April 9, 2008 the Guatemalan Congress passed the Law against Femicide and other Forms of Violence against Women (Decree 22-2008), that aims to severely punish any kind of gender-based violence, guaranteeing the life, freedom, integrity, dignity and equality of all women, in the private or public sphere, promoting and implementing strategies to prevent and eradicate femicide and any kind of physical, psychological, sexual or economic violence against women.   
  • Decree literally recognizes that the violence and discrimination against women in the country has flourished because of the "power inequality between men and women in the social, economic, legal, political, cultural and family spheres." 
  • The Law typifies femicide as a crime and defines it as the murder of a woman committed because of her gender within a context of unequal exercise of power; it imposes punishments that range from 25 to 50 years imprisonment.
  • "forced prostitution and denying [a woman] the right to use contraceptive methods, whether natural or hormonal, or taking measures to prevent sexually transmitted infections" are considered sexual violence crimes. 
  • 25% of women consider their partner's disapproval as a reason for not using a family planning method. 
  • the dominant 'macho culture' in Guatemala will make it difficult to implement the law."
  • Courtney Connors on 18 Nov 09
     
    Although the previously bookmarked article seeks to establish an outline of the human or women rights violations that occur within Guatemala, here, author Karim Velasco, sheds light upon newly distinguished laws and explains despite their hopeful goals, why they have ceased to work effectively. She argues that because of the "lack of effective investigation and prevention strategies of the Guatemalan authorities", women continue to be raped, tortured, and murdered at an increasing rate. Because of pressures from the European Parliament to abide by human rights laws, "on April 9, 2008, Guatemalan Congressed passed the 'Law Against Femicide and other Forms of Violence against Women Act' to severely punish any kind of gender-based violence..." However, because the violence stems from the power inequality between men and women in the first place, there is little belief or evidence that this Act will be implemented or strongly enforced by the men in power who seek to represent masculinity or display a constant idea of machismo.
Courtney Connors

Guatemala's 'Femicide' Crisis (SB#4) - 0 views

www.commondreams.org/...10-8

Violence War Feminism Masculinity Gender Femicide or Gendercide Corruption Gangs

shared by Courtney Connors on 18 Nov 09 - Cached
  • Her family has no idea why she was killed
  • violence against women - termed "femicide"
  • d by street ga
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • sed by street gangs
  • being
  • against
  • Gang-related violence has increased sharply here in recent years, amid an increase in drug-trafficking activity.
  • females are often killed simply because of their gender.
  • raped and killed
  • She was only three-years-old
  • justice imposed by the state is non-existent
  • Those who dare challenge the power of men in Guatemalan society often pay with their lives and only two per cent of crimes against women are solved.
  • We are a society that has gotten used to death
  • Women are not seen as great contributors to the country, so violence against them seems to be acceptable
  • femicide is often carried out with "shocking brutality"
  • absence of state guarantees
  • In April 2008, Guatemala passed a law against femicide, which officially recognised it as a punishable crime
  • Courtney Connors on 18 Nov 09
     
    The article entitled "Guatemala's 'Femicide' Crisis" seeks to explain the implications of the unnecessary and brutal mass killings occurring amongst women in Guatemala mostly by male gangs. Because the killings have exceeded such an unusual extent, it has been deemed a "Femicide", otherwise known as a "Gendercide" or a genocide directed mainly against females. The ages of girls or women discussed in this article being raped, beaten, and murdered range from three year old toddlers to middle aged women. Not only do gangs of men perform these acts for no reason other to establish masculinity within their affinity groups. Moreover, the law enforcement agencies are so corrupt that it was said, "justice imposed by the state is non-existent" and "only two per cent of crimes against women are solved." This article seeks to establish the problem that is still going on even after the forty-year civil war while other chosen articles are determined to look for solutions.
Courtney Connors

Latin America Weighs Less Punitive Path to Curb Drug Use - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...27latin.html

Violence Substance Abuse Urban Crime Cultural Change Corruption

shared by Courtney Connors on 04 Oct 09 - Cached
  • he Supreme Court of Argentina opened a path this week to decriminalizing the private consumption of illicit drugs, becoming the latest Latin American country to reject punitive policies toward drug use.
  • Latin
  • BRASÍLIA — T
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Mexico’s Congress voted to end the practice of prosecuting people found to be carrying small amounts of illicit drugs, including marijuana.
  • The new laws and court decisions in the region reflect an urgent desire to reject decades of American prescriptions for distinctly Latin American challenges
  • In February, a commission led by three former Latin American presidents issued a scathing report that condemned Washington’s “war on drugs” as a failure and urged the region to adopt drug policies found in some European countries that focus more on treatment than punishment
  • Latin America is a source of much of the cocaine and marijuana that is distributed throughout North America and Europe. Latin American leaders are struggling with the need to crack down on violent drug traffickers while also trying to stem consumption. Punishing users in Latin America has led to overcrowded prisons and has done little, if anything, to curb overall consumption
  • The need to resolve the inherent contradictions led to the formation of the commission on drug use
  • the “prohibitionist approach” to drug control had “wreaked havoc throughout the region, generating crime, violence and corruption on a scale that far exceeds what the United States experienced during alcohol prohibition in the 1920s.”
  • In Tuesday’s ruling, the Supreme Court in Argentina declared unanimously that the 2006 arrests for marijuana were unconstitutional under the concept of “personal autonomy” protected by the Constitution.
  • Argentina has a serious drug problem, but not especially with the use of marijuana. The country has one of the highest per-capita rates of cocaine use in the world and a growing problem with synthetic drugs like Ecstasy. Some parts of the country have also been afflicted by the rapid rise of “paco,” a cheap and highly addictive drug that combines small amounts of cocaine residue with toxic chemicals
  • Courtney Connors on 05 Oct 09
     
    In August, the Supreme Court of Argentina decriminalized the private use of illicit drugs. Such inquiries as to whether to accept drug use, help those who are addicted, or maintain the prohibition have arisen internationally at an increased rate recently. The Argentine administration felt that the war on drugs has not succeeded as predicted and it should focus on "treatment (more than) punishment."
Courtney Connors

War Without Borders - Mexico's Drug Traffickers Continue Trade in Prison - Series - NYT... - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...11prisons.html

Violence Urban Substance Abuse Crime Cultural Change Corruption

shared by Courtney Connors on 05 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Mexico’s prisons, as described by inmates and insiders and viewed during several visits, are places where drug traffickers find a new base of operations for their criminal empires, recruit underlings, and bribe their way out for the right price. The system is so flawed, in fact, that the Mexican government is extraditing record numbers of drug traffickers to the United States, where they find it much harder to intimidate witnesses, run their drug operations or escape.
  • The United States government, as part of its counternarcotics assistance program, is committing $4 million this year to help fix Mexico’s broken prisons, officials said
  • Mexico’s prisons are bursting at the seams, with space for 172,151 inmates nationwide but an additional 50,000 crammed in. More arrive by the day as part of the government’s drug war, which has sent tens of thousands to prison since President Felipe Calderón took office nearly three years ago.
  • Courtney Connors on 05 Oct 09
     
    The number of escapes at the Zacatecas prison in Mexico has increased over the past few years to an astronomical number thanks to the escape plans of Zetas, a paramilitary group. By paying off the prison guards, the inmates have been able to smuggle everything from cell phones and designer clothes to prostitutes in and bribe their way to larger cell blocks. The close knit relationship the drug cartel have formed with prison guards and federal officers begs the question: who in Mexico is actually fulfilling their duty to serve the public and protect?
Courtney Connors

Los Angeles Police Move Against Gang - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...AP-US-Gang-Raid.html

Masculinity Violence Urban Cultural Change Gangs Crime

shared by Courtney Connors on 04 Oct 09 - Cached
  • gang suspected of killing a sheriff's deputy and murdering rivals while defying authorities for decades
  • 88 suspects
  • Forty-six people were arrested in the pre-dawn raid
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • The indictment reads like a laundry list of gang crime: the murder of rivals, prolific drug dealing, weapons violations and money laundering
  • Police shot back, killing 20-year-old Daniel Leon
  • Then on Aug. 2, 2008, off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante was shot dead in front of his parents' home in the Cypress Park neighborhood northeast of downtown
  • Carlos Velasquez, one of the men accused of killing the deputy, was allegedly heard in a wiretapped telephone conversation telling another Avenues gang member that he killed Escalante in retribution for the death of Leon,
  • ''Avenidas don't get chased by the cops. We chase them,'' and, ''Avenidas don't just hurt people. We kill them.''
  • ''This indictment attacks a criminal organization that has terrorized a community for generations,''
  • Courtney Connors on 04 Oct 09
     
    Los Angeles police arrested over forty-five people in a gang "suspected of killing a sheriff's deputy and murdering rivals". Among them were a corrections officer who was accused of involvement and assisting imprisoned members as well as those directly affiliated with the gang. The search to incarcerate the L.A. gang began when they opened fire on police and one man by the name of Daniel Leon was shot to death. In return, the gang members shot Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Jun Escalante in front of his parent's home. The inditement is a huge step in the right direction considering the level of fright the gang and its values and violent actions have instilled in the community.
Courtney Connors

Latin American Herald Tribune - 21 Hurt in Bombing after Brazil Gay Pride Parade - 0 views

www.laht.com/article.asp

Homosexuality Gay Rights Human Rights Political Movements Legislation

shared by Courtney Connors on 16 Sep 09 - Cached
  • At least 21 people were injured when a homemade bomb exploded at a spot where participants gathered after the gay pride parade in Brazil’s largest city, authorities said Monday
  • Present at the time of the attack were dozens of people who had taken part a few hours earlier in the 13th edition of the gay pride parade that, with close to 3 million participants, is considered the biggest demonstration in the world in defense of gays
  • the bomb was thrown from a building on the square
  • Courtney Connors on 16 Sep 09
     
    Although the other bookmarks for this session have exemplified the positive transition that the gay rights movement has had over time within reference to liberating legislation and basic human rights, this article shows a negative impact that has also occurred. In Brazil, a gay pride parade was held with over three million participants and was going well until a bomb was thrown from a building and injured 21 people in the process. Such an act exemplifies that no matter how far the rights movement has come over the past twenty or so years, there will still be right wing conservative opposition in the near future.
Courtney Connors

Foreign Policy: Gays in Latin America: Is the Closet Half Empty? - 0 views

www.foreignpolicy.com/...cms.php

Homosexuality Gay Rights Human Rights Political Movements Legislation

shared by Courtney Connors on 16 Sep 09 - No Cached
  • The region is becoming gayer. It's not that there are more gays and lesbians living in Latin America (we would never know)
  • he region is becoming more gay-friendly
  • Latin America was the land of the closet and the home of the macho
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • In 1998, Ecuador's new constitution introduced protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation. In 1999, Chile decriminalized same-sex intercourse. Rio de Janeiro's state legislature banned sexual-orientation discrimination in public and private establishments in 2000. In 2002, Buenos Aires guaranteed all couples, regardless of gender, the right to register civil unions. The policy changes just kept coming. In 2003, Mexico passed a federal antidiscrimination law that included sexual orientation. A year later, the government of Brazil initiated "Brasil sem homofobia" (Brazil without homophobia), a program with nongovernmental organizations to change social attitudes toward sexuality. In 2006, Mexico City approved the Societal Cohabitation Law, granting same-sex couples marital rights identical to those for common-law relationships between a man and a woman. Uruguay passed a 2007 law granting access to health benefits, inheritance, parenting, and pension rights to all couples who have cohabited for at least five years. In 2008, Nicaragua reformed its penal code to decriminalize same-sex relations. Even Cuba's authoritarian new president, Raúl Castro, has allowed free sex-change operations for qualifying citizen
  • regime change
  • homophobia
  • A recent survey in Brazil, the country with the largest gay-pride parades in the world, showed that 58 percent of respondents still agree with the statement, "Homosexuality is a sin against the laws of God," and 41 percent with "Homosexuality is an illness that should be treated."
  • Courtney Connors on 16 Sep 09
     
    This article proposes the idea that an increasing number of Latin American countries have become more acceptive of gay and lesbian ideals. Due to regime changes, the once "closeted macho" countries now welcome such legislation as protections against sexual discrimination; the decriminalization of same-sex intercourse; grants to health benefits, parenting, and so on in countries like Ecuador, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, and NIcaragua.
Courtney Connors

Uruguay approves Latin America's first gay adoption law - Yahoo! News (SB#1) - 0 views

news.yahoo.com/...yrightsadoption_20090909172330

Homosexual Adoption Gay Rights Human Rights Legislation Religion

shared by Courtney Connors on 16 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Uruguay lawmakers Wednesday adopted a trailblazing law allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt children, in an unprecedented move for Latin America
  • 17 out of 23 senators voting in favor of the legislation.
  • Gay adoptions remain contentious worldwide, and Uruguay, a nation of some 3.5 million people, is taking another step away from its more conservative neighbors after having already authorized gay civil unions last year
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • President Tabare Vazquez, the first leftist leader in Uruguayan history, already opened access for homosexuals to military schools in May
  • The Catholic Church is against the bill because "from Genesis in the Bible, it says that 'God created man and woman
  • Uruguay has a long tradition of leading the way in civil rights, and has shown a desire to move ahead quickly on such questions
  • Uruguay was the first country in the largely Catholic South American region to approve divorce in 1907, and gave women the right to vote in 1932
  • Courtney Connors on 16 Sep 09
     
    On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, the legislative branch in Uruguay passed a bill allowing for gay and lesbian couples to adopt children. This law had major support from the Senators in a 17 out of 23 vote and is unlike any other gay rights movement bill in Latin America. Liberal activists hope this is just the first step in a very long line of the liberation of not only gay rights, but human rights. Uruguay is also noted to be the first Latin American country to approve divorce and women's right to vote.
Courtney Connors

Brazilian President Will Seek to "Criminalize Words and Acts Offensive to Homosexuality" - 0 views

www.lifesitenews.com/...09043008.html

Homosexuality Discrimination Machismo Government Policy Gender Roles

shared by Courtney Connors on 16 Sep 09 - Cached
  • In a written address delivered to the Third Congress of the Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transvestites, and Transsexuals (ABGLT), Lula denounced groups, most of them Christian, who have objected to plans to outlaw such speech, calling them "hypocrites
  • Lula has for several years sought to pass a "homophobia law" that would make it a crime to criticize homosexual behavior.
  • in many cases Brazilian courts already enforce existing laws as if they prohibit such speech
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Religious groups and individuals have been censored and fined for criticizing homosexual behavior
  • "homophobic" murders are high,
  • Courtney Connors on 16 Sep 09
     
    President Lula of Brazil hopes to "pass a 'homophobia law' that would make it a crime to criticize homosexual behavior." Most homophobic criticism stems from religious conservative groups. This is a primary goal of Lula's as an increasing number of murders have begun to result from hatred and prejudice against homosexuals over the past years.
Courtney Connors

Nine-Year-Old's Abortion Outrages Brazil's Catholic Church - TIME - 0 views

www.time.com/...0,8599,1883598,00.html

Abortion Discrimination Domestic Violence Sex Reproduction Religion

shared by Courtney Connors on 16 Sep 09 - Cached
  • n, only 74% of Brazilians today admit allegiance to Rom
  • Abortion is much more serious than killing an adult. An adult may or may not be an innocent, but an unborn child is most definitely innocent. Taking that life cannot be ignored
  • Why can't I decide what to do with my own body? Women should be able to decide for themselves what's important
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • More than 200,000 women each year are treated in public hospitals for complications arising from illegal abortions
  • 1 in 3 pregnancies is unwanted
  • But the Church's response to the Recife rape and abortion has shocked public opinion
  • Courtney Connors on 16 Sep 09
     
    Although abortion is illegal in Brazil, it is allowed for medical purposes such as the mother's health and in cases of rape. Yet, when a nine year old was raped and impregnated with twins by her step-father, the public was outraged because of the conflicting ideals with the Catholic Church and abortion. The Church upholds the view that any "innocent, unborn" life taken is the act of extreme sin that should be shunned upon.
1 - 11 of 11
Showing 20▼ items per page