This issue of AportesDPLF is dedicated to the fight against impunity in Latin America and to all those who have contributed to it. While significant progress has been made in this area—despite ongoing challenges—so too has the range of actors involved: victims and their families, local and international NGOs, the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights, human rights lawyers and advocates, judges, and many others. All of them have played essential roles in a broader mechanism that has succeeded in placing international law at the heart of legal debates and decision-making processes. This edition of the journal highlights and celebrates the contributions made by these various actors.
There is no denying that the work of Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón—who contributes an article to this issue—has been pivotal in the pursuit of truth and justice in Latin America and in the application of binding international norms by national courts. Paradoxically, Spain’s Supreme Court has called into question Judge Garzón’s efforts to investigate crimes committed in his own country’s past. We have received the news of the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend Judge Garzón with dismay. We sincerely hope that this decision will soon be overturned and that Judge Garzón will be acquitted.
Despite this bitter setback, we wish to celebrate the progress achieved across the region. To that end, we invited several experts and key figures to contribute to this issue, including Judge Garzón himself, who reflects on the issue of impunity. Santiago Cantón, Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), writes about the Commission’s role in the fight against impunity. Naomi Roht-Arriaza, professor of law at the University of California, Hastings, explores the role of international law in judicial efforts to address past crimes. Jo-Marie Burt, professor of political science at George Mason University in Virginia, writes on the progress made in prosecuting past crimes in Latin America. Carlos Rivera, attorney and coordinator of the legal area at the Instituto de Defensa Legal in Peru, analyzes the significance of the trial of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. Finally, attorneys Angélica González of CALDH in Guatemala and Wilber Quiroz of the Vicariate of Solidarity of the Prelature of Sicuani in Cusco, Peru, examine two landmark cases of past human rights violations in Guatemala and Peru.
Recognizing how essential it is to achieve justice for past crimes in order to strengthen democracy and judicial systems today, DPLF conducted two major studies on the subject over the past year: the Digest of Latin American Jurisprudence on International Crimes, which provides a regional overview of decisions by courts and tribunals that applied international law and jurisprudence in proceedings concerning past human rights violations constituting international crimes; and Victims and Transitional Justice: Are Latin American States Meeting International Standards?, which examines judicial processes in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Peru, highlighting both progress made and ongoing challenges from the perspective of victims’ rights.
