Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for South America
Newsline: Iran sacks diplomat for child molestation
Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday it has sacked one of its diplomats who allegedly fondled underaged girls in a swimming pool in Brazil, where he was stationed before being recalled. “After an investigation into the violations by the Iranian employee of the Iranian embassy in Brazil, it was found his behaviour was contrary to administrative regulations and Islamic conduct … thus he was dismissed,” the ministry said in a statement. Brazilian media identified the diplomat as Hekmatollah Ghorbani, 51, and reported that he groped at least four Brazilian girls aged between nine and 15 in a Brasilia pool last month, making them cry and attracting the fury of their parents.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-1-109813-Iran-sacks-diplomat
Newsline: US Embassy in Madrid interviewed Colombia prostitute
Nearly four weeks after the Secret Service prostitution scandal erupted, U.S. government investigators on Thursday interviewed the Colombia prostitute at the center of the affair, which cost eight officers and supervisors their jobs and became an election-year embarrassment for the Obama administration. Dania Londono Suarez voluntarily met with investigators at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, agency spokesman Edwin Donovan said. He said the Secret Service investigation was nearly complete. More than 200 people, including most of the women involved, have been interviewed in the United States and Colombia. Londono mysteriously disappeared days after the incident and couldn’t be reached by investigators. In a radio and television interview from Madrid on May 4, Londono said she works as a prostitute in Colombia, catering to foreigners. She said after leaving Colombia, she spent some time in Dubai before going to Madrid. Londono said she met a Secret Service employee at a club in Cartagena, Colombia, last month and escorted him back to his hotel after a night of heavy drinking. “I told him it would be $800 and he said that was fine and not a problem,” Londono said in Spanish. But the next morning the officer refused to pay, offering her only about $30 for a taxi. Londono said she was insulted and tried for several hours to get paid, eventually asking a local police officer at the hotel for help. She said the argument ended when other Secret Service officers at the Hotel Caribe paid her about $250. The officers were in Colombia in advance of President Barack Obama’s arrival for a South American summit. Prostitution is legal in Colombia. A dozen employees have been implicated since the April 12 argument became public. Eight people, including two supervisors, have lost their jobs. The agency is moving to permanently revoke the security clearance for one other employee, and three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing. Twelve military personnel have also been implicated. Londono left Colombia a few days after the incident and she said last week she said he had not been contacted by the Secret Service or anyone from the U.S. government. She described the officers involved as “fools” and said the whole situation could have been avoided if the man she spent the night with had just paid her.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/colombia-prostitute-at-center-of-secret-service-scandal-interviewed-at-us-embassy-in-madrid/2012/05/10/gIQAEDgLGU_story.html
Newsline: Abkhazia opens embassy in Nicaragua
Georgia’s breakaway region Abkhazia has opened an embassy in Nicaragua. According to Apsnypress, Abkhazia’s ambassador to Venezuela, Zaur Gvajava, will also take on the function as ambassador to Nicaragua. Nicaragua will help Abkhazians in their relations with other countries and will offer support in their attempts at getting recognition for Abkhazia’s independence, Zaur Gvajava said. He notes that a so-called foreign affairs delegation will arrive from 20 to 27 May and sign an agreement about visa-freedom. “The document is already prepared and only signatures are necessary.” Also Georgia’s other breakaway region, South Ossetia, have opened an embassy in Nicaragua, thereby establishing diplomatic relations. Ambassador will be Namir Kozayev, who is also ambassador to Venezuela. Officials in Tbilisi say nothing has changed legally by this. On August 26, after a five-day war in August 2008, Russia recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In total, five countries have recognized the separatist regions. Nicaragua was first to follow Russia on September 5, 2008. The President of Venezuela followed suit in September 2009, and after him, the Pacific island states of Nauru and Vanuatu. The Republic of Vanuatu is located on 83 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Its area is 12 000 square kilometers, and the population was 243 000 in 2009. In the western part of the Pacific is Nauru with a population of 14 000.
http://dfwatch.net/abkhazia-opens-embassy-in-nicaragua-65896
Newsline: Brazil sex worker may sue U.S. embassy over injuries
A former Brazilian prostitute plans to sue the United States embassy and five of its personnel for injuries sustained outside a strip club late last year, complicating the second of two embarrassing incidents to emerge recently involving American officials and sex workers in South America. Romilda Aparecida Ferreira, 31, and her lawyer said they plan to file suit for injuries, medical expenses, lost income, and psychological trauma after an embassy van ran over her and left her stranded in the club parking lot with a broken collarbone, punctured lung and other injuries. The incident occurred December 29 when an embassy driver was dispatched to the club to pick up three marines and one civilian staffer. A civil suit would compound a case in which Brazilian prosecutors have already said they are considering criminal charges, including assault and failure to provide assistance to an injured person. It also threatens to further tarnish the image of overseas U.S. personnel in the wake of a separate scandal involving U.S. Secret Service members and prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, earlier this month. Little noticed at the time, the incident in Brasília, Brazil’s capital, gained traction this week when a local reporter asked U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, then on a visit to the country, about what happened. Panetta said the United States had investigated the matter, “severely punished” the marines, and pulled them out of Brazil. Few additional details from the incident have been provided by U.S. officials, including the nature of an unresolved offer Ferreira’s lawyers say was made by the embassy to compensate her in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement. Ferreira, who worked as a stripper at the club for three years, said she was traumatized by the incident, which kept her hospitalized for 12 days. Upon her release from the hospital, she said, embassy officials visited her to seek her account of the incident and then offered her nearly 4,000 reais ($2,100), which she rejected. Her lawyers said they then followed up with the embassy, but failed to reach an agreement on payment and a condition that would have required Ferreira to sign a non-disclosure agreement. A U.S. embassy spokesman confirmed there was an inconclusive discussion about compensation, but was unaware of the exact details.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/26/us-usa-brazil-prostitute-idUSBRE83P07W20120426
Newsline: U.S. Embassy prostitution incident in Brazil detailed
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday that three Marines on a U.S. Embassy security team and one embassy staff member were punished for allegedly pushing a prostitute out of a car in Brasilia late last year after a dispute over payment. The incident is similar, but unrelated, to the scandal involving Secret Service agents at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, before President Barack Obama arrived. Panetta, speaking to reporters in Brasilia, said the Marines were pulled out of the country. Two had their ranks reduced, and the embassy staffer was removed from his post. Panetta said he had “no tolerance for that kind of conduct.” A senior defense official said the three Marines — including one supervisor — were members of the embassy security team in Brasilia. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an investigation, said the woman broke her collarbone when she was pushed from the car in late December. The official said the embassy tracked the woman down and paid for her medical expenses. But in the wake of the Cartagena scandal, she has hired an attorney and is suing the embassy.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20120425/PC16/120429574&slId=12
Newsline: Iranian diplomat accused of Brazil child molestation
Brazil says it will seek an explanation from Iran after an Iranian diplomat was accused of molesting underage girls at a swimming pool in Brasilia. The Iranian official was questioned by police following complaints from parents but released after invoking diplomatic immunity. Iran’s embassy denied the allegations, and said they were the result of a “cultural misunderstanding”. Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota called them “very worrying”. The un-named Iranian diplomat was accused of inappropriately touching girls between 9 and 15 years old at a pool in a private club last weekend, Brazilian media reported. The father of one of the girls told the G1 website that the diplomat was almost lynched by angry parents before security staff intervened. “People wanted to kill him,” the unnamed father said. The Iranian embassy said the allegations were the result of “a misunderstanding resulting from differences in cultural behaviour”. It also accused the Brazilian media of deliberately sensationalising the incident. But Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said he was taking the allegations very seriously and would ask the Iranian embassy for clarification before deciding what action to take.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17780497
Newsline: Two bombs explode near US embassy in Colombia
Four explosive devices went off in Colombia late on Friday ahead of an Americas summit, without causing any casualties or damage to the building, police said. The first two crude low-power bombs exploded near the US Embassy in Bogota shortly after the arrival in Colombia of US President Barack Obama, who is due to take part at the Americas summit in the resort city of Cartagena. “Nobody was killed, nobody was injured, and there was no damage,” a police official told Agence France Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity, and without giving any word on the suspects. That incident occurred at around 7.30 pm local time (0030 GMT Saturday), prompting police units to swarm into the area and begin an investigation. These explosions were followed by two similar ones in Cartagena, which is hosting the summit. “They occurred near a bus terminal and near a supermarket,” General Rodolfo Palomino of the Colombian police told reporter. “There were no injuries and no damage.” In addition to the US Embassy, the area in Bogota where the devices exploded is home to some important Colombian government buildings. The Colombian capital and other major cities have been a favored site of urban guerrilla attacks for decades.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/two-bombs-explode-near-us-embassy-in-colombia-shortly-after-obama-s-arrival-197425
Newsline: Venezuelan minister says kidnapped diplomat freed
Venezuela’s justice minister says a diplomat from the Costa Rican Embassy has been freed hours after he was seized by kidnappers. Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said that Guillermo Cholele, the trade ambassador for the Costa Rican Embassy, has been freed and is in good health. El Aissami said on Tuesday morning that the diplomat was with police and being taken to be reunited with his family.
http://www.maximumedge.com/cgi/news/article.cgi/20120410/D9U220L80
Newsline: Costa Rican diplomat kidnapped in Venezuela
A diplomat from the Costa Rican Embassy in Venezuela has been kidnapped and his abductors are demanding a ransom, officials said. Guillermo Cholele, the embassy’s trade attache, is the latest diplomat to have been kidnapped in Venezuela recently. Cholele was grabbed Sunday night as he was arriving at his home in eastern Caracas, Ambassador Nazareth Avendano said at a news conference. His abductors took him away in his vehicle, which has diplomatic corps license plates, the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry said. “A telephone call made to the diplomat’s residence mentioned the request of a … sum as ransom and added that he’s in good health,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, calling the incident “extremely serious.” It did not say how much the abductors demanded. “It’s been a big blow,” Avendano said. Cholele has been based in Venezuela for six years and lives with his wife and two children, the ambassador said. Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry said two diplomats would travel to Caracas to cooperate in the investigation being carried out by Venezuelan police and prosecutors. Venezuelan Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said officials were focusing on the investigation “at the highest level.” In January, Mexican Ambassador Carlos Pujalte was abducted together with his wife. They were freed four hours later, and prosecutors said the following week that three suspects were arrested in the crime. In November, Chile’s consul in Caracas was briefly kidnapped and was released by his captors about two hours later. He was shot and wounded during the ordeal.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2012/04/09/costa_rican_diplomat_kidnapped_in_venezuela/
Newsline: Falklands protesters attack British embassy in Buenos Aires
The government has condemned violent protesters who attacked the British embassy in Buenos Aires on the 30th anniversary of the Falklands war. Several hundred demonstrators pelted police officers with homemade firebombs and threw rocks and flaming bottles at the embassy as a series of events were held in Argentina and the UK to commemorate the 1982 conflict. Television footage showed riot police using a water cannon to disperse the group of extremists, who had earlier set fire to a union flag and an effigy of the Duke of Cambridge in protest against British rule of the islands. The violence came after the Argentinian president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, stoked the diplomatic battle between Buenos Aires and London by describing the UK’s control over the Falklands as unjust. However, David Cameron said he remained committed to upholding British sovereignty over the territory and insisted the islanders must be allowed to choose their nationality. Argentina’s complaints – including to the United Nations – of “militarisation” by the UK will be heightened by the deployment of the Royal Navy’s most advanced warship for its maiden operation. Destroyer HMS Dauntless will set sail from Portsmouth for the Falklands in what the the Ministry of Defence says is a “pre-planned and routine” six-month deployment in the South Atlantic. It comes after Argentinian hackles were raised by the “provocative” six-week deployment of Prince William to the islands as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot. The Foreign Office condemned “the violent actions of a minority” following the demonstration. It said in a statement: “All states are obliged under the Vienna convention to provide appropriate protection for foreign diplomatic missions. “We expect the Argentine government to continue to fulfil its obligations under the convention and continue fully to enforce the law against any demonstrators committing criminal acts.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/03/falklands-protesters-attack-british-embassy
