Argentine political prisoner Milagro Sala transferred to house arrest following IACHR ruling

[sandensea]

Argentine indigenous activist Milagro Sala, whose imprisonment without charges 19 months ago has been ruled arbitrary by numerous international bodies, has been transferred to house arrest.

The transfer comes over a month after a July 28 ruling by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ordering Argentina to comply with a formal UN request to release Sala from prison.

Despite an August 12 deadline, local courts did not order her transfer until August 16.

Jujuy Province Governor Gerardo Morales, who ordered Sala's detention, initially resisted the ruling. He accused the IACHR of being "controlled by leftists" - a charge which drew immediate comparisons to the rhetoric used by Argentina's last dictatorship against a 1979 IACHR fact-finding mission that verified that thousands of disappeared at the hands of the regime.

Half-built house

Sala was not transferred to her home in San Salvador de Jujuy (the provincial capital); but instead to a halfway house in El Carmen, a small town 15 mi to the south.

The house, however, was an abandoned property lacking doors, windows, most basic amenities, or connections to public utilities. Following Governor Morales' refusal to fund improvements, private donations were raised for its refurbishment.

Sala was greeted by her husband, journalist Raúl Noro, who was himself detained for four months without charges last year after leading a protest calling for her release.

She made an appeal for other political prisoners and for Santiago Maldonado, a 28 year-old activist who was detained by federal forces on August 1 and has not been seen since.

The Sala case

Sala, now 53, was ordered arrested on January 16, 2016, by Governor Morales on unsubstantiated charges of “inciting violence” — a charge that was later dropped.

She was charged nearly a year later with embezzlement, extortion, and conspiracy related to government earmarks for housing projects managed by the Túpac Amaru Association and related charges.

Critics note that prosecutors have offered no proof to substantiate charges, relying only on testimony from individuals including an illiterate man who was later awarded a public contract and an ex-convict who was released despite serving a sentence for murder.

Citing lack of evidence and serious irregularities such as the use of bribed witnesses, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled on October 21, 2016, that Sala's detention is in fact arbitrary, and urged President Mauricio Macri (a close ally of Morales) to release her immediately. The IACHR did likewise on December 4.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.diarioregistrado.com%2Fsociedad-%2Ftrasladaron-a-milagro-sala-para-cumplir-la-detencion-domiciliaria_a59a8613a642ff2539677fb40&edit-text=

Milagro Sala being transferred to house arrest. Her 19-month detention has been ruled arbitrary by the UN and the IACHR.

[Judi Lynn]

1. The way the right-wing has dealt with Milagro Sala is so far beyond outrageous. Impossibly vile.

Any barbaric trick, or insanely vicious act has been used against her, and her husband.

Nothing is too low, too dirty, too undignified, too dishonorable for fascists like South and North American fascists.

It's going to have to take something really powerful, not excluding a Martian invasion, to dig these maggots out of the government offices they have infested. They have never belonged anywhere near leadership, the whole world knows. Only defective people, criminally insane people who have turned against the human race can be counted among their supporters.

Hoping Ms. Sala and her husband will have the time they need to somehow get some rest, recuperation, and calm, time to heal their last battle scars inflicted upon them by the governor, the president, and the lunatics burned out enough to serve them.

It's so good to see the photo of Milagro Sala you included. She definitely looks honed, energetic, focused. No doubt getting out of prison would contribute to that, right?







Milagro Sala and Raúl Noro

[sandensea]

2. Behold the power of international attention.

As you can imagine, Judi, there was no way that imp Morales was going to free Sala had it not been for months of international pressure from the UN, the OAS (which we rarely hear about in the U.S. - but which is important in Latin America b/c its rulings are legally binding), and human rights groups like Amnesty International.

Morales himself crowed that "I'll never let that woman go!" just a few months ago.

Thanks, btw, for posting those photos. The image at top shows a partial view of the public housing community her Tupac Amaru association built. Yes, they did it with $3 million in public funds - but the community has over 700 homes, plus a school, clinic, and recreational area (severely damaged by Morales goons last year). They also built 21 neighborhood pools (there had been just two for the entire province of 700,000).

Even right-wing media has to admit at the time it was built (2012) that it would have cost any other contractor at least twice as much. Here are more photos from that time: https://www.taringa.net/posts/imagenes/13364422/Fotos-del-barrio-Tupac-Amaru--S-S-de-Jujuy.html

I should note as well that Macri had a $100 million annual housing budget in his 8 years as mayor - and did almost nothing with it (as evidenced by a doubling in Buenos Aires' slum population at the time). What happened with most of that money (the city gov't. can only account for around 20% of it), who knows.

Thanks again!

[Judi Lynn]

3. What Gov. Morales said was evil. They had NO charges.

Here's hoping at some point he will finally decide it's not worth the price he will pay politically to persecute her further. That comment is unforgivable.

I had no idea how much good this area is doing for those who live there. So many people are benefitting from it now. The photos are so helpful, showing that employment right there in the area is also available now.

Wonderfully well conceived, well planned, well executed.

This little woman has accomplished so much more than I realized.

Now I can see the fascists actually FEAR her, just as they fear all strong leaders who find ways to bring badly needed help to those who are struggling so hard in poverty. The right-wing actually hates them deeply. They see them as their enemy, which should tell everyone in the world what kind of people they are.

So I didn't know about the harsh vandalism ennacted by Morales' thugs. It sounds so similar to the actual fascist light-skinned Unión Juvenil Cruceñista, who also load up the thugs in trucks and travel into the barrios and beat the holy bejeebers out of the native Bolivians, sometimes killing them.


















How these people still operate in the 21st Century is an enormous puzzle, isn't it?

I'm pretty sure they won't be around many years from now, one way or another.

It was so good to learn about the Tupac Amaru community, and just wonderful seeing their recreation of Tiawanaku. So cool! I hope the people will be able to protect their lives and their homes from those who don't want to see them succeed. It matters so very much.

I see Milagro Sala with even more respect after learning about this magnificent, life giving achievement. Thank you, so much, sandensea.

[Marksman_91]

4. Huh. And yet you don't even bother to admit there are political prisoners in Venezuela

Oh wait, it's ruled by a left-wing regime, so obviously it's IMPOSSIBLE for it to have political prisoners.

Yet you sure like to make a fuss about political prisoners when they're under a right-leaning government. Sure speaks very highly of you and the rest of the Chavista apologists in this forum.