The United States state Department's annual report on human rights cites the murder of former TACV flight attendant Carlos Moreira (better known as Caló) in Praia's São Martinho prison as one of the human rights violations that took place in Cape Verde last year. And, for the first time, the US State Department did not mention self-censorship as one of the problems in the country's media sector.

Shorter and less detailed than the reports from the previous two years, the generally favorable evaluation of Cape Verde in the report published this week by the United States State Department calls attention, as it has in the past, to the precarious conditions in the nation's prisons.

The case of Carlos Navy Moreira, Caló, is mentioned following a brief description of the state of the country's prisons - "poor and overcrowded," with "inadequate medical assistance" and "prisoners who often present psychological problems."

The US State Department refers to Caló as a "convicted drug trafficker who was cooperating with authorities and who was murdered inside the prison by a fellow inmate." The alleged killer, says the report, "is a professional murderer hired by drug traffickers." "The case was under investigation as of the end of the year," the document states.

The US State Department also stresses that the trial has yet to begin for those involved in the prison riot that took place on December 25, 2005 at the same penitentiary and which cost the life of one inmate. The report also considers the length of time suspects are kept in preventative custody awaiting trial "a serious problem." "Suspects are kept in jail for more than a year without being formally accused," denounces the report, as it has stressed since 2006.

The fact that underage inmates share the same space as adults and that suspects awaiting trial occupy the same spaces in prison as convicted criminals is another negative aspect pointed out by the report.

Violence against women and children is also mentioned by the United States State Department. Domestic violence against women is "generalized," stresses the report. However, it highlights the fact that the government and civil society encourage people to report such crimes, resulting in an increasing number of criminal complaints to police and greater media exposure. Sexual assault is "very common" and "culturally accepted," and is not considered a crime, says the report.

Other "serious problems" are the sexual abuse of and disrespect for children and child prostitution. Child labor is also mentioned, and data from the 2000 Census is used to show that some 8,000 children work as street vendors, car washers, farmers, shepherds and in the fishing sector.

According to the report, the Cape Verdean government's efforts to resolve the "abuse" against children have been insufficient.

In the section dedicated to the press, there is a radical turnaround in comparison to previous years, when the State Department spoke of "self-censorship" in the state media. In 2007, the State Department believes that the "independent media was active and expressed diverse points of view without restriction."