Exploring Volunteering

LAS ORGANIZACIONES SOCIALES Y DE DERECHOS HUMANOS ABAJO FIRMANTES, ANTE LOS HECHOS QUE EVIDENCIAN LAS ESTRUCTURAS ILEGALES DENTRO DEL SISTEMA DE SEGURIDAD EN GUATEMALA, MANIFESTAMOS:

1.    No es ningún secreto el funcionamiento de aparatos clandestinos de seguridad que operan directamente vinculados al sistema de seguridad en Guatemala fortalecidos ante la falta de depuración en la Policía Nacional Civil (PNC) y el Ejército.

2.    Lo aparentemente novedoso es que dichos aparatos actúan en el esquema funcional y orgánico de tales instituciones, con el conocimiento, consentimiento y el amparo del gabinete de seguridad, integrado por los ministerios de Gobernación y Defensa, así como por la PNC.

3.    Este extremo ha sido del conocimiento de diputados, exfuncionarios y precandidatos como Otto Pérez Molina y Alejandro Giammatei, quienes durante su desempeño guardaron silencio cómplice al respecto, mientras que ahora hacen denuncias públicas con fines electoreros.

4.    Las estructuras clandestinas develadas durante el proceso de investigación del asesinato de diputados salvadoreños y la ejecución de los sospechosos de este hecho, han operado también en ejecuciones extrajudiciales de jóvenes, mujeres y en ataques y agresiones contra defensores y defensoras de Derechos Humanos.

5.    La situación de crisis en el ámbito de la estructura responsable de la seguridad ciudadana demanda medidas excepcionales y un acuerdo nacional que involucre a todos y cada uno de los sectores del país, comprometidos con la construcción de una sociedad democrática.

POR LO ANTERIORMENTE EXPUESTO:

1.    Demandamos al presidente de la República, Oscar Rafael Berger, asumir plenamente, aunque sea en los últimos meses, su función como mandatario y que enfrente la grave situación de seguridad que vive el país.

2.    Exigimos a las autoridades de justicia designar una fiscalía especial propuesta por una comisión de personas notables, libres de toda sospecha, para que investigue y persiga plenamente a las estructuras señaladas y a las todavía ocultas.

3.    En dicho proceso, investigar a profundidad el origen de las informaciones así como las fuentes que alimentan las versiones presentadas por exfuncionarios del actual gobierno.

4.    Al Fiscal General, actuar de inmediato para impedir que la eventual renuncia del titular de Gobernación, Carlos Vielman o el Director de la PNC, Edwin Sperinsen, facilite que los mismos evadan la acción de la ley por la responsabilidad en los graves hechos denunciados y el funcionamiento de las estructuras reveladas.

5.    Convocamos a todas las organizaciones sociales, de pueblos indígenas, de jóvenes, de lso derechos de las mujeres, pro justicia, de Derechos Humanos, partidos políticos, dirigentes religiosos, medios de comunicación y empresarios, a un proceso para analizar la crisis que representa el avance del crimen organizado dentro de las estructuras de estado, a fin de encontrar una salida nacional que permita enfrentar este fenómeno para recuperar lainstitucionaldad del Estado.

Guatemala 28 de febrero de 2007

Centro de Investigaciones Internacionales en Derechos Humanos (CIIDH)
Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH)
Colectivo de Organizaciones Sociales (COS)
Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala (CDHG)
Foro Ecuménico por la Paz y la Reconciliación (FEPAZ)
Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales de Guatemala (ICCPG)
Movimiento por los Derechos Humanos de Guatemala
Sector de Mujeres de la Sociedad Civil
Seguridad en Democracia (SEDEM)

Hundimiento en la 21, 22, 23 y 24 avenidas del Barrio San Antonio zona 6. Donde se abrio un agujero provocado por el socavamiento de los drenajes de aguas sevidas. Photo: AP

Just when you thought you were beginning to get the most basic grasp of life in Guatemala – something happens to prove you know nothing. I have to admit to never hearing about the danger of a massive sinkhole appearing in Guatemala City. Photos on the net leave your jaw dropping. You can see the location in Flash Earth – or if you have Google Earth installed you can see it here. Below you can see how close the sinkhole is to the centre of Guatemala City:

Fingers are starting to be pointed in various directions. In the coming days hopefully we'll start to get convincing explanations for why this has happened; and what risk there is of this happening elsewhere. Two people have already been killed, let's hope there won't be more.

This from Associated Press via The Guardian:

Cerigua reported that the Human Rights Ombudsmen would be looking into complaints from the local community about how seriously the Guatemalan municipality took their repeated reports (see this in La Hora from June 2006) of tremors long before the sinkhole appeared:

Update 25-02-07

The total of deaths is now confirmed as three [more from AP via the Guardian]. There are more details in the Guatemalan press, including reports from Prensa Libre that illegal drains may have been an aggravating factor, and that tremors and loud noises continue to be felt and heard. This from Siglo XXI:
   

Here is a brief clip of the sinkhole thanks to Polish television news (TVP). And another longer one here from AgnostikTV. And another even longer clip from Sirmorles. Here's a Guatemalan television report via krls666.

PHOTO: Siglo XXI

The recent case of the open assassination of three prominent Salvadoran politicians and their driver in Guatemala provides a dramatic snapshot. It's shone a light on the criminal justice system in Guatemala; and the state of relations between El Salvador and Guatemala.

Eduardo D'Abuisson, William Pichinte and Ramon Gonzalez were leading members of El Salvador's ruling party, ARENA (Nationalist Republican Alliance). They represented El Salvador at the Central American Parliament, which is based in Guatemala City.

It's mind blowing that those planning to assassinate three prominent politicians should do it in a vehicle fitted with equipment that allows it to be tracked by GPS. But why? Stupidity or fearless impunity?

Associated Press reported:

Reuters reported:

Great, an open and shut case. But hang on, not so fast. Reading the Guatemalan press, for instance in El Periodico, you can read comments from readers which offer another perspective. One reader of El Periodico posted the following comment on the paper's website:

For the Guatemalan authorities to have arrested and implicated such high ranking police officials in this crime so rapidly makes this case stand out. It seems to suggest that 'miracles' can be achieved if the external pressure is sufficiently strong. And given the fact that the victims in this case just happened to be members of El Salvador's governing party, there is certainly significant pressure. El Diario de Hoy in El Salvador leads the charge:

Why the need for external involvement? There's also the possibility of getting the FBI involved- not to everyone's liking. Theories explaining the crime abound- but most suspect the illicit trade in narcotics.

Background

Who was the father of assassinated Eduardo D'Aubuisson? According to a report by Amnesty International into death squads in El Salvador in 1996:

It's worth checking out the bio of Guatemala's top police chief Erwin Sperisen published on Policia Nacional Civil's website whose heading this investigation. According to the website, it's a pretty meteoric rise for Sperisen (just four years experience in local government prior to landing the top police job).

Update (25-02-07)

Quotes from Siglo XXI:

Update (26-02-07)

In a dramatic twist to this news story it's emerged that the four policemen arrested for murders of the Salvadoran politicians have been murdered themselves in the prison where they were being detained. This from AP via the Guardian:

Prensa Libre reported on the possible reasons for this. According a member of the Marasalvatrucha from the prison in Cuilapa:

According to a lawyer for the policemen:

But it won't be long until the conspiracy theories start surfacing- the Prensa Libre article ends- pointing out that now the policemen are dead the whole legal case that threatened to unearth shady goings on in the Guatemalan police is brought to a halt.

There's an interesting 15 minute interview with Dawn Paley on the Rabble Podcast Network reporting on the violent evictions that took place on land controversially owned by Canadian mining company Skye Resources. The interview gives a good overview of the current situation in Izabal, Guatemala at present.

In a recent open letter (posted on Upside Down World) to Ian Austin, Skye Resources CEO, Dawn Paley made the following two points:

As yet no response has been posted on the Skye Resources website to these latest open letters from Dawn Paley and Victoria Henderson.

Background

Dawn Paley, an independent journalist was in Izabal, with the photographer James Rodriguez and film maker Steven Schnoor during the forced evictions in early January. You can read more on Dawn's blog 'Reporter Zero', James' blog 'Mi Mundo' and watch Steven Schnoor's video of the evictions.

Cerigua have just (22-02-07) posted a report: “Campesinos/tierras: Narran historia de desalojo“

You can find other related links on the mining issue in Guatemala here. Mining is an issue that we've covered on a regular basis on this blog.

Post by Jordan Buckley

One of the lawyers working on the national Guatemalan genocide case was recently kidnapped, while other members of the legal team have received a written threat, been tailed by unknown men and incurred other forms of grave intimidation; I typically only send out updates every two months, but I hope you will agree that these alarming circumstances require this plea for your urgent solidarity!

As many know, I am working as an accompanier to the Association for Justice & Reconciliation (AJR), a coalition of Maya survivors volunteering to be witnesses in the national genocide case. It is hoped that by placing international observers in the communities where AJR members live, the threat posed to them is reduced – namely because if anything happens to them, our friends, family and allies (this is you!) will rise up in outrage and demand justice of the Guatemalan authorities.

Please pardon the slight delay in relaying this information; I wanted to hear directly from the aforementioned legal team, the Center for Legal Action in Human Rights (CALDH), before writing you all.

On Feb. 2, Otto Navarro, a CALDH lawyer, found the tire of his car slashed. Later that day, Josè Roberto Morales, CALDH’s indigenous rights coordinator, was kidnapped by two armed men in a carjacking in front of his house. They released him in another neigborhood, telling him that if he activated the vehicle’s alarm they would return to his home and murder him. His vehicle was later found with all of his belongings (including a laptop computer) seemingly untouched.

Between Feb. 3-5, the offices of three other human rights organizations were broken into: their files were searched, and computers and film equipment were stolen. On Feb. 5, as members of these groups waited for the authorities to arrive, a red Toyota Corolla drove by and filmed the group.

Also on Feb. 5, a note was left on the windshield of CALDH lawyer Angèlica Gonzàlez, saying:

According to CALDH, these threats spring directly from their pursuit of the genocide case. The most important figure that the AJR and CALDH seek to charge with genocide, Efraìn Rìos Montt (who ruled over the killing of some 70,000 predominately Maya people during the 1980s), announced on Jan. 17 his plan for this year’s elections:

The threats to CALDH and Rìos Montt’s political ambitions are hardly a casual
coincidence.

On Feb. 7 – as had been planned before the intriguingly-timed threats and kidnapping- CALDH & the AJR presented a formal complaint to the courts, voicing their discontent with the Attorney General’s unwillingness to advance the genocide case past the investigative stage, where it has stalled since its original filing in 2001. CALDH & the AJR also requested that the judge proceed with collecting Ríos Montt’s initial statement in order to formally accuse him of genocide against the Maya Ixil people.

If the judge does not act, Rìos Montt may quite feasibly become the head of Congress in November, dramatically complicating any attempts to hold him accountable for his horrific crimes.

One of the most potent weapons we, individuals who believe in justice and universal human dignity, possess is the ability to exert pressure on the authorities to confront Guatemala’s recent, yet unpunished genocide.

As the AJR, the indigenous survivors of the genocide, and the CALDH legal team,
their allies in struggle, are literally placing their lives on the line to demand justice, I would ask that you please devote a single minute of your time (or less) to send an e-mail via NISGUA to the Guatemalan authorities urging them to advance the genocide case.

Or, better yet, challenge yourself and those you love to craft a creative act of resistance to Guatemalan authorities’ refusal to address the state-led campaign which killed upwards of 200,000 people largely during my (and perhaps your) lifetime¦send them a drawing, a poem, a photograph – however you feel most able to express whatever repugnance or pain or fury their inaction and indifference might generate within you.

Mailing addresses for the authorities, as well as more information about the kidnapping, threats and genocide case, can be found here at NISGUA.

Background

See our post tracking the development of the above mentioned urgent action.

We've just received this news about the decision by Concepción Tutuapa, San Marcos, to deny the granting of a license for exploration with a view to developing a mine for metals in the area:

The Comité Medio Ambiente of the municipality of Concepción Tutuapa, San Marcos, put together the following press release:

Here is the second half of Elias Lawless's interview with Antonio Caba of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation for WireTap Magazine. For an intro and call to action see the original article [part one and part two].

WireTap: Who is the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), and what are its objectives in fighting?

Antonio Caba:
Well, we who became the Association for Justice and Reconciliation,
after all that, had no idea how to struggle or continue on. But we knew
what we would become. There was no one on our side, but after a little
while we came to know how to organize, how to fight.

Then came the exhumation in Ilom (Antonio's village), then came CALDH
(Center for Legal Action in Human Rights). I think it was 1998 or 1999.
We met there and they asked me questions such as what the massacre was
like, how the army arrived. I told them all about the situation that
happened here in the community.

Later, we arrived at an agreement
among various communities: Baja Verapaz, Alta Verapaz, Chimaltenango,
Quiche, Huehuetenango, the Ixcan region. So it was from there that we
came to know one another: other people from places where the same
situation occurred. There we decided to found what became the AJR, that
it was necessary to form a coalition that would be called the
Association for Justice and Reconciliation, that we as survivors must
demand justice for all the deaths we had seen. “We have to demand justice so that there may be justice,” we said.

Well,
that was an interest of ours, that the high military commands be tried
for their crimes of genocide against the Maya peoples. As far as those
of us in the Ixil region, we are the Ixil Maya — people that were
affected, were massacred, had our rights violated. For all those
reasons the AJR was sprouted.

WT: What is Efrain Rios Montt's significance in this struggle?

AC:
Rios Montt, as we have always mentioned, is a sickness for us. He is a
disease that is very infectious for Guatemala because he has committed
those grave errors, those tremendous crimes against the Maya peoples.
And not only Rios Montt but also his high military command as well as Lucas Garcia
(Guatemalan dictator from 1978-1982) and his high military command –
they are the ones who committed these offenses of genocide, so Rios
Montt is an illness here in Guatemala on account of being a genocidio, a murderer, a criminal.

And
we have discussed with many companions that if it were us, the Maya,
who were guilty of genocide what would they, the authorities, do?
Rapidly they would place us in prison, if we were the guilty ones. But
since Rios Montt has money — he has funds and he also has his power
and they help him — he intimidates the authorities, or it could be
that he convinces them with money. For that reason we have seen that
there exists much backwardness in the pursuit of justice here in
Guatemala.

Because Rios Montt, living as a criminal, he walks
around freely! And he should be already imprisoned. He should not still
be on the loose. He should not still be appearing on television,
appearing in the media and saying this or that. Rios Montt should
already be in prison for the crimes he has committed, like those
against the children in the Santa Delfina plantation,
no? He was the government at that time, so he should have dispatched
doctors for the children that died. So, what happened? It didn't bother
him that children died. It did not matter to him.

Rios Montt
delights in the impunity, and it is not only Rios Montt who is the
wound for Guatemala, but also the authorities that presently do not act
to judge this genocidio. Therefore, Rios Montt is the wound and also the authorities are the wound because they do not enforce the law.

WT:
Can you discuss Rios Montt's plan, and accordingly the strategy of the
Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG), regarding compensation payments to
former Self Defense Civil Patrollers (ex-PAC)?

AC:
Rios Montt is always very crafty in his form, and he has always tried
to conquer the people. Because if you remember the past, of what has
been called Black Thursday,
Rios Montt displayed his style of being on Black Thursday when he
forcibly inscribed [as presidential candidate]. He revealed his nature
on this day because all of his supporters wore masks, wielded sticks
and carried guns violently. But who planned it? Rios Montt planned it!
It was in this form that he also planned the massacres in the
communities.

The Guatemalan authorities should act and not allow
him to participate in elections. Not as a candidate for president, nor
Congress, nor anything. Rios Montt has demonstrated his style before
Guatemala and before the entire world. Rios Montt is a genocidio.

Rios Montt has always found support in the Quiche department. Do you know why people vote for him? They know he is a genocidio and that if he does not win perhaps 1982 might return again. So, for fear, the people vote to not re-experience the past.

The
ex-PAC payments were planned by Rios Montt in order to not lose his
power. First, a general began to convince people to attend protests
under Portillo, but it was all already planned out. Portillo approved.
We saw that it was not to lose his power, his party. Why do I say that?
Because only his supporters received the payment. And those former
patrollers affiliated with another party? They gave them nothing.

It
is better to send more money to reparations for victims because there
are people who lost their houses, lost their family members. Clearly
former patrollers have a right because they were obligated to patrol.
Well, since we know the military has grand quantities of money
allocated from the government, this is what we should reduce and use to
pay former patrollers. Because it was the military that forced them
into patrols. And money received from other countries should not be
given to ex-PACs but as reparations for victims.

Because what
function, what benefit does the military bring? What the military
brings us is poverty. The world knows that Guatemala is poor, but why?
The military has brought the poverty. The weapons have brought the
poverty. And who are the richest? The military, the generals. And the
guerrilla? I have never heard of a guerrilla fighter who is also a
millionaire.

WT: What should the international community do to support the struggle of the AJR and survivors in general?

AC:
What they should do, or what we have always requested, and what I have
asked for as AJR's president is that they pressure Guatemalan
authorities to take these genocidios to a tribunal. And if
they, these authorities, do not want to do it, do not attempt to do it,
nor even wish to try these criminals, then what I would ask is that it
would be good to extradite Rios Montt so that he may be judged in another country.

That
is one thing, but also if there is no justice in Guatemala, then it
would be good that Guatemalan authorities be tried as well. Because to
me it would be proper that they be judged first — before the genocidios — because they are guilty, the Guatemalan authorities, of why these genocidios have not been tried, why they are not imprisoned.

And why do I tell you that? Because the authorities, we entrust them. For that reason they are there, to try these genocidios,
to judge those who commit crimes. And another thing, we pay taxes, and
these authorities are who we fund, so they must comply with their
obligations, no?