Exploring Volunteering

A brief article from Reuters yesterday (06-10-2006) reported that:

None of the daily newspapers in Guatemala have covered this story. There's an article on Austin IndyMedia that has more information on this latest initiative from AJR/CALDH.

Rios Montt can't stand for the Presidency says Constitutional Court – 11th October

In a new twist to this story, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court has just (11-10-2006) declared that a previous ruling allowing Rios Montt to stand for President was wrong.

Earlier last week, we received the following message from CALDH.

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA: JUSTICIA POR GENOCIDIO

La Asociación para la Justicia y Reconciliación (AJR), con la asesoría legal del Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH), presentó ayer al Ministerio Público la solicitud de la primera declaración del general Efraín Ríos Montt, quien es sindicado del delito de genocidio, y le solicitó darle trámite ante el Organismo Judicial con base en las pruebas que posee.

La sindicación que pesa sobre José Efraín Ríos Montt se fundamenta en sus actuaciones como Jefe de la Junta Militar de Gobierno, Ministro de Defensa, Presidente de la República y Jefe del Estado Mayor del Ejército en el periodo del 23 de marzo de 1982 al 8 de agosto de 1983, cuando planificó y ordenó a sus subordinados la ejecución de un gran número de masacres en contra del pueblo maya, documentadas por la Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico.

Los actos perpetrados por el Ejército bajo el mando del general Ríos Montt constituyen delito de genocidio porque causaron lesiones físicas y mentales, desplazamiento forzado y la matanza de diferentes miembros del pueblo maya, con la intención de destruirlos total o parcialmente.

Miles de guatemaltecas y guatemaltecos, cientos de comunidades mayas, fueron víctimas del horror y el terror sembrado por el general genocida. Por ello, para que nunca más se repita esa historia de dolor que la impunidad en que aún se encuentra uno de sus causantes todavía la hace pervivir, oler y doler en el cuerpo y la mente de sus víctimas, la AJR ha presentado la solicitud apuntada, confiando, como lo hace su asesor legal, CALDH, en que el Ministerio Público tendrá la sabiduría y el valor de acceder y facilitar el avance del proceso que estamos iniciando, en aras de que la justicia nacional y el Estado de derecho sean una realidad.

Y presentamos esta solicitud en el día B’elejeb’ Tz’i’ (Día de la Justicia) del calendario ceremonial maya, en homenaje a aquellas miles de víctimas del genocidio.

Guatemala, 5 de octubre de 2006

Asociación para la Justicia y Reconciliación (AJR)
Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH)

The recent brush with justice for all those in the military accused of playing their part in Guatemala's genocide, has smoked out their supporters out from under their rocks (not that they needed much smoking out!).

Jorge Palmieri in El Periodico is one who, practically on a daily basis, has dribbled the kind of bile you associate with the Guatemala of the past. Whether it's defending Lucas Garcia for saving Guatemala from communism or recommending that you read the accounts of Generals such as Hector Alejandro Gramajo for a balanced picture of the civil war, Palmieri has hardly paused to breathe.

Today (03-07-06) Jose Ruben Zamora (Editor-in-Chief of El Periodico) has published what has to be a great 'put up, or shut up' riposte to those weasel worded supporters of the military and the use of violence, before the rule of law (in Spanish):

Ultimately, those defending human rights abuses in the past, should wake up to the logical conclusion of past violence: a continuing litany of further violence. And with virtually no legal recourse to stop it- apologists like Palmieri and his like are saving no-one.

The following is just a selection of the threats, intimidations and abuses against those standing up for their rights in Guatemala in the last three months (SOURCE: ACOGUATE):

20.03.2006   
Intento de asesinato a Claudia Jeannette Rivas Rosil, Secretaria Departamental de Jutiapa del Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Educación de Guatemala (STEG).

26.03.2006   
Allanamiento de la oficina del Comité Campesino del Altiplano (CCDA) en San Lucas Tolimán, Sololá.

27.03.2006   
Allanamiento de la oficina de la Fundación para el Desarrollo Comunitario (FUNDESCO) y de la Asociación Unidad de Desarrollo Integral La Novena (UDINOV).

02.04.2006   
Asesinato de Meregilda Suchite, integrante del Observatorio de DDHH de Caldh y de la Red de Mujeres, Olopa, Chiquimula.

05.04.2006   
Asesinato de Antonio Ixbalán Cali, Presidente de la Asociación de Agricultores de Santiago Atitlán, y su esposa, Maria Petzey Coo, ambos miembros de la Coordinadora Nacional Indígena y Campesina (CONIC).

06.04.2006   
Allanamiento de la sede de CUSG en Guatemala Ciudad.

20.04.2006   
El levantamiento campesino de este día provocó fuertes reacciones de la Policia Nacional Civil y las fuerzas armadas, dejando un saldo de varias/os heridas/os y detenidas/os en los departamentos de Esquintla, Quetzaltenango y Alta Verapaz.

22.04.2006   
Allanamiento de la oficina de Coordinadora de Organizaciones Campesinas e Indígenas de Petén (COCIP). La oficina de COCIP ya fue allanada el 04.03.2006.

7.04.2006   
Disparos en contra de las/os integrantes del Movimiento Campesino en Resistencia Pro Justicia Finca Nueva Linda y amenazas directas en contra de sus líderes por miembros de la seguridad privada de la Finca Nueva Linda.

07.05.2006   
Allanamiento de la oficina de la Coordinadora Nacional Indígena y Campesina (CONIC) en la Capital de Guatemala.

11.05.2006 12.05.2006
Amenazas telefónicas al Movimiento Nacional de Derechos Humanos, Ciudad de Guatemala.

14.05.2006   
Disparos en contra de las/os integrantes del Movimiento Campesino en Resistencia Pro Justicia Finca Nueva Linda por miembros de la seguridad privada de la Finca Nueva Linda.

20.05.2006   
Asesinato de Sandra Teresa Coc Xol, de 14 años, en la comunidad Plan Grande Tatín, Livingston, Izabal. Sus padres Carlos Coc y Celia Xol laboran en la asociación Ak´ Tenamit, donde trabajan en defensa de los derechos de las comunidades q’eqchies de esa área. El hecho de que los objetos de valor que portaba fueron encontrados a la par de ella sugiere descartar el robo como motivo de este crimen.

24.05.2006   
Secuestro de Óscar Humberto Duarte Paíz, miembro de la junta directiva de la Asociación Integral de Desarrollo Comunitario de Ciudad Quetzal (ASIDECQ).

28.05.2006   
Allanamiento a la sede del Sector de Mujeres en la Ciudad de Guatemala.

29.05.2006   
Allanamiento a las instalaciones que anteriormente ocupaba FUNDESCO. Este nuevo allanamiento se produjo dos días después de que FUNDESCO ha cambiado su sede.

30.05.2006   
Asesinato de Víctor Regino, miembro de la URNG, en la comunidad Santa Maria Cotzumalguapa, Escuintla.

30.05.2006   
Asesinato de Rosa Dolores Rodríguez, maestra del colegio fundado por Florentín Gudiel (asesinado el 20.12.2004) y simpatizante de la URNG en Santa Maria Cotzumalguapa, Escuintla.

05.06.2006   
Allanamiento de la sede de la Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas en Chimaltenango.

05.06.2006   
Nuevo allanamiento de la oficina del Sector de Mujeres en la Ciudad de Guatemala.

05.06.2006   
Miembros de la seguridad privada de la Finca Nueva Linda se presentaron en la aldea Santa Rosa, Municipio de Champerico, preguntando por dos de los líderes del Movimiento Campesino en Resistencia Pro Justicia Finca Nueva Linda. Este hecho fue interpretado por ellos como una nueva amenaza hacia el Movimiento.

Is there room for any more irony in Guatemalan justice? As the Guatemalan military performs its latest escape from legal scrutiny, the country celebrates Army Day. Santiago Pedraz (left), Spanish judge in Guatemala to hear testimony from military leaders accused of genocide (amongst others) is on his way home. The news made a tiny article in Prensa Libre (30-06-2006).

So why has this latest attempt to challenge Guatemalan impunity failed?

The Guatemalan Constitutional Court upheld Rios Montt's last minute legal delaying tactic. No great legal principle has been decided- but it was enough to block progress for the time being (at least until after 4th July when Pedraz was scheduled to leave Guatemala).

You can follow the story in more detail in Spanish in ACOGUATE's brilliant blog they started a few weeks ago.

But why the suspension of the process to interview those accused of genocide?

According to Alejandro Maldonado Aguirre, President of the Constitutional Court:

The reason Rios Montt doesn't have to defend his genocidal actions before a court of law:  the Guatemalan Supreme Court didn't send the Constitutional Court all the necessary papers…

Happy Army Day Rios Montt! (ironical)

José Luis Quilo Ayuso, AVEMILGUA chief, went on public record as saying (threatening) that there would be “tragic consequences” if any of the military had to go to court with the Spanish judge. These threats were denounced by Rigoberta Menchu and Edda Gaviola of CALDH.

UPDATE: Amnesty International have issued an urgent action about the fear for the safety of the human rights defenders affected by AVEMILGUA's threat.

CAIG, the organisation that coordinates international accompaniment in Guatemala has just published (May 2006) a report on issues in human rights that make up the heart of its current work. The report focuses on two cases in particular, on the Plan de Sanchez massacre and the genocide case presented in Spain by Nobel laureate, Rigoberta Menchu.

The report underlines the current concern that in a climate where threats and intimidation against human rights defenders are on the increase in Guatemala, impunity for those responsible for human rights abuses now and in the past continues.

However, the report also looks to the future, and in particular points to two opportunities for Guatemala and especially its government, to demonstrate its will to begin to reddress the imbalance. First, is by implementing the international ruling granting compensation to the victims of the Plan de Sanchez massacre. And second, is by cooperating with the Spanish investigation into Rigoberta Menchu's case of genocide, terrorism and torture in Guatemala in the 1980's.

The report is summarised in Spanish below:

You can see the full report in Spanish here. This report is currently being translated into English. As soon as it's published we will post it here.

UPDATE: Here is the English introduction to the report provided by NISGUA:

Coordination of International Accompaniment in Guatemala Observation Report, May 2006

Accompanying Human Rights Defenders in the Struggle Against Impunity in Guatemala

The Coordination of International Accompaniment in Guatemala (CAIG) is a collaboration between ten accompaniment groups from nine countries:

- Acompañamiento de Austria (ADA), Austria;
- Cadena para un Retorno Acompañado (CAREA e.V.), Germany;
- Collectif Guatemala, France;
- Guatemala Solidarity Network (GSN), Great Britain;
- Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network (BtS), Canada;
- Mellemamerika Komiteen (MAK), Denmark;
- Movimiento Sueco por la Reconciliació n (Swefor), Sweden;
- Peace Watch Switzerland (PWS), Switzerland;
- Projet Accompagnement Québec-Guatemala (PAQG), Canada;
- Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), USA.

Our mission is to improve the human rights situation in Guatemala by providing a dissuasive, international presence and impartial observation to at-risk human rights defenders.

Since 2000, over 275 of our volunteers have accompanied human rights defenders working to end impunity in Guatemala. In recent years, we have observed that while the Guatemalan government has publicly accepted responsibility for the human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict, and thus improved its image in the eyes of the international community, the level of impunity in Guatemala nonetheless remains alarmingly high.

This impunity is not only the result of institutional inefficiency in the judicial system, but is perpetuated by systematic attacks on individuals fighting to end impunity by presenting testimony, providing legal aid and/or carrying out other forms of support to witnesses in legal cases. Furthermore, Guatemala's official response to these attacks has been insufficient: of the 260 attacks reported by anti-impunity activists between 1997 and 2005, the Guatemalan authorities have failed to identify or prosecute any of the perpetrators.

CAIG has observed that advances made to end impunity in Guatemala have been a result of the courage and determination of those struggling against impunity and not a result of local authorities upholding the Rule of Law. This is significant given that the majority of such activists are farmers from isolated and impoverished indigenous communities with little or no access to State institutions such as the judicial system.

In this context, two new opportunities exist for the Guatemalan government to demonstrate its political will to end impunity:

1. To comply with the reparation sentence passed down by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to the survivors of the massacre in Plan de Sanchez, Rabinal, Baja Verapaz. This case was first presented to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission in 1996 and was later included in the cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity presented by the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR).

2. To collaborate with the Spanish Commission as it investigates, according to Universal Jurisdiction, charges of genocide, terrorism and torture originally presented by Rigoberta Menchu Tum before the Spanish Judicial System in 1999. The Spanish Commission will be visiting Guatemala between June and July 2006.

Given the political and moral importance of these legal cases, and considering the longstanding history of impunity in Guatemala, CAIG is greatly concerned for the safety of individuals and groups involved in the struggle for justice in Guatemala. We are particularly concerned for the safety of individuals testifying before the Spanish Investigative Commission in June and July.

As CAIG, we reaffirm our commitment to provide international accompaniment to human rights defenders in the struggle against impunity in Guatemala and will continue to report on their situation throughout the coming months.

You can now hear Rosemary Burnett's interview that was broadcast on
Radio Scotland a few weeks ago as part of the 'A Journey' series.
Rosemary talks about her experiences as an accompanier in Guatemala
supporting human rights defenders.

GSN member Rosemary Burnett, talks her about
her work as an international accompanier in Guatemala on Radio
Scotland.
She describes how she got involved, the plight of the witnesses to the
genocide in Guatemala in the 1980s and everyday life volunteering in
ACOGUATE, the Guatemala Accompaniment Programme. Rosemary has written
about her experiences in a book Disent angling the Knots, you can get
a copy from here.

GSN member Rosemary Burnett, talks her about her work as an international accompanier in Guatemala on Radio Scotland.
She describes how she got involved, the plight of the witnesses to the
genocide in Guatemala in the 1980s and everyday life volunteering in
ACOGUATE, the Guatemala Accompaniment Programme. Rosemary has written
about her experiences in a book Disentangling the Knots, you can get a copy from here.

You can listen to Rosemary's interview on Radio Scotland here.  Unfortunately the BBC takes most of its programmes offline after seven days.

In early February, over 300 survivors of the 1982 Plan de Sánchez
massacre in Rabinal finally began receiving the first of three
reparations payments from the Guatemalan government as ordered by an
Inter-American Court of Human Rights sentence in 2004.  The
community had accepted a proposal from the state to make the three
payments of approximately $8,000 each in February 2006, December 2006
and December 2007. While the original sentence mandates that the total
amount of approximately $25,000 per beneficiary be paid in December
2005, the government proposed otherwise.
 
The survivors’
receipts of these payments are definitely a victory for a community
that has struggled for justice over the course of 20-plus years, but
this process MUST not be considered complete now that the first payment
has been made.  The sentence also requires the government to
provide the community with health care, mental health services,
multicultural education, water systems, roads and a dignified housing.
It also requires that the intellectual and material authors be
investigated, tried and convicted.  This last point provides
further impetus for bringing to trial the genocide cases against former
dictators Lucas Garcia and Rios Montt, which have been stuck in the
investigative phase within the Guatemalan Attorney General’s office
(Ministerio Público) for more than five years, due in large part to a
lack of political will to see the cases move forward.  NISGUA has
been providing human rights accompaniment to the witnesses of these
cases throughout Guatemala since the charges were first filed in 2000
and 2001.  For more information about accompaniment work or how to
become an accompanier, visit Guatemala Solidarity Network in the UK or www.nisgua.org in the U.S. 
 
NISGUA
is committed to ongoing monitoring of this historic process in Plan de
Sánchez and will continue to keep you updated on the situation. Please
read the below testimony from one of our accompaniers on the ground in
Guatemala, Ellen Moore, who has witnessed first-hand the deceit and
manipulation surrounding the government’s payments.

  
Eye Witness: Ellen Moore

A fierce mountain sun beats down on Gloria and me as we make our way
up the hill to the Plan de Sánchez chapel.  I look over to the 78
year-old woman and see that she is equally swept up in the excitement
and anticipation of the day.  Gloria is on her way to the public
ceremony to commemorate the first of three payments to be issued to
survivors of the Plan de Sánchez massacre by the Guatemalan State as
mandated by an Inter-American Court sentence.  The government has
brought in clowns, jugglers and at least 40 members of its staff for
the event.  We sit on the ground as other members of the Plan de
Sánchez community join us and wait for the ceremony to begin. Frank La
Rue, the director of COPREDEH (the Presidential Commission for Human
Rights) stands in front of the crowd, microphone in hand and begins to
speak. His voice echoes throughout the mountains, as he exclaims that
“this is a victorious day won by the truth.”
 
As he
continues his speech, the soft chatter of the crowd, which had been
constant up until this point, ceases so as to produce unusual silence.
The 300-plus beneficiaries of the Inter-American Court case have
gathered at the chapel in Plan de Sánchez, the site of the massacre
that occurred there twenty-four years ago. As the former director of
CALDH (the Center for Legal Action on Human Rights), the legal
organisation responsible for bringing the Plan de Sánchez case before
the Inter-American system, La Rue played a key role in the birth of the
Plan de Sánchez case before leaving his position to work for the
Guatemalan government. Despite this change in affiliation, community
members know and continue to respect La Rue. He claims that he has been
with the community from the start, and now he has come to finish the
job. Today La Rue stands before the survivors and tells them what they
have been waiting to hear. This is their victory. Today they will
receive the first fruit of their fourteen year battle. 
Unfortunately, the words that La Rue proceeds to voice reflect a
strategy of deception and manipulation that has consistently
characterized the work of COPREDEH regarding the Government of
Guatemala’s compliance with the Inter-American Court sentence.
 
I
scribble notes throughout La Rue’s speech. The final
victory¦transaction has been completed¦must sign today to get out money
tomorrow¦he has been with them for years¦must have trust. It becomes
disturbingly clear that Frank La Rue has an agenda. First, he reminds
the community of his previous affiliation with CALDH and his continued,
personal commitment to their struggle. He then launches into an attack
of the very organisation that he just finished exalting, discretely but
openly criticising CALDH’s commitment to the case and to the community.
 
Next
Frank La Rue reveals the driving political force behind the completion
of the first payment. He makes sure to mention at least three times
that the Berger administration was not responsible for the horror that
occurred on July 18, 1982, but it should be given credit for the
completion of the first payment to the survivors.  He assures the
beneficiaries that the deposits have been completed and that the money
has been distributed to the individual accounts.  La Rue concludes
by stating that the final step is for the beneficiaries to sign the
paperwork that will allow them to withdraw their money the following
day.     
 
Because COPREDEH only
notified CALDH of the ceremony less than 24 hours in advance, and in
order to make a public statement about the illegitimacy of the event,
the legal organisation chose not to attend. Instead, two CALDH
representatives went to the bank with a number of beneficiaries to see
for themselves if what Frank La Rue and the director of the bank said
was true. What they encountered were completely empty accounts and a
growing list of lies. CALDH and the beneficiaries returned to Plan de
Sánchez to relay the bad news. I watch as looks of confusion and panic
sweep across the community member’s faces, as they realize that they
have been deceived.
 
After a community member states that
he is not going to sign paperwork if the money is not in the bank, the
man is pulled into the chapel to face Frank La Rue. “What do you mean
the money is not there?!” La Rue yells at the community member. La Rue
then tells the man that if he does not complete the paperwork today, he
will lose his money. The community leader does not believe him. La Rue
tries another, softer tactic, explaining that folks must sign in order
for the money to be deposited in their accounts, a direct contradiction
to what he had stated less than an hour before. This pitch works, and
La Rue convinces the community member that he has no alternative but to
sign.  The man later tells me that he felt bad questioning the
word of La Rue and did not want to offend him by not complying. The
same reluctance but eventual resignation is evident throughout the
crowd, as one by one, the members of the Plan de Sánchez community
sign. The survivors know that their money is not there and that they
have been lied to, but with more than forty COPREDEH representatives
swarming, they feel as though they have no choice. Community members
succumb to the pressure and sign paperwork acknowledging receipt of
payment when their bank accounts are, in fact, empty.

The following afternoon, I visit Gloria at her home. She brings me a
steaming cup of coffee and sits down heavily on the bench. I ask her if
she is feeling alright and she says no. Gloria had gotten up early that
morning to make the hour trip in the back of a large cargo truck down
the mountain to the bank in Rabinal. She waited in line for another
hour to check her account balance. Gloria was informed by the bank
attendant that her account was empty. Nobody explained why the money
had not
arrived or when it would be coming. With COPREDEH long gone
and no other alternatives, Gloria returned home feeling worried,
confused and helpless. By the time I arrived, she had a headache and
had thrown up the small amount of tortilla that she had been able to
eat for lunch.
 
After days of travel and worry, the money
promised by COPREDEH finally began to arrive. It is not enough,
however, to complete payments if the people involved are not treated
with respect and if the recognition for the wrongs committed is not
sincere.  COPREDEH believed that it could lie to people, not just
on February 2nd, but throughout the process. Because those involved are
poor indigenous people, COPREDEH decided it could cut corners and do
away with legal formalities.  It is doubtful that such laxity
would be acceptable in dealing with other high-profile ladino cases
based out of Guatemala City.  Would Helen Mack, for example, have
been asked to sign paperwork indicating receipt of payment before she
ever saw a cent of government reparations?
 
Frank La Rue,
a supposed ally of the community, did not take the time to have his
speech translated into Achi, even though he knows that Spanish is not
the first language of the majority of the beneficiaries. Likewise, La
Rue seemed to think it too time consuming to make sure that each
beneficiary had read or had read to them the document they were to
sign.  Witnessing such blatant disrespect, one feels that not much
has changed since the time of the conflict, as government lies are once
again undermining trust and organisation within the community.
 
The
fulfilment of portions of the Inter-American Court sentence in Plan de
Sánchez is a painful reminder of the work that remains to be done in
the search for justice throughout Guatemala.  While the survivors
of one massacre have won an important victory, there are hundreds of
communities that are still fighting for recognition and even hundreds
more for which exhumations remain to be done.  Therefore, it is
vitally important that Plan de Sánchez serve as an example of what can
be accomplished, as well as a reminder of the struggles that
remain.  The first payment has shown that, for the government,
paying people is easy. What is not easy, and what the government has
yet to comply with in the Plan de Sánchez sentence, is justice for the
victims of genocide.  
 
It is easily forgotten
or conveniently overlooked that the sentence dictates numerous other
essential steps that the government must complete, including providing
the community with health care, mental health services, multicultural
education, water systems, roads and dignified housing.  The ruling
also mandates that the intellectual and material authors of the Plan de
Sánchez massacre be investigated, tried, and convicted, which would be
concrete steps towards real justice.
 
Instead of
investing resources in the above measures, the State of Guatemala is
hoping that the beneficiaries of the Plan de Sánchez case will take
their money and fade into the background.  It hopes that the
survivors will forget that Rios Montt and Lucas Garcia continue to walk
free, unpunished for the crimes they committed.  Fortunately, the
beneficiaries of Plan de Sánchez have not forgotten.  Just
yesterday the community gathered once again at the chapel. The
community members did something that COPREDEH has not done – they cast
blame and named names. Monetary reparations may pay back that which was
stolen during the war, but the community of Plan de Sánchez stands firm
in its belief that money does not equal justice.

Further Information

You can read a recent article (26-02-06) on the first compensation
payment to be made to victims in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz that appeared in
Prensa Libre. More…

CERIGUA (Centro de Reportes Informativos de Guatemala) also has a
section dedicated to news on compensation and reparations which is
regularly updated. More…

If you are interested in volunteering as an international accompanier, we have more information on volunteering and links to different accompaniment programmes.

UPDATE: Ellen Moore has done an interview with her local paper in the US, the Daily Citizen WISC News.
“It blew my mind, in the beginning, that people felt safer because I
was there. To me, that was ridiculous,” Moore said in April, while at
home in Juneau.

“I'm a dissuasive presence,” she said, referring to supporters of
former Guatemalen dictators Rios Montt and Lucas Garcia who still
threaten survivors of massacres investigated by the Inter-American
Court on Human Rights.