Post by Jordan Buckley

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Friends, Family and Allies,

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.

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?

Guatemala, 25 de Enero del 2007

El Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosocial[1] – ECAP-denuncia que:

Iniciando el año, han continuado los incidentes de seguridad en contra de los trabajadores y trabajadoras de ECAP. En los meses de octubre y noviembre del año pasado denunciamos las intimidaciones y agresiones hacia ECAP por el trabajo psicosocial, que realiza la organización, en las exhumaciones y con los beneficiarios de las medidas de reparación de la sentencia de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos en la comunidad de Plan de Sánchez. Se denunciaron las persecuciones a dos personas de la organización, una amenaza escrita recibida en Rabinal y el ataque contra uno de los promotores en la región de Rabinal.

El miércoles 10 de enero 2007, se recibió en el correo institucional de ECAP un mensaje con nombre emisor "simón chimón; asoc_shimon@hotmail.com", que vincula el trabajo de nuestra organización en alianza con otras organizaciones locales de Rabinal, al trabajo del alcalde municipal del FRG. Al final del mensaje se dice: "Se cayó en la trampa del FRG, las amenazas que reciben ECAP vienen del FRG, el FRG sabe la lógica que tiene el ECAP, sabe como trabajan, como es una organización de psicolocos entoces buscan como asustarlos. Esto va a seguir durante este año. El FRG no se queda cayado con la gota de sangre que dejo Rio de Sangre en Rabinal, muy pronto se van a bengar. Asi que tenga muchos cuidados"

El lunes 23 de enero 2007, hacia las 8:30 h, una de las personas que labora en la institución, y que ya había sufrido una persecución con un vehículo en la capital, se encontraba en un autobús extraurbano de  Chimaltenango a la capital, cuando un hombre se sentó a su lado y le dijo "Usted es ……, entienda, no viajen. Yo se que van para Rabinal, entiendan, dejen de estar chingando a la mara!, que algo les puede pasar como se les dijo en la nota, esto va a seguir, hijos de la gran madre o quieren que les pase algo más". El hombre continuó insultando, hasta un momento en el que se cambió de asiento, y posteriormente se bajó en la parada de Sumpango.

El mismo día 23, alrededor de las 5 de la tarde, una de las compañeras que reside en Rabinal recibió varias llamadas de teléfono donde se le insultaba e intimidaba por el trabajo que se realiza en la región.

ECAP se muestra profundamente preocupado por todos estos incidentes de seguridad en su contra, fundamentalmente teniendo en cuenta que el Estado, a través de la COPREDEH y del Ministerio de Gobernación en reunión de 24 de noviembre 2006, en el marco de las medidas provisionales emitidas por la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos en el contexto de la ejecución de sentencia de reparaciones del caso Plan de Sánchez vs el Estado de Guatemala, se comprometió a poner las medidas de seguridad necesarias para proteger la integridad de las personas y de la organización, y a investigar sobre los hechos que habían sido denunciados hasta la fecha.

Esta situación vulnera el trabajo de atención psicosocial que realizamos con las víctimas y sobrevivientes de la violencia política.

Por todo ello, exigimos a las autoridades que investiguen, esclarezcan y sancionen este tipo de hechos intimidatorios tal como ha sido solicitado por ECAP y ordenado por la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos.

A nivel nacional e internacional solicitamos su apoyo para la denuncia, presión para la efectiva investigación de las autoridades correspondientes y el cese de los ataques; su solidaridad ante esta grave situación, que se suma a otros ataques a defensores de derechos humanos, que afecta derechos individuales y garantías fundamentales de ciudadanos y ciudadanas guatemaltecas.

ECAP
2da. Avenida 1-11, zona 3
Colonia Bran
Ciudad de Guatemala
Telefax: (502) 2332-1430 Tel. 2253-6071
E-mail: ecap [at] guate.net.gt y ecap [at] itelgua.com
www.ecapguatemala.org

[1]La organización Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosocial,
ECAP, es una organización no gubernamental guatemalteca que trabaja con sobrevivientes del Conflicto Armado Interno. Desarrolla proyectos de apoyo psicosocial de carácter multidisciplinario e integral, que propician la recuperación y restablecimiento de individuos, grupos sociales y comunidades de los daños psíquicos, sociales y culturales provocados por la violencia política en Guatemala.

Dentro de su quehacer institucional desarrolla acompañamiento psicosocial en procesos de exhumaciones y, entre otros, apoyo psicosocial con sobrevivientes de la masacre de la comunidad indígena de Plan de Sánchez, Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, en el marco de la sentencia de reparaciones de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos de 19 noviembre 2004. En esa ocasión, se presentó un peritaje sobre el daño a la integridad mental para la audiencia en Costa Rica en abril 2004, posteriormente a la sentencia, se ha venido desarrollando un trabajo con los beneficiarios de las medidas de reparación en las diferentes comunidades afectadas de esa región, y por último, ECAP forma parte de un Comité ordenado en las medidas de reparación del caso con el fin de dar un seguimiento a las mismas.