Hello Friends, Family & Allies,

So, this is my final dispatch; my days of accompanying genocide case witnesses in two Guatemalan highland villages have come to an end.

As I prepare to return home after nearly 11 months here, yesterday’s cover story in the nation’s largest newspaper reiterates once again that my
solidarity work with the AJR is far from finished, however:  Immunity for Rios Montt: Congressional Candidacy Makes even more Difficult the Judicial Process against him.

The most murderous dictator in our hemisphere’s recent history has almost positively secured four more years of impunity for overseeing the army-led killing of some 70,000 Mayans. The courts have okayed his candidacy forSeptember’s elections, thereby granting him immunity from prosecution (as hiswealth, fame and evangelical connections render him a shoo-in).

“TELL THEM HOW POOR WE ARE & WHAT WE’VE SUFFERED”

Repeatedly in saying goodbyes, Mayan friends and colleagues have either pled or demanded that I relay what I’ve lived and witnessed firsthand back to those in my homeland: the fabled Norte, the land of plenty, the veritable empire that overthrew their democracy in 1954 and propped up genocidal military dictatorships throughout the 1980s.

“Tell them how poor we are. Let them know what we’ve suffered. Share our stories with them.” All a formidable challenge when most people in the U.S. still don’t know that Guatemala endured a recent genocide and its perpetrators remain free and powerful (not to mention the unspeakably horrific role that otherwise occupied U.S. citizens allowed our government to play here).

FREE DRINKS FOR A GRINGO CEROTE

Earlier this month in Nebaj, my partner Josué and I went to a restaurant/bar for tea before retiring to bed. A somewhat inebriated Ixil man zipped by, cursing us under his breath: “gringos cerotes.” I called him out, not particularly happy that he had called us “big gringo zeroes” for seemingly no reason, and told him to repeat it. The room grew silent, all eyes fixed on us, and the tension soared. Immediately, another man slung his arm around my shoulder, apologizing for hisfriend and ordering us drinks on his tab, effectively defusing the potentiallyvolatile moment. The man who insulted us, I soon learned, had recently resignedas governor of the Quiche province where I work and is gunning for Congress withthe FRG party, which is led by none other than Rios Montt.

Later that night, I contemplated how horribly wrong that evening might have turned out and tried to envision the converse of the situation, with a Guatemalan in a U.S. restaurant/bar being insulted. Then I considered an article I had recently read. A few weeks ago, a Republican county official in Utah submitted a resolution labelling immigrants “Satan’s minions” that hate the U.S.

This was not a bar, it was an official document and, while extreme, folks in the U.S. routinely use vocabulary that insults the human dignity of immigrants and ignores the very real factors that transform these individuals from Guatemalans to immigrants in the first place (many of which are, in fact, undeniably rooted in U.S. policy).

RONALD REAGAN & THE U.S. ARMY ARE ILLEGALS

Take, for example, the term “illegals.” Unsanctioned immigration is the only crime in the U.S. which saddles its violators with the identity of an “illegal.” No one calls Enron executives, habitually drunk drivers, tax evaders, or Fundamentalist Mormon polygamists “illegals.” Meanwhile, the U.S. knowingly funded and trained Guatemalan military dictatorships which were carrying out genocide against the Maya in the 1980s:

* In terms of training, between 1947 and 1991, at least 1,598 members of the Guatemalan Army were trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) and 13 Guatemalan Army officials served there as instructors. Following the 1996 Peace Accords, which largely ended the state-led massacring of Mayacommunities, a U.N.-led truth commission singled out the role of the SOA, reporting that its counter-insurgency instruction "had a significant bearing on human rights violations during the armed conflict."
* Of the three ex-dictators sought in the genocide case, SOA graduates comprised four of eight military officials in the cabinet of Romeo Lucas Garcia, six out of nine under Efrain Rios Montt and five out of 10 under Oscar Mejia Victores. General Benedicto Lucas Garcia, who designed the Scorched Earth campaign that led the army to burn at least 440 Mayan villages to the ground and is also sought in the genocide case, was trained by the SOA in high military command.
* Regarding the Ixil region, where I have lived since July, two declassified CIA documents from February 1982 state that General Lucas Garcia "acknowledged that because most Indians in the area support the guerrillas it probably will be necessary to destroy a number of villages" and that "the army can be expected to give no quarter to combatants and non-combatants alike." One month later, 96 people from Ilom were mass-executed in the plaza beside our current room.
* That summer, the Reagan administration declared that Guatemala was "not a gross violator of human rights." In December 1982 - the same month the U.N. passed a resolution condemning the human rights situation in Guatemala - Reagan met with Rios Montt and told The New York Times he was "inclined to believe" that the coup-launching SOA graduate "had been given a bad rap." A few weeks later, the U.S. State Department granted Rios Montt another $6 million in military assistance.

POVERTY: A SOMETIMES BLOODLESS VIOLENCE

Based on months of conversations with ex-immigrants here, the explanation for their dangerous journey through Mexico and across a treacherous desert, sacrificing years away from their family and loved ones, in a place where people act racist and hateful toward them and ignore their humanity, can be summed up as this: poverty.

At times I wonder if every time someone in Guatemala suffered a hunger pang a droplet of blood were to seep out their navel, would we non-hungry Earth dwellers (that fortunate one-third of the same species) ultimately recognize poverty as violence? Would the crimson stain marking the stomach of every shirt they own (all two or three of them, often enough) flag them as casualties of an invisible, ongoing war?

Is our callousness in denying these individuals a way to feed their families – by funding army-led massacres with our taxes, championing “free trade” policies that increase their poverty, or constructing a wall to keep them from doing work that sustains both our nation’s and their family’s well being – a de facto extension of genocide?

While countless U.S. citizens may pontificate from air conditioned offices about how Guatemalans need to learn to work harder to emerge from their poverty, I can attest that folks in Ilom do extremely physical work virtually everyday from sun-up to sun-down and the problem is not their deficient industriousness, its about who holds the resources, how they got them and how they kept them.

Following the massacre of 1982, the neighboring plantation La Perla, which voluntarily housed the army during the genocide, stole massive amounts of Ilom’s land. They recently sold much of it to transnational companies who are plundering what they can from it – creating a profitable dam, leveling forests, looking for oil, while their shotgun-wielding guards keep them safe from locals.

Everyone in Ilom had to start from nothing when the army burned down their village, only that afterward they had even less land to work (and, accordingly, food to eat and sell).

Massive immigration is a consequence of the violence of poverty – a poverty the U.S. has brutally exacerbated by funding a genocide and pushing free trade. Neither the Democrats and Republicans understand this; both appear intent on stripping immigrants of their labor rights in order to create a permanent underclass via their worker programs.

I’LL BE HOME TOMORROW

I arrive in Austin tomorrow night and will be there until June 16th when my partner Rebeca and I will embark on a tour to California. We will be giving presentations along the road about the anti-genocide struggle in Guatemala. If you have any friends/contacts in Corpus Christi, TX; Wichita, KS; Lawrence, KS; Kansas City, MO; Denver, CO; Boulder, CO; Albuquerque, NM or San Diego, CA that would be interested, please let me know and I’ll pass them details about the presentation.

While in Austin, I’ll be preparing for the tour up until its launch. If anyone has access to a copy machine, please let me know as I would be forever grateful. (I hope to make a bunch of informative zines - homemade publications - from interviews with AJR members, other stories, photographs, and journal entries to distribute along the tour.)

Thank you for all your support this last year, and I look forward to seeing many of you face-to-face soon!

Jordan

P.S. To receive updates related to Guatemala’s human rights struggles, sign up here: http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/nisgua

At noon on Monday May 7, 2007, Project Counselling Service (PCS) was attacked in Guatemala City.  What at first appeared to be a common crime – the robbery of a vehicle and cash on 3rd Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Street in Zone 3 – has other characteristics that do not fit the usual operational pattern of these kinds of crimes.

The truck that was stolen had Mission International license plates (a 2003 Toyota Hilux, plate # MI93BBG), an extremely unusual target for common criminals.  Further, the two heavily armed men detained the PCS staff member in the truck and assaulted him, physically, verbally and sexually.

We are particularly concerned about the sexual assault, as an attack against the physical integrity of our colleague.  It also appears to be intended to send a message to intimidate PCS, particularly significant since the assault occurred during an International Seminar on sexual violence being carried out by PCS, Sharing Collective Memory: Psychosocial Accompaniment and Integral Justice for Women Victims of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict.  It is of great concern that the assault may have political content related to our work and that of our Guatemalan counterparts, who have also recently suffered numerous robberies and assaults.

PCS is an international organization dedicated to challenging impunity and seeking justice for human rights violations perpetrated during conflict and post-conflict periods in Latin America, including Guatemala.  PCS has emphasized the need to make visible the issue of sexual violence in these contexts.

At the same time, PCS is an active participant in the International NGO Forum (FONGI), and is a member of its Board of Directors.  We note that this attack has occurred as part of a wave of attacks against other member organizations of FONGI.  PCS is the fourth member to be attacked in the last month, in three separate incidents.

PCS urges the Guatemalan authorities to immediately undertake an effective investigation to identify the attackers and reveal their true motivation for this serious aggression, including the sexual assault.

We also urgently request the support of the international community.  Please urge the Guatemalan authorities to take immediate, responsible and serious action on this incident, as well as the ongoing series of attacks and intimidation against national and international human rights defenders, to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

PCS requests your urgent intervention before such aggressions, urging the authorities to guarantee the safety of human rights defenders working in Guatemala, sending letters to:
 

Presidente de la Republica de Guatemala
Lic. Oscar Berger Perdomo
E-mail: oberger@presidencia.gob.gt  varroyave@presidencia.gob.gt mgarcia@presidencia.gob.gt
Fax: 502-22383579

Vicepresidente de Guatemala
Lic. Eduardo Stein
Fax: 502-22383579

Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Guatemala
Sr. Gert Rosenthal Koenigsberger
Fax: 502-24100000

Ministra de Gobernacion de Guatemala
Sra. Adela de Torrtebiarte
E-mail: gobernacion@mingob.gob.gt

Fiscal General, Jefe del Ministerio Publico de Guatemala
Lic. Juan Luis Florido ­
E-mail: fiscalgeneral@mp.lex.gob.gt
Fax: 502-22512218

Procurador de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala
Dr. Sergio Fernando Morales Alvarado
E-mail: opdhg@intelnet.net.gt
Fax: 502-77755475

Juez de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos – CIDH
Dr. Diego Garci­a
E-mail: corteidh@corteidh.or.cr diego@cajpe.org.pe
Fax: 506-2340584

Director Ejecutivo del Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos – IIDH
Dr. Roberto Cuellar
E-mail: instituto@iidh.ed.cr
Fax: 506-2340955

and copying them to: Diana Avila, PCS Executive Director: diana [at] pcsperu.org

and Samantha Sams, Central America and Mexico Program Coordinator: pcscoordinacion [at] itelgua.gt

Organizaciones internacionales felicitamos resolución favorable de la Corte de Constitucionalidad de Guatemala e instamos a la pronta ratificación de iniciativa para combatir la impunidad.

Organizaciones no gubernamentales de Estados Unidos, Europa y Canadá acogemos con esperanza la opinión consultiva favorable a la iniciativa para el establecimiento de la Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (CICIG) pronunciado el día de ayer por la Corte de Constitucionalidad de Guatemala.
 
“La decisión de ayer abre una valiosa oportunidad para que el país, con el respaldo de la comunidad internacional, retome el camino hacia la democracia, la vigencia del Estado de Derecho, y la protección de los derechos humanos”, dijeron las organizaciones firmantes.
 
Tanto dentro, como fuera de Guatemala, la existencia y el impacto de los cuerpos ilegales y aparatos clandestinos de seguridad son hechos evidentes. En los últimos años, estos grupos han extendido su presencia atacando e intimidando a operadores de justicia, líderes políticos, y defensores de derechos humanos, entre otros. Las actividades de estos grupos han logrado socavar el sistema judicial y perpetuar un clima de inseguridad, generando terreno fértil para la mayor generalización de la corrupción, la violencia y el crimen organizado.

El principal reto para la democracia en Guatemala continúa siendo la consolidación del Estado de Derecho, el cual no podrá fortalecerse mientras persistan deficiencias en el Sistema de Administración de Justicia y se permita a los cuerpos ilegales y aparatos clandestinos de seguridad actuar impunemente.

La CICIG ofrece un mecanismo concreto, puntual e inmediato para fortalecer las instituciones estatales y asistir al Gobierno de Guatemala en su toma de control de un fenómeno que ha impactado a todos los sectores de la sociedad. Romper con la cultura de impunidad y prevenir ataques contra defensores de los derechos humanos y representantes de la sociedad civil son tareas que ya no pueden esperar más.

El futuro de la CICIG queda ahora en manos del Congreso de la República, que puede dar un importante e histórico paso, al aprobar el acuerdo. “La situación actual ha puesto en evidencia que el rescate de la institucionalidad, el efectivo combate de la impunidad, y la consolidación del Estado de Derecho son tareas urgentes e indispensables para la construcción de la democracia en Guatemala y para el efectivo respeto del derecho a la vida”, expresaron las organizaciones.

Esperamos que el Congreso actúe prontamente en pos de los más urgentes intereses nacionales, y decida a favor de la oportunidad que brinda la CICIG para afrontar con firmeza el legado de violencia e impunidad de los cuerpos ilegales y aparatos clandestinos de seguridad.

Organizaciones firmantes:

Oficina en Washington para Asuntos Latinoamericanos (WOLA)
Plataforma Holandesa
Diakonia – Suecia
Human Rights First
Iniciativa de Copenhague para Centroamérica y México (CIFCA)
Earth Rights International
Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA)
Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC)
Foro de ONG Internacionales (FONGI – coalición de 32 organizaciones de Estados Unidos, Europa y Canadá)
Franciscan Mission Service
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
Our Savior's Lutheran Church
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)

James Rodriguez has just posted a really interesting photo essay of the recent events and demonstrations against mining activities in Guatemala. In James' words:

We've just received the following press release in Spanish from the Comité de Desarrollo Campesino Comité de Desarrollo Campesino (10ª. Calle prolongación 5-39 zona 2, Mazatenango, Such. Guatemala - codeca [at] gmx.net).

Conference 'Central America: Challenged transition?'
14th & 15th June 2007

Organised by:
The Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London in association with
the University of Glasgow and Chatham House

Supported by:
The Society for Latin American Studies

Venue:
IALS, University of London, 17 Russell Square London WC1B 5DR

Introduction
2007 is a year of historic milestones for Central America, with the fifteenth anniversary of the signing of peace accords in El Salvador coinciding with a decade of transition in Guatemala.

Although the media spotlight has been off the region in recent years, its countries remain important sites of comparative interest. In particular, the negotiated peace processes of Guatemala and El Salvador created an historic precedent for democratic transition from violent civil conflict. The success of the regional democratic project has, however, come under scrutiny in recent years. Present-day indices of violent crime and homicide are amongst the highest in the world, and repressive criminal justice strategies have gone some way towards reversing the demilitarisation of the immediate post-war period.

National economies are meanwhile increasingly dependent on migrants, with around 17% of El Salvador's GNP presently coming from remesas.  The 'importation and exportation' of gang violence to and from the US has also brought a new and explosive dimension to the question of migration.  The challenges of regional integration in such a context are considerable, and yet initiatives in free trade areas and the free circulation of the region's goods and people may have lessons for other integration initiatives.

This conference will explore the major challenges facing the region's governments and citizens today.  It will identify and analyse how processes of transition shaped the region's political, social and landscape, asking to what extent historic cleavages have been addressed by the peace and transition processes and what lessons other regions might draw from Central America's recent experience.

More information about the programme and online registration

In conversation with Guillermo Chen, Director of Fundación Nueva Esperanza (Foundation New Hope). [Translated by Jorge Sanchez-Chiara]

Guillermo Chen: Fundación Nueva Esperanza initially developed with the objective of supporting young Maya Achí people and their families that were the victims of the armed conflict. We work with young people from the age of 12. The reason why the logo depicts a young man and woman is because we see gender equality as a fundamental part of our work. The logo also reflects the opportunities and hope given by Rio Negro, represented by the two green strips. The previous generation in the community was decimated by the Chixoy dam, and there's hope represented by the seed. This represents the bilingual and intercultural education provided for all young people in Rabinal.

GSN: What work is most commonly available in Rabinal?

Guillermo Chen: Sources of labour in Rabinal are all about the nature of survival. Many in Rabinal are rural labourers. Work is often informal, with many only finding paid labour for two or three days a week, earning on average 25 quetzals per day (approx £2).

Often families are surviving on 75 quetzales a week. There are other sources such as crafts and the production of woven mats and hats from palm. In Rabinal many crafts use the morro fruit. It's used to create all sorts of everyday objects such as cups, little basins or guacales to wash with and shakers or chinchines. It's also typical in Rabinal to work harvesting local produce such as hibiscus tea.

This leads me onto the huge problem of Rabinal's large migrating labour force. Many sources of labour do not generate much income, so many young people and adults are obliged to migrate as seasonal workers to the big cotton, coffee and banana plantations. Other look for work in huge factories dotted around the country. Here the pay is still low. It doesn't really allow workers to even pay for much needed medicines or medical treatment.

GSN: Where do people have to go to sell their produce?

Guillermo Chen: People from our communities are forced to walk many hours, sometimes two hours every day, and in extreme cases (in the most remote settlements in Rio Negro) for as long as seven hours to reach cities where they can sell their produce. Often buyers are able to negotiate low prices from labourers who depend on a quick sale to survive. This means that the huge effort to achieve a yield for these labourers is rarely reflected in the price they can sell their produce at.

GSN: What do you do to help people with their nutritional intake?

Guillermo Chen: The basic foodstuff of the Maya people living in Guatemala has been maize for centuries. It's used to make our staple food tortillas that we eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even though maize is not particularly rich in vitamins, it has allowed us to survive all the hard work, against all odds, and to have hope in the future.

Fundación Nueva Esperanza provides people with information on basic nutrition, explaining the benefits of various foods and the vitamins and minerals that they contain, focusing especially on vegetables.  

We also have talks about the use of food staples and preparation of meals, and the importance of eating fruits that should be part of the basic diet of young people in Rabinal.

Fundación Nueva Esperanza seeks comprehensive solutions for local issues such as community access to food and work. Fundación Nueva Esperanza created its own intercultural and bilingual education centre that looks at spiritual issues and community work. Our aim is to provide culturally pertinent education that, instead of equipping local youth just as receivers of knowledge, equips them for life with their families and in their communities.

Studying seated in the round is a traditional way of transmiting knowledge in Maya Achi culture. Its significance lies in the fact that does not make anyone feel superior or inferior, an approach to learning that students can then replicate in their communities. Students break conventional forms of schooling based on individualism, which, far from encouraging students to support one another, reinforce each student's isolation or sense of hierarchy by placing them in rows.

GSN: How do you teach Maya Achi culture?

Guillermo Chen: We explain the Maya calendar to the students. We also explore other important concepts in Maya Achi culture such as nahuales, which have a great influence on the students lives. They also help to explain the way we all act according to the Maya universe. This is one reason why Fundación Nueva Esperanza has made the teaching of Maya spirituality a formal part of the curriculum. Young students learn the key points of the cosmovision of Maya thought, they learn about the relationship of the human being with his/her environment: as human beings we must hold nature in the utmost respect. Nature is key in Maya thought, as the relationship with it is a way of keeping a balance between positive and negative energies.

GSN: What is a nahual? Is it a spirit?

Guillermo Chen: The nahual is a way of finding out your date of birth and the fact that part of nature goes with you all your life. The nahual is an animal that protects each person from negative energies, orientating everyone and indicating the state of your character in a wider social context.

In Fundación Nueva Esperanza's curriculum there is also space for celebration. Students take part in exchange trips, especially with other young people from bilingual and intercultural education centres in and beyond Guatemala. It is not only Guatemala that has indigenous people, there are many other people across the world who have a similar cultural identity.

GSN: What about practical work?

Guillermo Chen: Fundación Nueva Esperanza is trying, as much as possible, not to depend on funds provided by international organisations. All too often those funds come to an end as donors change their priorities. As an organisation we have decided to start running projects with young people that in small ways help to generate income in their own right. For example, we're working on planting vegetables and cultivating hibiscus tea (rosa de jamaica). We're also implementing other projects, including raising cattle which allows us to sell milk to the community in Rabinal. In the future, we are thinking about planting fruit trees, which in Guatemala is typical, and other projects that grow produce that fall within our strategic plan.

GSN: How did Fundación Nueva Esperanza come to own this land?

Guillermo Chen: The land that Fundación Nueva Esperanza has come to own has a very special history behind it. It was purchased from twelve families from the Rio Negro community, who lived next to the Chixoy dam until it displaced them and many other inhabitants of Rio Negro. The construction of the dam in the 1980's dates back to the time of the massacres that occurred during the civil war. After a long struggle, some of the people who were displaced by the dam's construction received land in compensation by the state. The families sold the land to Fundación Nueva Esperanza knowing it would be used to build an education centre for the community. Now their children and grandchildren benefit from this resource. Unfortunately the land is muddy and is not incredibly fertile, so we have to work very hard to enrich it with organic fertiliser to make it productive.  

GSN: It's very interesting to look at how rapidly Fundación Nueva Esperanza has grown...

Guillermo Chen: Fundación Nueva Esperanza started in 2003 with 30 students, and now after four years we have grown to 55 students. This represents a very strong rate of growth. This is due, in no small way, to the fact that we offer scholarships. But even more important is the fact that the community of Rabinal really believe passionately in this project. There's a strong bond of trust that grown between the families and Fundación Nueva Esperanza. Our initiatives have demonstrated very positive tangible changes to the families.

GSN: Could you talk about your approach to gender equality?

Guillermo Chen: Women in the whole of Latin America have had to face a prevailing 'macho' culture that starts from the assumption that women should look after their families, cook and devote their lives to bringing children into the world. In Fundación Nueva Esperanza we have a differente view. We have a gender equality programme with parents, teachers and students in order to maximise the girls' educational prospects.

It is a key policy of ours to encourage access to scholarships for girls. For example, if we promote 40 scholarships, we ensure an equal number go to girls and boys. This is a very practical way of tackling the exclusion of women from education in Guatemala. We believe that exclusion in education can lead to other problems, such as early marriage of girls aged as young as 13 or 14. This phenomenon is not a matter of Maya tradition, as it is all too often understood. It is actually the result of poverty of many large Maya families. The sooner girls in the family are married, the less strain is placed on often stretched family resources.

For Fundación Nueva Esperanza working with parents is essential. Mothers in particular tell us that they do not want their daughters to go through the same difficulties they suffered. Guatemalan mothers are very proactive in supporting their daughters to access education. They often know firsthand the suffering that's involved in being an illiterate mother. Typically life is full working hard in the fields, and also having to cook and look after their families. Once you speak to parents, it's clear they're more and more reluctant to allow their daughters to work without an education.

GSN: What vision does Fundación Nueva Esperanza have for the future?

Guillermo Chen: Our vision is ambitious. We are currently working with children from secondary school level (12-15 years old). However, we aim to extend our education service provision service in Rabinal. We are planning, probably this year or next, to teach health professionals which would allow young people to graduate with a professional qualification at the age of 18. But our vision goes further.  

We are also exploring the possibility of establishing a Maya Achí University, which would be able to offer an education grounded in Maya Achi principles for  young people from the age of 12 until graduation. We are thinking of undergraduate courses in subjects such as maya spirituality, natural, traditional and modern medicine. Our plan is to open the university by 2010. This is our hope but we believe it really is realistic. We have put a lot of work in developing our educational resources and there is an awful lot of support in the local community to bring this about.

---

If you would like to support Fundación Nueva Esperanza either by donating money or your own time contact GSN via gsn_mail [at] yahoo.com

Background

You can find out more information about Fundación Nueva Esperanza from their website
We also blogged about Guillermo Chen's visit to the UK back in December 2006 here
You can find more information and articles about Rabinal here...

This snippet is from El Periodico confirming the news that Efrain Rios Montt has officially registered as an congressional candidate in the coming elections- and as such again enjoys immunity from prosecution.

Human trafficking continues to be an issue in Guatemala, the most frequent manifestation of which being the enticing of young girls into enforced prostitution…

On Friday, 20th of April 2007 Casa Alianza Guatemala in coordination with the National Police, Migration and Public Prosecution Offices raided a brothel disguised as a massage parlour suspected of housing minors for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation in Guatemala City. Two 17-year-old girls were rescued from the premises as a result of this joint raid operation and both were immediately referred to a judge who entrusted them to Casa Alianza for shelter and protection.

The parlour was licensed to operate as a bar and to offer massages but it was evident from the outset that it functioned as a full-scale brothel. The two-storey premises housed roughly thirty girls at any one time and boasted three bedrooms on the upper floor were paid sexual activity apparently took place. The property lacked basic sanitation, there was no running water and bed sheets were stained with blood.  

Those in charge were taken by surprise and several arrests were carried out, including a few individuals who were performing what they claimed to be “traditional Mayan rituals” on the roof of the building and who tried to flee the scene by jumping to adjacent houses.  

Twenty-five girls were found on site during this raid, including three foreign nationals, namely a Nicaraguan, Mexican and a Honduran girl, who faced immediate deportation, as they were not in possession of valid Guatemalan work permits. The case of the Mexican girl was particularly shocking as she was married to a Guatemalan national and had a nine months-old daughter with this man who married her only in order to obtain Mexican citizenship, according to the girl.

She stated she had been trafficked from Mexico at the age of fifteen at which stage she started working at a brothel in Guatemala City were she met her now husband, the son of the brothel’s owner. Despite being the real victim here, she was deported back to Mexico and guardianship of the baby was granted to her husband, who by all means knew about his wife’s prostitution and benefited from her earnings making it a typical case of pandering.     

The Migration and Prosecution Officers failed to properly execute their duties in this raid – by not ensuring that each girl had a legitimate id card proving that they were adults. Several girls appeared to be minors and in possession of fake identity cards but the agents, instead of extending the presumption of being underage privileges to these particularly young-looking girls and ensuring the validity of the documents presented, decided to take the girl’s id documents at face value in a clear violation of Guatemalan youth protection laws.
 In Guatemala, adult prostitution is not illegal therefore just moments after the agents left the premises, the music was put back on and business resumed as usual.

On Tuesday 24th of April 2007, In another joint raid operation, a seventeen years-old Guatemalan girl was rescued from a different brothel belonging to the same human trafficking network. She came from a small village and was lured into the Capital city and forced into prostitution in order to pay for debts she supposedly contracted vis-à-vis her traffickers.

Casa Alianza together with other leading Guatemalan NGO’s is constantly lobbying legislators for important changes to the Penal Code. Under the current Penal Code, those guilty of pimping and pandering offences get away with their crimes by simply paying an insignificant fine, which is low even for Guatemalan standards.

In the three years the Guatemalan Congress has failed to pass any legislation that benefit and protect Guatemalan youth. One example of which is the Adoption Act, which has not yet been approved, despite more than 10 years of continued civil society denouncing irregular adoptions presenting characteristics of human trafficking.

Casa Alianza is a non-governmental organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of children’s rights in the region.

For more information on the work of Casa Alianza please visit www.casa-alianza.org.uk

We got sent a copy of this letter from Human Rights First. The story was quoted in the Washington Post:

Further Information on UA 49/07 (AMR 34/012/2007, 1 March 2007) Fear for safety

GUATEMALA Leonardo Ramírez (m), President of the New San José las Lágrimas Association (Asociación Nueva San José las Lágrimas) and member of the Committee of Peasant Unity (Comité de Unidad Campesina – CUC)
Other members of the New San José las Lágrimas Association

New name: Abelardo Roldan (m), CUC Regional Coordinator

Armed men attempted to abduct CUC Regional Coordinator Abelardo Roldan from a meeting with government representatives on 18 April, in the San José las Lágrimas community, Chiquimula Department. Amnesty International believes his life is in danger.

The meeting, where San José las Lágrimas community representatives discussed the allocation of land to the community with government representatives and the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office as well as the CUC, had nearly finished when five armed men allegedly burst in at around 4pm. The men asked, "Where is Abelardo Roldan? We have a score to settle with him." (Donde está Abelardo Roldan, el dirigente del CUC, para arreglar cuentas con él?) The government representatives asked the men to leave, as they hadn't been invited to the meeting. The men allegedly responded that "You may well be in charge of things, but we don't care, because we're not answerable to you, and we make our own law with guns (Muy autoridad pueden ser, pero nos importa poco, porque somos particulares y hacemos nuestra propia ley, con las armas). Another 15 armed men were reportedly waiting outside the building. The abduction attempt was reportedly prevented only by the actions of community members and government representatives, who stopped the armed men from dragging Abelardo Roldan outside.

Abelardo Roldan was able to leave with the government representatives in their private plane. The vehicle in which the CUC commission had arrived was driven back by a representative of the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office. As this vehicle and two others left the farm, they passed two cars, in which there were more armed men.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The attempted abduction of Abelardo Roldan occurrs in the context of an on-going land dispute. The rural workers of the San José las Lágrimas community were threatened with eviction from the farmland where they live and work in February 2007, and are currently in negotiations with government authorities over the allocation of land to community members. The army are occupying another part of the farm, where there is allegedly a mass grave of people killed by the armed forces during the internal armed conflict (1960-1996).

Several Association members have been killed in the past five months. On 13 February, Vicente Ramírez López and four other members of the Association were attacked on the farm by four armed men, who shot Vicente Ramírez dead. The rural workers managed to catch two of the gunmen, who claimed the army had sent them, and handed them over to the police. The two men were later imprisoned, but there are unconfirmed reports that they were subsequently freed.

On 14 December 2006 Matías Hernández, a member of the Association's Executive Board, was shot dead as he worked in his field.

Apparent acts of intimidation against community members have also been reported. On 6 January 2007 three houses in the hamlet of El Chapulín, belonging to members of the New San José las Lágrimas Association, were burnt down. The houses, which are several hours' walk from the San José las Lágrimas farm, were empty at the time.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish, English or your own language:
- urging the authorities to take immediate steps to guarantee the safety of all of those involved in the negotiation process to settle the San José las Lágrimas land dispute;
- pressing the authorities to ensure the speedy resolution of the outstanding land dispute issues affecting the San José las Lágrimas community;
- urging the authorities to order an immediate and thorough investigation into the 18 April attempted abduction of Abelardo Roldan, the 13 February killing of Vicente Ramírez, the 14 December 2006 killing of Matías Hernández, and the reported threats to the life of Leonardo Ramírez (UA 49/07), and to bring those responsible to justice;
- reminding the authorities of their obligations to recognize the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders and their right to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

APPEALS TO:
Attorney General and Head of the Public Prosecutor's office
Lic. Juan Luis Florido
Fiscal General de la República y Jefe del Ministerio Público
Edificio Ministerio Público
15 Avenida 15-16, Zona 1, Barrio Gerona, 8vo. Nivel, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
Fax: +502 2411 9124

            +502 2411 9326

Salutation: Dear Attorney General/Estimado Sr. Fiscal General

Minister of Interior
Adela Camacho de Torrebiarte
Ministro de Gobernación
6a. Avenida 13-71, Zona 1,
Ciudad de Guatemala, GUATEMALA
Fax: +502 2413 8658
Salutation: Dear Minister/Estimada Sra. Ministra

COPIES TO:

Comité de Unidad Campesina

31 Avenida A 14-46, Zona 7, Ciudad de Plata 2

Ciudad de Guatemala, GUATEMALA

Fax: +502 2434 9500 (if a voice answers, say "tono de fax, por favor")

and to diplomatic representatives of Guatemala accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 12 June 2007.********