Bibliografía para guión del video: Conferencia impartida por Ing. Mario Sosa Castillo -- Semana de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación CONCYT, Guatemala 2008. Video by Cesar Hernandez M.

'El Pais' meanwhile published a piece by their Bogotá correspondent Maite Rico in which she asserted that the FARC operate freely in Ecuador and that not only was there evidence of FARC drug trafficking but of their enjoying official Ecuadorian support (similar charges have been made elsewhere in the international media about Venezuela) and that all of this was witnessed by one OAS functionary who, Rico affirmed, expressed dismay. This has now been rebutted in a letter by José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the OAS.

In this letter, Insulza says that such information - that a OAS functionary saw FARC guerrillas moving about freely and busily carrying out all sort of activities in the northern border of Ecuador with Colombia- was absolutely false, since the OAS does not have either special missions, nor functionaries of any kind, deployed in the north of Ecuador. Thus it is impossible that anybody in the OAS could have made such a statement. Insulza went on to say that they checked with OAS reps in Bogotá and Quito and nobody had spoken to Maite Rico.

"La señora Maite Rico escribe: "Los guerrilleros se mueven por el norte de Ecuador en camionetas, como ha constatado un funcionario de la Organización de Estados Americanos, que expresaba en privado el desconcierto que le provocó cruzarse en corredores del área fronteriza con miembros de las FARC perfectamente pertrechados".

Estoy en condiciones de asegurar a usted que tal afirmación es absolutamente falsa, ya que la OEA no tiene ni misiones especiales ni funcionarios de ningún nivel desplegados en la frontera norte de Ecuador, por lo que resulta imposible que algún funcionario de esta organización haya formulado tal declaración. Hemos consultado a los representantes de la organización en Quito y Bogotá y ninguno de ellos ha hecho declaraciones ni tenido contacto con la señora Rico.

En este contexto, es cuando menos sorprendente que un diario del prestigio del que usted dirige incurra en un error de esta categoría, que atenta contra la verdad, afecta el prestigio de un Gobierno y perjudica la gestión conciliadora de nuestra organización."

"Last week, I was in Guatemala—as an aside, I must tell the Minister that many non-governmental organisations there fear that DFID is turning its back on that country—where I was fascinated by a water project there. A local community managed to raise enough money to bring a 35 km pipeline into its village. Unfortunately, however, it was forced to bring the water through surrounding communities, many of whom were jealous that the pipeline was going through their communities but not serving them. The project took three years to be established because communities along the pipeline were simply smashing the pipe out of jealousy because they were angry that they had no access to the water it carried, while other communities did."

National Police Archive Contributes Evidence:  The Historical Archive of the former National Police has begun to shed light on human rights violations committed during the armed conflict and the structures that allowed them.

There is not a single document that contains an order for execution or forced disappearance in the Historical Archive of the National Police (PN) in Guatemala City.  The authors of the reports took good care not to be so specific, but left traces that, when scrupulously examined by experts at the Human Rights Ombudsman's office (PDH), could help to reveal the perpetrators of abuses committed during the period of repression in Guatemala.

To piece together hundreds of the as yet unresolved human rights violations committed by the Police from 1975 to 1985, it has taken a large dose of patience and many critical eyes.  The PDH investigators have had to scour each name and fact, as insignificant as they seem, in order to prove the counterinsurgency role played by the PN.  The evidence found implicates the recently deceased ex-director of the PN, German Chupina Barahona, and the fugitive ex-director of the Department of the Interior, Donaldo Alvarez.

One Hundred Sixty PDH investigators have been piecing together this puzzle, rescuing and analyzing the PN Archives over the last two years.  The accumulated data could serve as documentary proof in court cases of some of the 45,000 people forcibly disappeared; this is the primary objective of the PDH in investigating the Archives discovered by an Investigative Commission directed by historian Edilberto Cifuentes in July of 2005

Of the 80 million documents in the Archive, 5 million have been examined and digitized.  The examination of these documents has uncovered PN operations such as the chain of command, operative policies of repression, and methods used to aid the Army counterinsurgency plan.

Spies Everywhere

The most substantial documents are those sent by informers and those classified as "confidential."  According to the data found, the PN placed spies in factories, churches, universities, unions, and even public offices.  One of the most interesting reports discovered by the investigators was one sent daily by an informer in the Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology, and Hydrology (Insivumeh) whose only function was to closely monitor his co-workers.

"These documents demonstrate that the Police had infiltrated absolutely every sector.  Who would have imagined that they would even infiltrate Insivumeh?" says a surprised Gustavo Meoño, director of the Archive.  Informers reported to the PN on the conversations and relationships had, as well as books read by co-workers.  In fact, some informers' actual names are identified in the reports.

The reports considered relevant were: type-written in a standard format in which the person neither sending nor receiving was identified; sealed "confidential"; and always sent to the PN director.  On many of the rescued documents, Chupina Barahona's handwriting appears in the left margin directing, "To the 6th Command.  Investigate and Proceed."  Due to a prohibition on the reproduction of these reports, a sample document cannot be published here

The 6th Command

The feared 6th Command, directed by Pedro Garcia Arredondo, and the old Division of Criminal Investigation (DIC) were in charge of verifying the information contained in the reports and deciding what should be done with a "suspicious" person.  The work of the PDH investigators is precisely to verify what happened with these people.  In some cases, they have found documentation of the registration and admittance into prison of individuals.  They have also found reports of disappearances filed by family members.

The PN documentation ends here, but if the individual later appeared dead with signs of torture, it is not hard to deduce what the order "Investigate and Proceed" meant, even if no document explicitly states it.  Investigators have also found lists of people who were detained during searches, on special operations, or on routine raids; these apparently legal apprehensions result in forced disappearances since it is still unknown what happened to these people.

The archive has revealed information about various security strategies elaborated by the Guatemalan State between 1954 and 1985.  The PN, founded in September of 1881, did not take on a repressive role until the overthrow of the Arbenz government in 1954.  It reached its most brutal period from 1975-85 during the governments of Romeo Lucas García, Efraín Ríos Montt and Humberto Mejía Víctores.

Between 1954 and 1964, the strategy of the Guatemalan State was anti-communist, aimed at impeding communist political movements.  This policy sought to strike all sectors of society, generating terror in the citizenry.  The Police were designated to create black-lists and jail people denounced by anti-communist committees.

An order found among the documents solicited the location, arrest and "preventative detention" of a list of people to avert a possible protest during the 1955 visit of the then Vice-President of the United States, Richard Nixon

The Bodies

In the 1960s the number of dead bodies with signs of torture that appeared around Guatemala City was relatively low, and the cause of death listed in police reports was quite specific.  In the 1970s, however, things began to change; assassinations increased and the cause of death for hundreds of young people was now registered simply as "cardiac arrest".

After the rise of the guerrilla movement, the Guatemalan State assigned the PN a counterinsurgency role subordinate to the army command.  The police acted only in urban areas, creating webs of informants that allowed it to quash intellectual, trade-union, or political movements that could support the guerrilla insurgency, directly or indirectly.

The Internal Investigations Section of the DIC was in charge of processing the majority of intelligence gathered through informants.  Although the DIC changed names several times in its history, its basic structure remained the same.  In fact, according to documental evidence there was a strategy to keep key figures directing the repression in charge of the institution.

Various public faces were assigned to head the PN during the 20 years coinciding with the height of its repressive role.  "Each time that there was a scandal involving the institution these public faces were put on the chopping block as scapegoats while the people with real power within the institution remained hidden and unaffected," affirms Meoño.  These were not clandestine positions but figures within the official organizational makeup of the PN—yet they were always behind the scenes.  From 1975-85 the PN was composed of a General Director, a Sub-Director, an Inspector General, and six Operating Bodies, in addition to the Departmental Delegations.

Method of Investigation

In order to make the investigation of the Archive more efficient the PDH selected the units of the PN considered to have committed the worst excesses.  These units would also serve as a model to analyze the remaining PN units.  Likewise, based on the police units the PDH investigators divided into working groups to study the documents. The units of the PN included: General Direction, Internal Inspections, Segundo Cuerpo, Quetzaltenango Headquarters, Criminal Investigation Division, Identification Cabinet, and Committee of Joint Operations.

Clearly, the investigators placed special attention on the 6th Command, the operational arm of the Segundo Cuerpo, which generally received orders from the director of the PN.  The 6th Command operated during the government of Lucas Garcia and continued throughout that of Rios Montt, though operating under the new name of the 6th Cuerpo

Key Words

The PDH working groups are searching for key words among the documents such as disappearance, kidnapping, torture, cadaver XX or names of people whose family members have reported their disappearance or execution to the PDH.  They have already identified 30,000 key documents that have been scanned and systematized into a digital data base to be used as evidence in court.

The documents serve as valuable proof in establishing the chain of command and the degree of control the directors had over subordinate officers.  Nothing happened within the PN without the knowledge of superior authorities.  To keep the director informed, each PN unit filed frequent reports that were reviewed by Internal Inspections.  The General Inspector also assumed internal control of agents, imposing harsh punishments on those who did not follow the rules.  PDH investigators have found cases in which officers were put in 30-day confinement for speaking about personal matters on the patrol radio.

The Committee of Joint Operations, a task group composed of both police and army officials, generated operating plans.  This group also received a great deal of confidential correspondence from informers.  The army would ultimately take charge of and interrogate most of those detained by the police in order to extract information or to send them to military prisons.  This Committee illustrates the subordination of the PN to the military.

At this point, the PDH has only been able to analyze 6% of the documents contained in the Archive.  A statistical analysis that takes a random sample from all the documents has established that at least 15% contain evidence of human rights violations.  If this is true, as it seems, why hasn't the Archive ever been destroyed?  According to Alberto Fuentes, one of the heads of the project, the Archive was conserved because, "It is the proof of their (the Guatemalan State's) triumph." What they didn't know is that it could also be used as the evidence for their condemnation.

Gustavo Meoño, director of the PN Historical Archives, believes that the facts about how the structures operated in the past can help the CICIG (International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala) to investigate present operations of organized crime.

Gustavo Meoño evaluates the results of the recovery and investigation of the PN Historical Archive documents.

Q. Have your expectations with respect to the recuperation of the Archives been met?

A. We have reached the basic objectives of the first phase, keeping in mind that this was a huge deposit of deteriorating paperwork.  From an archivist point of view, we stopped the deterioration process. What's more, we've concluded the process of preservation, organization and description of close to six million documents.  At the same time, we have investigated the key years from 1975 to 1985.

Q. There are those that thought the Archives were going to be nothing but a compilation of historic documents, and would not be investigated for human rights violations.

A.  We cannot forget that the mission of the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office (PDH) is not just to save and preserve Archives; its objective, in this case, is to find documents that prove human rights violations.

Q.  Can you assert that you have found proof that could serve as evidence to take cases to trial?

A.  Definitely, yes.  But it's important to understand the reality of an administrative archive; we're not going to find a smoking gun.  The documents won't contain explicit orders to kidnap, torture, or assassinate...In administrative documentation, things appear expressed in a different way, but they appear

Q.  The Cicig is interested in understanding how organized crime operates today.  But to understand today, it is necessary to know how it operated in the past.  The information of the Archives could be very valuable to them.  Would you be willing to share the information with the Cicig?

A.  To me, this is one of the most important and urgent contributions that can be made by the PDH Archive project because the strategies, structures, operative policies, patterns of action, chains of command, and the flow of information do not differ much from what occurs today.

On March 2nd, Guatemalan banana union leader, Miguel Angel Ramirez of SITRABANSUR, was shot dead. SITRABANSUR, which is affiliated to Banana Links Guatemala partner union UNSITRAGUA, was founded by Miguel Ramirez and his fellow workers at the 'Olga Maria' plantation in the Pacific South of Guatemala in July 2007. Since then SITRABANSUR members have been harassed and threatened by private security hired by the company -Frutera Internacional Sociedad Anónima, supplier to Chiquita Brands- and 24 union members have been sacked. UNSITRAGUA has been working with SITRABANSUR to support these sacked workers and strengthen union organisation on the Olga Maria plantation.

The murder of Miguel Angel Ramirez is just one of the many recent cases of violence against banana union leaders in Guatemala. In September 2007 SITRABI union leader, Marco Tulio Ramirez Portelo was also shot dead and just four weeks ago the daughter of the General Secretary of SITRABANSUR was raped by armed men.

Pressure must be put on the Guatemalan government to ensure that the people responsible for these killings are brought to justice and the systematic violations of labour rights are put to a stop. As a result of a previous international campaign led by the IUF, EUROBAN and COLSIBA, the new Guatemalan president, Alvaro Colom, promised to take action so that the previous murder of SITRABI union leader Marco Tulio Ramirez is investigated by the authorities. Political pressure is needed to get EU governments to criticise the Guatemalan government for their lack of action on these violent and shocking cases of trade union repression and ensure that Alvaro Colom sticks to his commitments to end impunity and violence in Guatemala.

ACTION: Write to Sr Mario Mena, representative of Chiquita subsidiary COBIGUA, asking him - in the face of a rapidly deteriorating security situation and in the framework of the regional trade union rights agreement between Chiquita, COLSIBA and UITA/IUF - to transmit to the company's supplier that it is completely unacceptable for Chiquita brand bananas to be sourced from a plantation with such an appalling record of violence towards employees, who are simply exercising their constitutional right to from a trade union.

Sr. Mario Mena's email address is: mmena@chiquita.com

Please CC your email to info@bananalink.org.uk

Please contact Banana Link for more information and monitor the Banana Link website to support any further call of action from our Guatemalan trade union partners to end this violence against their fellow union leaders and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Email: info@bananalink.org.uk Website: Banana Link website

"Mixco tiene dentro de sus tradiciones la fabricacion del Chocolate. Para la elaboración de la bebida del chocolate, primero se corta la pocha que contiene las semillas de cacao, se extraen y se secan al sol, regadas éstas sobre un lienzo o sobre un pedazo de lámina de zinc.

Seguidamente, se tuestan en un comal de barro y cuando están bien doraditas se dejan enfriar, para luego triturarlas en una piedra de moler o metate. Finalmente se prepara el chocolate en un jarro o en una olla de barro."

Fear for safety of Guillermo Chen (m), Director of Fundación Nueva Esperanza, Río Negro (New Hope Foundation, Río Negro) and his wife and two children (boy and girl).

Guillermo Chen's house was shot at six times on the evening of 5 March. He is director of the non-governmental organization Fundación Nueva Esperanza, Río Negro/ (New Hope Foundation, Río Negro), which campaigns for justice for crimes committed during Guatemala's internal armed conflict (1960-1996). Amnesty International believes that Guillermo Chen's life, and the lives of his wife and children, may be at risk.

On 5 March at about 9pm, two people cycled past Guillermo Chen's house in the city of Rabinal, in Baja Verapaz department, central Guatemala, and shot six times at its gate. Guillermo Chen and his family were inside. Nobody was wounded.

New Hope Foundation is campaigning for justice for crimes committed during the internal armed conflict. In February 2008, Guillermo Chen appeared at least 15 times at a local radio station calling for Indigenous people to attend public legal hearings about the Río Negro massacre of 13 March 1982, in which armed civilians killed 177 Indigenous women and girls. Also in February, New Hope Foundation organized a delegation of survivors and witnesses of the Río Negro massacre to travel to Spain to give testimony in the case against Guatemala's former president José Efraín Ríos Montt and other former high-ranking officials, on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The defendants remain in Guatemala after Guatemala's Constitutional Court refused to extradite them.

On 17 January, in response to some of the arguments used by the Court, New Hope Foundation and other organizations filed a complaint against it for discrimination against Indigenous people. The complaint was dismissed a few days later.

Apart from working on human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict, New Hope Foundation supports the children and grandchildren of those killed with education programmes including in Indigenous languages and culture.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language:
- expressing concern for the safety of Guillermo Chen, his wife and their two children; - urging the authorities to take immediate measures to guarantee their safety in strict accordance with their wishes;
- calling for an immediate, thorough and swift investigation in to this incident, with the results made public and those responsible brought to justice;
- reminding the authorities of the right of human rights defenders to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

APPEALS TO:

Minister of the Interior_ Sr. Carlos Vinicio Gómez Ruiz Ministro de Gobernación 6ª Avenida 4-64, nivel 2, Zona 4 Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala Fax: +502 2413 8658
Salutation: Dear Minister/Estimado Sr. Ministro

Attorney General and Head of the Public Prosecutor's Office_ Lic. Juan Luis Florido Fiscal General de la República y Jefe del Ministerio Público 8ª Avenida 10-67, Antiguo Edificio del Banco de los Trabajadores, Zona 1 Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala Fax: +502 2411 9124 +502 2411 9326 Salutation: Dear Attorney General/Estimado Sr. Fiscal General

Presidential Secretary for Human Rights and Peace_ Sr. Orlando Blanco Secretario de la Presidencia para los Derechos Humanos y la Paz 7ª Avenida 3-54, Edificio SAE, Zona 1 Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala Fax: +502 2248 3020 +502 2248 3021
Salutation: Dear Secretary/Estimado Sr. Secretario

COPIES TO:

Fundación Nueva Esperanza, Río Negro c/o Fundación Rigoberta Menchú Tum Avenida Simeón Cañas 4-04, Zona 2 Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala Fax: +502 2221 3999 *Email:* *info@frmt.org* <mailto:info@frmt.org>

and to diplomatic representatives of Guatemala accredited to yourcountry.

*PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.*

Check with the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, or your section office, if sending appeals after 18 April 2008.

ATENTADO CONTRA DIRECTOR DE LA FUNDACIÓN NUEVA ESPERANZA RÍO NEGRO

La Fundación Rigoberta Menchú Tum hace denuncia pública sobre el atentado que el día de ayer 5 de marzo de 2008, alrededor de las 21 horas, personas desconocidas dispararon con arma de fuego contra la residencia del señor Guillermo Chen, Director de la Fundación Nueva Esperanza Río Negro. 6 disparos impactaron en el portón de dicha residencia. La Fundación que dirige el señor Chen, desarrolla acciones en favor de la justicia por el genocidio y delitos de lesa humanidad cometidos en contra de comunidades mayas y entre ellas las de la etnia achí.

Condenamos este lamentable suceso realizado por fuerzas obscuras en virtud que más que una intimidación es un grave atentado en contra de la vida y la integridad física del señor Chen. Asimismo, constituye una amenaza indirecta a todas aquellas personas del área de Rabinal que desarrollan distintas acciones en favor de la justicia por el genocidio y delitos de lesa humanidad que se cometió en contra de  sus comunidades.

No hay duda que el atentado perpetrado el día de ayer está relacionado con las acciones judiciales que actualmente se llevan a cabo tanto a nivel nacional como en la Audiencia Nacional de España. Cabe recordar que en febrero pasado un grupo de personas de las comunidades de Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, testificaron ante la Audiencia Nacional en Madrid, España, y que la Fundación Nueva Esperanza Río Negro, es parte en la denuncia formulada en contra de los magistrados de la Corte de Constitucionalidad por el delito de discriminación, consumado en su resolución del pasado 12 de diciembre de 2007 en la que de manera ilegal e impune declaró que España no puede ejercer jurisdicción para la investigación y persecución del genocidio y delitos de lesa humanidad cometidos en nuestro país.

Ante este hecho exigimos:

1.   Al gobierno de la República tomar las acciones legales urgentes para que este hecho se investigue y se de con los responsables.

2.   Al Ministerio Público inmediatamente abrir expediente de investigación a través de la Unidad de Delitos contra Defensores de Derechos Humanos.

3.   Que se implementen medidas de seguridad en todas las comunidades de Rabinal con el fin de garantizar la seguridad de todas aquellas personas involucradas de diferentes maneras en la lucha por la justicia por el genocidio y delitos de lesa humanidad.