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

Fear for safety / Death threats

GUATEMALA Edgar Herber Hernández Figueroa (m)
Mónica Victoria Teleguario Xitay (f)
Paula Barrios (f),
David Dávila (m),
Oswaldo Samayoa (m), of the Guatemalan Institute for Comparative Studies in Criminal Sciences (Instituto de Estudios Comparados en CienciasPenales de Guatemala, ICCPG)

Five members of staff of the ICCPG have been harassed and received death threats in recent weeks in an apparent attempt to dissuade them from investigating cases of killings and rapes allegedly committed by police officers. Amnesty International fears that their lives may be at risk.

On 25 April Mónica Teleguario Xitay, an ICCPG lawyer was intercepted by unknown assailants in a black jeep. The assailants drove their car close to her car, hitting it mildly in a threatening and hostile manner and then overtook her. A short time later, the jeep stopped in front of her and another car appeared behind, also stopping and effectively trapping her. Four armed men wearing balaclavas and one holding a baseball bat got out of the pick-up truck and forced her to get out of her car. One of the men told her that they knew about the work being done by the ICCPG and wanted to know where she had been. Monica Teleguario Xitay had been travelling back from interviewing an alleged victim of police violence but gave the masked men different information. The men became angry saying that they already knew where she had just been. They then told her that “this was the last warning”“esta fue laúltima advertencia”.

On the afternoon of April 12, Edgar Herber Hernandez Figueroa, an ICCPG researcher was leaving the ICCPG when an unknown man put a gun to his head and forced him into a blue car where another two armed men were inside. Inside the car the armed men questioned him about the ICCPG. Initially he denied working for the ICCPG but on being threatened admitted to working there. One of the armed men then said “tell those sons of bitches [at the ICCPG] that we know how they are organized and how many people they have. If they continue getting involved in things where they have no business, we are going to start cutting heads off.

We are tired of giving warnings.” “decile a esos hijos de la gran puta, que sabemos como están estructurado y cuantas cabezas tiene. Si se siguen metiendo en cosas donde no los han llamado vamos a comenzar a cortar cabezas. Ya estamos cansados de estar advirtiendo.” The researcher was let go one hour later after having money stolen by the armed men.

On 20 March a Paula Barrios, an ICCPG researcher on women in prison and gender violence, returned from work to find her home raided. Although nothing was missing, one of her children’s teddy bears had its mouth covered with masking tape. Her home is approximately two blocks from the national headquarters of the police. On 14 March ICCPG researchers David Dávila and Oswaldo Samayoa where followed by a green car while carrying out errands in the centre of Guatemala City in preparation to take testimony the following day from an alleged victim of police violence. The following day they left at 3:30 am to interview the alleged victim and over the next two and half hours were stopped five times by uniformed police who checked their ID.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The ICCPG is an academic and human rights organization which conducts research into criminal policy, judicial reform, prison conditions, gender violence and conflict resolution. One area of their current work is to research cases of alleged human rights violations committed by public security forces and prison guards (arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, torture, extra-judicial executions, etc.) and to providing legal support to victims and their families.

The ICCPG is currently assisting in the legal proceedings against officers accused of raping Juana Méndez in 2005, and in a number of cases of possible extra-judicial executions that are currently being heard in national courts and at the Inter-American Commission.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language:
- Expressing concern at the recent threats and attacks against Edgar HerberVladimir Hernández Figueroa, Mónica Victoria Teleguario Xitay, Paula Barrios, David Dávila and Oswaldo Samayoa and their colleagues;
- Calling for prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into these incidents and for those responsible to be brought to justice;
- Urging the Guatemalan authorities to take immediate and effective measures to guarantee the safety of these human rights defenders, according to their wishes;
- Reminding the Guatemalan authorities that human rights defenders have the right 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;
- Calling on the Guatemalan government to develop a national plan of action to implement the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders to ensure they are able to carry out their legitimate work without fear of reprisals.


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


COPIES TO:
Institute of Comparative Studies in Criminal Sciences of Guatemala ICCPG
5a. calle 1-49, Zona 1, Ciudad de Guatemala
Fax: +502 2230 1841
+502 2232 5121
+502 2220 2736

AND to diplomatic representatives of Guatemala accredited to your country.


PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

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.********