By Jane Pelly de Jocolt (rightsactionuk [at] yahoo.co.uk)
Some of you may have seen the chilling documentary 'Killer's Paradise' Shown a couple of weeks ago on BBC 2 about the continuing rise in the murders of women in Guatemala . The facts are chilling; in 2005, 665 murders were registered by the National Police in Guatemala City and its sprawling satellite city Villa Nueva. This is just the tip of the iceberg; elsewhere in the country no one is counting despite the attempts of the Red de no Violencia, a network of grass roots women's organizations, to keep track of the numbers of murders recorded in the press.
Victims are typically women aged 16-30, from poor barrios. The documentary follows the cases of several women and doesn't spare us the details of the appalling torture and rape that many of them suffer: Claudia Madrid, aged 21, shot in the street, leaves a husband and two children; Claudina Valesquez, 19 year old law student, shot in the street; Stephanie Lopez, aged 13, tortured with multiple stab wounds; 20 year old Titina, a law student kidnapped and then brutally murdered... the list goes on.
THE SO-CALLED "PEACE ACCORDS"
These assassinations take place in a country accustomed to violence, Where impunity is the norm. In 1996 after 36 years of civil war it was hoped that the signing of the Peace Accords might start to bring about changes, but after 3 decades violence and impunity continue to manifest themselves throughout society. The National Police are unequipped or unwilling to deal with the crimes (no national data base, no DNA testing etc); the justice system is totally ineffectual, witnesses are too afraid to speak out; many believe that the police are themselves involved. Of more than 2000 documented murders of women during the last 4 years only a handful of the perpetrators have been brought to justice.
The words of the grieving mother of Stephanie Lopez reflect this climate of fear: "I don't want anyone to investigate my daughter's murder, I have other children to think about".
THE IMPUNITY OF GENERATIONS OF KILLERS
Explanations behind the ever increasing levels of violence are complex and varied but perhaps at the heart of the problem lies the impunity that continues to be enjoyed by generations of killers. Of the hundreds of massacres carried out during the civil war involving many women and children, only a handful of the lowest ranking killers (civil defense patrollers) have been brought to justice.
By any reckoning levels of violence in Guatemala are high; the number of men violently murdered is 8 times that of women, but the gap is closing.
Many blame the maras or street gangs made up of the young, poor, unemployed and desperate, fuelled by drug trafficking and common crime. Recently their numbers have been swelled by gang members deported from the USA.
Domestic violence, both physical and psychological, is widespread and not classed as a criminal offence. Abuse of women is both private and public spheres is common. Indigenous women suffer particularly; in traditional Mayan communities a rapist is spared punishment if he marries his victim. Young women over protected by strong catholic and evangelical beliefs are hopelessly ignorant about sex and vulnerable to exploitation, prostitution is widespread.
More chillingly a recent report by FIDH (Federacion Internacional de Derechos Humanos) believes that clandestine organizations who have worked behind the scenes for decades, proping up unpopular governments, the wealthy elite and keeping popular protest in check, may well be behind this plague of violence.
HR defenders are all too familiar with their unmarked cars with polarized windows that many say have been seen at the scene of these crimes.
It would appear that these organizations want to send a message of terror and intimidation to all women.
EXTRAORDINARILY BRAVE GUATEMALAN WOMEN
Against all the odds there are extraordinarily brave Guatemalan women who put their own lives on the line to provide attention to victim's families, to draw the media attention to the situation, to provide physical and psychological attention to survivors of violence and to pressure the government into doing its job.
The documentary briefly mentions the work of the women of the grassroots organization Ixqik, in the department of the Peten, who are working to train a regional network of promoters who will provide support and access to legal attention for victims and their families in remote rural communities. Many women's organizations have long worked on empowering women to enable them to say no to violence. In Guatemala City AMES - Associacion de Mujeres en Solidaridad campaigns with other members of the Red de no Violencia and provides support to victims.
Every year grass roots organizations join together to march to the central park in Guatemala City where they create a moving memorial to the dead with photos, candles and flowers. Their slogan is: "Por la vida de las mujeres - ni una muerte mas" (In defense of women's lives; Not one more death).
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The following is a transcript of parts of the documentary.
KILLER'S PARADISE IN GUATEMALA
By Olenka Frenkiel, BBC This World, May 3, 2006
The number of women killed in Guatemala is soaring, but not a single murderer has been convicted. A BBC documentary team traveled there to find out why.
Claudia Madrid, aged 21, lies dead in the gutter, shot while walking with her children. Investigators walk past her husband in the morgue as he waits to identify her body. They will never question him. "It's the fashion here to murder women. They never investigate such third class crimes," he says.
He smiles.
Two refuse sacks containing the body of a woman cut into 19 pieces are found in the street. Her decapitated head lies in the road. Police remove her limbs from the plastic bags to show the press. If no one comes to identify her she will be classed XX, and buried in an unmarked grave.
[More than 2,000 women have been murdered in the last four years]
'RED NAIL VARNISH'
The swollen naked body of another woman lies in a dried up river bed. Her mouth hangs open. Her eyes and a gash in her skull have been pecked by vultures. An investigator says: "She was probably a prostitute." He points at her hands. "red nail varnish," he says. In Guatemala , the victim is always to blame. Another XX.
CAUSE OF DEATH
Fifteen million people live in Guatemala and two women are murdered there every day. Even more men are murdered, but the gap is closing fast. In 2005, 665 women were killed - more than 20% up on the previous year. No-one really knows why because the crimes are rarely investigated. Not one of the 665 murders last year has been solved. Are these gangland killings? Crimes of passion? Domestic violence? Serial killers? Probably all of these. Norma Cruz, a human rights activist explains: "There is no fingerprint data base, no DNA testing, no profiling of the victims, or of the murders themselves. There is no ballistics database, no cross-referencing."
SYSTEMATIC IMPUNITY AND GENERATIONS OF KILLERS
No-one knows anything and killers are roaming free, protected by systemic impunity. The justice system is corrupt and police are afraid to investigate. Witnesses are afraid to testify and bereaved parents are afraid to agitate for action. Even the interior minister himself speaks darkly of the "parallel powers", those really in charge.
In the 1950s it was the United Fruit Company which had such clout in Guatemala that the US backed a military coup to protect their profits from land reform. Today it is the spoils from drugs which are protected by corrupt institutions at the top, and brutal street gangs below.
In 36 years of civil war, 200,000 people were murdered and women were routinely raped. Today the graves of entire massacred villages are being exhumed, yet no one has ever been held responsible for these crimes. Three generations of killers have murdered with impunity.
Peace was agreed in 1996, leaving the country awash with guns and those women who have ventured out of their homes to study and to work have now become targets.
BLOOD-STAINED CLOTHES
By Olenka Frenkiel, BBC This World, May 3, 2006
The number of women killed in Guatemala is soaring, but not a single murderer has been convicted. A BBC documentary team traveled there to find out why.
Claudia Madrid, aged 21, lies dead in the gutter, shot while walking with her children. Investigators walk past her husband in the morgue as he waits to identify her body. They will never question him. "It's the fashion here to murder women. They never investigate such third class crimes," he says.
He smiles.
Two refuse sacks containing the body of a woman cut into 19 pieces are found in the street. Her decapitated head lies in the road. Police remove her limbs from the plastic bags to show the press. If no one comes to identify her she will be classed XX, and buried in an unmarked grave.
[More than 2,000 women have been murdered in the last four years]
'RED NAIL VARNISH'
The swollen naked body of another woman lies in a dried up river bed. Her mouth hangs open. Her eyes and a gash in her skull have been pecked by vultures. An investigator says: "She was probably a prostitute." He points at her hands. "red nail varnish," he says. In Guatemala , the victim is always to blame. Another XX.
CAUSE OF DEATH
Fifteen million people live in Guatemala and two women are murdered there every day. Even more men are murdered, but the gap is closing fast. In 2005, 665 women were killed - more than 20% up on the previous year. No-one really knows why because the crimes are rarely investigated. Not one of the 665 murders last year has been solved. Are these gangland killings? Crimes of passion? Domestic violence? Serial killers? Probably all of these. Norma Cruz, a human rights activist explains: "There is no fingerprint data base, no DNA testing, no profiling of the victims, or of the murders themselves. There is no ballistics database, no cross-referencing."
SYSTEMATIC IMPUNITY AND GENERATIONS OF KILLERS
No-one knows anything and killers are roaming free, protected by systemic impunity. The justice system is corrupt and police are afraid to investigate. Witnesses are afraid to testify and bereaved parents are afraid to agitate for action. Even the interior minister himself speaks darkly of the "parallel powers", those really in charge.
In the 1950s it was the United Fruit Company which had such clout in Guatemala that the US backed a military coup to protect their profits from land reform. Today it is the spoils from drugs which are protected by corrupt institutions at the top, and brutal street gangs below.
In 36 years of civil war, 200,000 people were murdered and women were routinely raped. Today the graves of entire massacred villages are being exhumed, yet no one has ever been held responsible for these crimes. Three generations of killers have murdered with impunity.
Peace was agreed in 1996, leaving the country awash with guns and those women who have ventured out of their homes to study and to work have now become targets.
BLOOD-STAINED CLOTHES
One man, a dental technician, collapses in tears when he speaks of his 20-year-old daughter. When neighbours ran to tell him kidnappers had forced her into a car, he begged the police to put up road blocks to help save her. They told him nothing could be done for 24 hours. By then she was dead. Her body was found, mutilated, bitten and shot many times. "I don't want to live," he told Norma Cruz, "I wish someone would shoot me."
"There is total indifference from the authorities to these crimes," says Cruz. Months later, in the home he and his family have abandoned in fear, he finds the blood and saliva-stained clothes his daughter was wearing when she was killed. Evidence that could have been vital in a prosecution is routinely contaminated and returned to the families, or buried in the coffin with the victim.
HISTORY OF ATROCITY
The President of Guatemala, Oscar Berger, listens as I present him with the latest statistics showing another steep rise from the previous year. "Despite these cruel figures," he says, "I am optimistic. We have reformed the police and we have more radio patrols," he answers, castigating me for my pessimism and denying that the justice system's failures guarantee impunity, not just to this generation of killers but to all those who went before.
He would like the world to believe that the atrocities of Guatemala's past are history. But the killings will not stop unless the justice system works. And there can be no justice for today's killers in Guatemala as long as those of previous generations, politicians and military men, continue to benefit from this culture of impunity.
["Killer's Paradise" was broadcast on BBC, May 4, 2006]
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