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Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA Vol 19 No 19 / Oct Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA Vol 19 No 19 / Oct. 1 - 15, 2007 In the meantime, FAMDEGUA said they faced RIGHT TO LIFE AND several obstacles in obtaining permission to exhume HUMANE TREATMENT massacre sites, including opposition by former members of the Civil Defense Patrols (PACs) who Mayor-Elect Shot and Wounded fear legal repercussions, since many are accused of 10.01.07 José de Jesús Morales, mayor-elect of collaborating with the army during the massacres. Pueblo Nuevo Viñas, Santa Rosa from the National Another roadblock is within the legal system itself. Unity for Hope (UNE) party, was shot in the chest Certain members of the Public Prosecutor’s office by unknown assailants while driving his car. His (MP) have ignored the petitions seeking permission daughter, Wendy Patricia Morales, 17, was to carry out exhumations. According to Aura Elena unharmed, although passenger Rony Chinchilla, 37, Farfán, a FAMDEGUA leader, the reason behind the was shot in the leg. Morales is in stable condition. exhumations is to find the thousands upon thousands of Guatemalan men and women who were Massacre Victims Exhumed disappeared or massacred during the internal armed 10.02.07 Scientists from the Guatemalan Forensic conflict and give them a dignified burial. Anthropology Foundation (FAFG) exhumed the remains of twenty-one men, women, and children in Human Trafficking on the Rise Sechinapemech, a community in Chisec, Alta 10.05.07 Human trafficking cases are increasing in Verapaz. Evidence indicates that the victims were Guatemala, particularly near international borders, killed sometime between 1981 and 1984 during the but also in Guatemala City. Victims include boys, internal armed conflict. According to a press girls, teens, and adult women. The Central release from the Association of Families of the American Social Studies and Development Institute Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala (INCEDES) expressed concern that an alarming (FAMDEGUA), who coordinated the exhumation, number of people are being exploited sexually and relatives and friends buried the victims in commercially. According to INCEDES, some clandestine graves after the army massacred them. victims’ organs are even removed to be sold on the Witnesses say that soldiers used Chisec as a base black market. Despite the rise in numbers, the and massacred communities in the area that they general population remains largely unaware of the believed were supporting the guerrillas. The bodies extent of human trafficking. Public forums have of five children, aged ten, eight, six, three, and two; become an important mechanism to educate three women, aged fifty-six, forty, and thirty-five; Guatemalans on the issue. and several young adults under the age of twenty- four were recovered. While FAFG was able to In early October, the Guatemalan government and identify the victims’ gender and ages, a more the Public Security Department of the Organization complete analysis is needed in order to determine of American States (OAS) held a regional workshop their exact identities. It is expected that more to address legislation on human trafficking. clandestine cemeteries in the area will be exhumed Congressional leaders from Central America and the in the future when permission is granted. Dominican Republic, with support from other Latin American countries, worked together to draft a 3321 12th Street NE Washington DC 20017 Tel - 202-529-6599 Fax - 202-526-4611 www.ghrc-usa.org [email protected] model law against human trafficking in Central Huehuetenango were taken hostage, beaten, and America. The law addresses the criminalization of issued death threats. The URNG believes that the human trafficking, prevention measures, and incident was perpetrated by right wing parties in the protection for victims, and serves as a reference for community. The current mayor, a URNG party countries interested in updating their national member, said that this was not the first time an legislation. The workshop was funded in part by the attack like this had occurred. US State Department. Attacks on Human Rights Activists Increase Alleged Gang Member Lynched 10.12.07 More than 150 human rights workers have 10.08.07 A group of more than one hundred people been attacked or murdered in Guatemala during the set Moisés Tepeu Cuc on fire in San Raymundo in first eight months of 2007. The number of attacks the outskirts of Guatemala City. Tepu Cuc was clearly demonstrates the government’s inability to allegedly a member of the “Mara 18” gang. He guarantee the safety of activists. International initially escaped, but a few hours later was human rights organizations, including the recaptured and killed. Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA (GHRC) and Amnesty International (AI), say that Persons Close to Pérez Molina Killed these attacks will continue as long as the 10.09.07 Tensions rose as the latest rounds of government does not effectively investigate the accusations flew between presidential candidates clandestine groups who operate in Guatemala or Otto Pérez Molina, from the Patriot Party (PP), and obtain concrete results through the justice system. Álvaro Colom, from the National Unity for Hope The government needs to send a clear sign that these (UNE), in the wake of the murders of three people kinds of incidents will no longer be tolerated, that close to Otto Pérez Molina. On October 5, cases will be resolved, and that those responsible unidentified persons murdered Colonel Giovanni will be tried in courts of law, representatives from Pacay in his office. Pacay worked with Pérez AI said. Molina in the 1990s in the now dismantled Presidential High Command (EMP), during Ramiro WOMEN’S RIGHTS de León Carpio’s administration. A few days later, Aura Esperanza Salazar Cutzal, Pérez Molina’s Femicide Rises to Alarming Levels secretary in the PP, and Valerio Castañón, an agent 10.12.07 National Civil Police (PNC) statistics show in the Secretariat of Strategic Analysis (SAAS), that 377 women were murdered in Guatemala were gunned down in Guatemala City’s zone 1. between January 1 and October 2, 2007. With Casta ñón worked in the EMP with Pérez Molina and differing reports from the PNC, the Survivors’ later as one of his bodyguards. Pérez Molina said Foundation in Guatemala documented more than that the murders were “a message from organized 420 women killed thus far in 2007. According to criminals who are financing Álvaro Colom’s party.” the evidence, poor young women have been In defense of his party, Eduardo Meyer, UNE’s particularly targeted, especially in the departments Adjunct General Secretary, said that it is the PP that of Chiquimula, Jalapa, Jutiapa, and Petén. The has ties to organized crime and narcotrafficking. Center of Informative Reports on Guatemala Colom said that Pérez Molina’s accusations were (CERIGUA), in its “Investigation of Media Reports “immature and irresponsible.” He went on to say on Violence against Women,” states that one that Pérez Molina is accustomed to practicing a particularly brutal case captured the media’s “culture of terror” and that the murder investigations attention on September 26, when a mother and her should be left to the authorities. three young daughters, ages nine, seven, and three, were decapitated in their home. In other cases Municipal Workers Beaten, Threatened where women have been murdered in front of their 10.09.07 The Guatemalan National Revolutionary children, the CERIGUA report says that these Union (URNG) reported that fifteen municipal children now suffer from serious emotional scars employees and officials in Colotanango, related to the crimes. The Congressional October 1 - 15, 2007 UPDATE – page 2 Vol 19 No 19 Commission on Women’s study, “Violent Deaths of illegal adoption, and pornography. Women, Girls, and Boys in 2007,” stated that in all the homicide cases of women and minors, the PNC Congress Pressured Not to Pass Adoption Law has only arrested twelve suspects. There are no 10.08.07 Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein records of cases brought to trial or sentences issued said that certain groups are trying to block the for any of the 2007 murder cases. ratification of the Adoption Law in Congress by pressuring particular legislators. He said that the In light of this information, the European government wants to make sure that the adoption Parliament urged the European Union and member process is transparent and that it guarantees and countries to keep femicide in Mexico and Central respects the rights of the children and their America at the forefront of all negotiations and biological parents. Stein mentioned that adoptions agreements with these countries. The resolution, cost between US $25,000 and $30,000 in based on the report titled “The Murder of Women Guatemala, but that he did not know how the price in Central America and Mexico and the Role of the was negotiated in the United States or other European Union in the Struggle Against this countries. The adoption “business” in Guatemala Phenomenon,” urged affected countries to redouble generates around US $300 million annually. In the their efforts against impunity and to eliminate “all first three quarters of 2007, the Attorney General’s discrimination against women in national laws.” office (PGN) received 4,141 petitions for adoptions According to official statistics, six thousand women and has approved 1,544; the total approved in 2007 and girls were murdered in Mexico between 1999 may reach seven thousand, a number that is on the and 2006. Similarly in Guatemala, the Guatemala rise from previous years. Stein said that the Human Rights Commission/USA (GHRC) reports government hopes that Congress will approve the that more than 3,000 women have been murdered Adoption Law without distorting its original spirit. since 2000. INDIGENOUS RIGHTS Maternal Mortality Rates Very High 10.12.07 Women in Guatemala suffer from the third Indigenous Need More Information on Elections highest maternal mortality rates in the world, 10.02.07 The Indigenous Observation Mission according to the United Nations Population Fund recommended that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (UNPF).
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