Catholic Priest/Agrarian Reform Advocate, Receives Death Threats & Subjected to Machine-Gun Attack Deborah Tyroler

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NotiCen Latin America Digital Beat (LADB)

9-23-1988 Guatemala: Catholic Priest/agrarian Reform Advocate, Receives Death Threats & Subjected To Machine-gun Attack Deborah Tyroler

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Recommended Citation Tyroler, Deborah. "Guatemala: Catholic Priest/agrarian Reform Advocate, Receives Death Threats & Subjected To Machine-gun Attack." (1988). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/noticen/2418

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in NotiCen by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LADB Article Id: 074216 ISSN: 1089-1560 Guatemala: Catholic Priest/agrarian Reform Advocate, Receives Death Threats & Subjected To Machine-gun Attack by Deborah Tyroler Category/Department: General Published: Friday, September 23, 1988

On Sept. 11, about 35 men armed with machine guns attacked Fr. Andres Giron, a Catholic priest and leader of the Pro-Land National Peasant Association (Asociacion Nacional de Campesinos Pro- Tierra-ANC). Giron's car was assaulted near Tiquisate, Escuintla department, as he was returning home after saying mass. Giron escaped unwounded, but his bodyguard, Rodolfo de Leon Velasquez was killed, and a seminarian accompanying them was wounded. The Rev. Giron has received numerous death threats from the Secret Anti-Communist Army (Ejercito Secreto Anticomunista- ESA) and other death squads due to his leadership role in the ANC, Guatemala's largest peasant movement organization. The ANC emerged after a march into Guatemala City organized by Father Giron in mid-1986. Thousands of landless peasants participating in the march called on the government to provide them with land. Giron's active advocacy of land redistribution as the only solution for Guatemala's impoverished rural population has led the ESA to brand him as a "communist." (Basic data from 09/22/88 report by Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA, Washington DC)

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