Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA Vol 19 No 13 / June 30-July 14, 2007 result of the inefficiency of the State, because it is RIGHT TO LIFE AND not able to resolve the needs of the population.” HUMANE TREATMENT Pedro Ixchiú, of the Indigenous Defense Office, which is part of the Public Defense Institute, stated Bus Drivers Murdered by Gangs that this phenomenon demonstrates the “people’s 07.02.07 Two urban bus drivers and one assistant disenchantment with the justice system” and he were murdered in the Kennedy neighborhood, in reiterated that physical aggression, taken to the zone 18 of Guatemala City because they allegedly extreme in a lynching, “is beyond the control and the refused to pay an extortion fee to local gang framework of the indigenous legal system.” He members. The victims were Byron René Tiesa emphasized, “Lynching is not included in their Ovando, 19, José Ramón Morán Calderón, 27, and framework for justice. Instead, the system includes assistant Jesús Chachic Guzmán, 19. So far this a trial, which is carried out in front of the year, twenty-nine urban bus drivers and nineteen community and serves as an example.” assistants have been murdered. In 2006, fifty bus Analysts believe that “the government has drivers lost their lives at the hand of gangs for succumbed to a level of social decay never before refusing to pay extortion fees. seen, which has generated social turmoil and ungovernability throughout the country.” Cases of Lynching Are on the Rise 07.03.07 The National Commission for the Political Violence Increases Prevention of Lynching (CNPL) issued an alert 07.04.07 In the last several months, sixteen activists regarding the recent increase in cases of lynching. of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) political party So far this year, twenty-two have been reported. have been assassinated, including congressional Mobs have also been implicated in burning police representatives, municipal coordinators, mayoral stations and judicial offices. On several occasions, candidates, and party sympathizers. Most recently, security forces have chosen to abandon their posts. Marvin Valdés León, the mayor of San Cristóbal According to CNPL, the primary cause of this Acasaguastlán, in the department of El Progreso, recent outbreak of vigilante justice is due to the was murdered in Zacapa. Carlos Barrientos, 32, and alleged theft of children. Mobs attempt to take Claudia Gloribet Buesso Chacón, 19, were shot and justice into their own hands so that women stop the wounded. José Carlos Marroquín, UNE’s campaign buying and selling of minors. Statistics reveal that manager, denounced the crime and demanded that most cases of lynching occur in the Western authorities fully investigate the act. highlands. The department of Quiché has registered Jaime Zapata, political operative of the Great the most incidents of lynching, with six cases and National Alliance (GANA), the current party in twelve victims, followed by the departments of power, was killed in Jalapa. According to witnesses, Chimaltenango, Quetzaltenango, and Huehuetenango. the victim was in a meeting with Alfonso Melgar, Different analysts have stated that lynching is the chief of the Ministry of Agriculture and not part of the local indigenous legal system. Livestock regional office, when two men arrived and According to Amílcar Pop, member of the shot at Zapata more than ten times. However, the Association of Mayan Lawyers, these acts are “the attack did not injure Melgar. For this reason, Melgar 3321 12th Street NE Washington DC 20017 Tel - 202-529-6599 Fax - 202-526-4611 www.ghrc-usa.org [email protected] is considered suspect, since hired guns do not Mutual Support Group (GAM), said that the fact that usually leave behind witnesses. the murder rate has remained the same is no reason for the government to feel triumphant. In reality, it Mobs Lynch Suspected Criminals shows the government’s weakness. Polanco added 07.05.07 A mob killed a man and beat two foreign that the president’s comments frustrate people and women in Dolores, Petén, for allegedly kidnapping create a greater sensation of vulnerability, since the children. The mob then proceeded to destroy the violence continues and there is no attempt to local police outpost. Abelino Ramírez, police station implement a policy to combat the high level of violence. chief, tried to mediate the situation, but sustained a gunshot wound, as did Moisés Cacao, a local Agrarian Platform Denounces Attacks resident. An angry mob of residents took German 07.10.07 The organization, Agrarian Platform (PA), Noriega Madrid from the police station by force and and its members have suffered several attacks in then killed him. Mirna Hernández, a Honduran, and recent months. Armed men along Roosevelt Morena Guadalupe Rivera, a Salvadoran, were beaten. highway illegally detained both Omar Ventura, a In the department of Quiché, three women and a member of the Association of the Formation for man, accused of robbing stores, were handed over to Holistic Development, and Carol Puigarnau, a the police in Chichicastenango after residents of the Spanish volunteer. Their vehicle was stolen while Camanchaj community whipped them twenty-five they were still in it, and later abandoned near the El times and cut their hair as punishment. Naranjo bridge in Guatemala City. At the same time, on July 6, Abisaías Gómez, of the Joint Patrols Have Not Reduced Crime Marquensian Coordination “Mother Earth Nan Tx’ 07.06.07 The joint patrols executed by three Otx’, received a death threat from Fredy Rolando thousand military reservists, members of the Special Alcántara, who was later detained by security forces. Body of Reserves for Citizen Security (CERSC), and In June, Amarildo Vásquez, from the Los Altos the National Civil Police (PNC) to reduce crime Mayan Peasant Coordination, was kidnapped and rates have not achieved the expected results. In the appeared three days later, unable to speak, and with last fifteen months, the time that CERSC has been in a disfigured face. In addition, the PA offices were operation, police records indicate that 7,246 people illegally raided. The organization has publicly were murdered, while during the fifteen months denounced these acts of aggression against its members. prior to the functioning of CERSC, only 6,833 homicides were recorded. This means that the Social Cleansing Group Active in Quetzaltenango violence has actually increased by six percent under 07.11.07 A clandestine group that calls itself the the joint patrol program. Non-governmental Armed Forces (FANOG) made Last year, the government increased military its first appearance in the municipality of spending by Q126.4 million (US $16.6 million) for Coatepeque, Quetzaltenango, causing concern the CERSC program, and in 2007, another Q100 among local residents. Via fliers, FANOG warned, million (US $13.2 million) will be spent for the program. “We have all the necessary information about how gangs and dangerous delinquents operate in the Berger Criticized for Homicide Rate streets of our beloved village, collecting the famous 07.07.07 Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio war tax and extorting the people. We now have Morales stated that the government should not take names, nicknames, residential addresses and pride in the homicide rate, when there are more than hideouts of these parasites and today we bring a 5,000 murders per year. Morales made this beautiful gift to all the damned societal garbage.” statement in reaction to President Oscar Berger’s The communication continued, saying: “we beg comment that, thanks to the presence of soldiers in all parents who know about and hide their sons and the streets, the homicide rate has held steady in their crimes, to no longer support them because they relation to prior years. According to the president, will be given the same gift.” The flyer ends with the the program is therefore successful. phrase “For a Coatepeque free of pestilence, for a Meanwhile, Mario Polanco, director of the Guatemala in which the future brings the Promised June 30 - July 14, 2007 UPDATE – page 2 Vol 19 No 13 Land to our children. Our struggle is just, until we The political parties that have been hardest hit are victorious.” include the National Union for Hope (UNE), with Mario Polanco, director of the Mutual Support sixteen attacks against leaders; the Great National Group (GAM) expressed concern regarding the Alliance (GANA, the current party in power, and the formation of this clandestine group, which, he Patriotic Party (PP) with nine attacks each; the Party affirms, is being led by former soldiers or former for National Advancement (PAN), with six and the police officers, similar to the group called the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union (URNG), “Southern Whip” (Látigo del Sur). Polanco urged with five assassinations. authorities to investigate this case, since the group The presidential candidates for these parties has threatened to kill all of the alleged delinquents, demanded that security measures be increased in gang members, and their families. order to avoid more assassinations. Minister of the Interior Adela de Torrebiarte affirmed that the only Murders Show Signs of Torture and Coup de Grace thing that she could offer political parties was the 07.11.07 The bodies of two men were found along investigation of all the cases, in collaboration with the Naranjo Boulevard, in zone 4 of Mixco. Both the Public Prosecutor’s office. bodies had been tied up and tortured and each had received a coup de grace . Earlier on July 8, in two WOMEN’S RIGHTS different locations, the bodies of two more men were found, naked, with their faces wrapped in their Women Attacked During Demonstration shirts. One was found along the route from Las 07.03.07 Representatives of diverse Guatemalan Charcas, in zone 11, that leads to zone 10 of Mixco, civil society organizations, accompanied by a and the other body was discovered near Villa delegation of US women, were violently evicted by Canales.