Guatemala Solidarity Network

Jose Marti has to be one of those cultural enigmas you come up against as an outsider in Guatemala. When you read or hear the poem 'La niña de Guatemala', perhaps like the hundreds of Guatemalan school kids who learn it, you might find yourself wondering: 'what's the human story behind this?'.

I like the way Francisco Goldman explains this issue, which kind of touches on the mysteries of Latin America and how they form, grow or disappear.

"And then one day I hear Mario Montefiore (sic) Toledo, who at that point was Guatemala's most revered writer. At the time he was ninety-three or something. He's still writing a weekly column in the best paper. He's got a PhD. He's a very serious guy. He was in exile for many years, returning after the signing of the peace accords. And someone tells me they had heard him tell a story at the dinner of the home of the owner of the best newspaper in Guatemala. I go to talk with him. He says, "Yes, my grandmother knew Martí." It makes perfect sense. He's ninety-three now. And he said that "when Martí came to Guatemala they had never seen anyone like him. He was just so dazzling and charming and brilliant." And, according to this guy, he [Martí] was engaged to be married but he was apparently not that in love with the woman with whom he was engaged. And he was loose in this city where all the woman adored him.

Part one

Goldman’s book was an impulse buy. Reviewed somewhere on the Guardian’s website, it was, apparently, an important book that Salman Rushdie rated. And it was set it Guatemala. Part of the world I’ve long felt an emotional affinity to. I knew Goldman was writing about a political murder, but that was about it.

Source: CAIG and NISGUA
Date: 04/24/2008

The historic hearings in the genocide case continue. To date, seven eyewitnesses from three regions (Baja Verapaz, Quiché, and Huehuetenango) have testified to Judge Eduardo Cojulun Sánchez in the genocide case hearings. Their excruciating testimonies describe massacres and torture committed by the Guatemalan military.

While three of the men - Jesús Tecú, Tiburcio Tiuy, and Domingo Raymundo - had already testified in Spain this February, this was the first time for most of the witnesses to be able to stand in front of a judge and describe the heinous crimes that they experienced first-hand.
You can access updates on the genocide case here. Also see below for a summary of the testimonies.

---

Dates and witnesses:

April 17

Jesús Tecú Osorio - Jesús gave testimony about the massacre in Río Negro, Rabinal, Baja Verapaz on March 13, 1982 that left 177 people dead. He explained how he was captured by a civil patroller who took him to work as a slave in his home. When Jesús refused to be separated from his younger brother, the patroller killed his brother by slamming him against a rock.

News coverage:

Prensa Libre - 18th April

El Periodico - 18th April

---

BBC Mundo has opened up this opportunity to ask questions of three Guatemalan women who are at the forefront of the struggle for justice in the case of feminicide in Guatemala.

Historic verdict in case of police officer accused of raping a woman in custody. On 16 April this year something unprecedented happened in in El Quiche: a police officer was convicted of raping and abusing a woman held in custody. This is the first time that this has happened, even though a study carried out by the Institute of Comparative Studies in Penal Science (ICCPG in Spanish) estimated that up to 75% of women in custody suffer some kind of abuse and of those 43% report it.

New website for the campaign for Justice Nueva Linda who are seeking justice in the forced disappearance of Hector Reyes. You can find more about the case of Hector Reyes on this blog here.

---

Justicia Nueva Linda: In their own words

 ¿Quien SOMOS?

El grupo campesino pro justicia en Nueva Linda es una expresión de lucha y resistencia contra la represión del Estado y la impunidad de los latifundistas, se origina por el secuestro del compañero Héctor René Reyes Pérez el día 5 de septiembre de 2003, hasta entonces administrador de la finca Nueva Linda de Retalhuleu.

En dicho acto resulta directamente involucrado el propietario de la finca, Carlos Vidal Fernández y su escolta de seguridad, quienes hasta la fecha, no solamente siguen en total libertad sino además se han incrementado los actos represivos en contra de la familia de Reyes y los campesinos que le apoyan.

¿Qué QUEREMOS?

Aspiramos la justicia y la paz para la familia de Héctor Reyes y las demás familias campesinas que le acompañan solidariamente en esta lucha, para que los autores materiales e intelectuales de la persecución, agresión, secuestro y asesinato de varios campesinos del Movimiento Pro Justicia Nueva Linda, tanto por parte de las fuerzas de seguridad del Estado, así como los terratenientes, sean juzgados y castigados con todo el peso de la Ley.

¿Qué HACEMOS?

A partir del secuestro del compañero Héctor Reyes hemos exigido justicia en todas las dependencias del Estado, sin embargo, lejos de obtenerla, hemos sido víctimas de agresiones de finqueros latifundistas en su mayoría de nacionalidad española y de la criminalización de nuestra lucha de parte del gobierno; por ello ocupamos pacíficamente la finca Nueva Linda durante varios meses, pero fuimos desalojados violentamente en dos ocasiones.

Desde el 21 de noviembre de 2004 instalamos nuestras viviendas a la orilla de la carretera, frente a la entrada principal de la finca, como medida de protesta por la falta de aplicación de justicia, habiendo sido desalojados en dos ocasiones y perseguidos por los latifundistas y la policía nacional civil. Además estamos dándole seguimiento a 4 procesos judiciales que comprenden:


Nuestra lucha se ha fortalecido gracias a la solidaridad de organizaciones nacionales e internacionales como: el Comité de Desarrollo Campesino, Bloque Anitimperialista, ACOGUATE, Collectif Guatemala y Action Rights.

---

Documentary: Km207 Justicia por Nueva Linda


Part One



Part Two