Guatemala Solidarity Network

It is rare that Guatemala gets any attention in the chambers of Westminster, so I was pleased to see that a parliamentary question has been asked about it recently. During the fourteenth session of the UN Human Rights Council a motion was passed relating to enforced disappearances, interestingly one of its sponsors is Guatemala. The motion calls on states, among other things, to "continue their efforts to elucidate the fate of disappeared persons".

The lamentable resignation of Carlos Castresana, head of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, better known by its initials as CICIG, has focussed attention on this important body. We should not forget how unique it is, as you can read in this interesting paper [1] sent to us recently. Its main thrust is that CICIG can be a model for how to organise external intervention to mend legal systems.

CICIG is unique in the sense that it is not entirely an international effort, nor is it wholly domestic, it has a bit of both but ultimately has to fit into the Guatemalan judicial system. It is also unique in being able to suggest reform, and includes training local personnel, all taken together ought to create a lasting legacy.

Right on the deadline given by the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights (CIDH, in Spanish) for compliance, the Guatemalan government has responded positively to their request that mining activities at the Marlin mine be suspended.

It cannot have escaped your attention that Guatemala has been afflicted by natural disasters recently, reflecting its position in both a tectonically active and hurricane prone region. It is rare that Central America features in the news on Radio 4, but it was mentioned in relation to Tropical Storm Agatha, and has been mentioned in parliament. A donation of £100,000 has been made to the Guatemalan Red Cross.

You will have already read on this website about the unfortunate resignation of the head of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, known as CICIG. One of the matters which provoked Carlos Castresana to finally throw in the towel was the election of the Attorney General, when CICIG and civil society organisations had all complained that none of the candidates postulated were at all suitable.

We recently posted an item about Jennifer Harbury, in which in a recording of a talk she gave, she updates us on the status of the case of her husband. She has been pursuing the truth in the case of Efrain Bamaca for eighteen years now. In  her talk she mentions that her case, and several other important ones have progressed recently. However, we are concerned that the appointment of the new Attorney General, Conrado Reyes, may lead to the cases being stalled again if he does not encourage them to be resolved. Our friends at the Guatemala Human Rights Commission in the United States have set up a petition addressed to the Attorney General asking him to ensure these cases keep progressing. You can sign up to the petition here. If you are reading this and are resident in the US, you can find the US version of the petition here.

We were recently contacted by Adrien Trocme from the project LA Ruta. In Adrien's words "We are currently working on the project called La Ruta. We are informing our readers about the themes mentioned in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) putting special emphasis on the opinion of the civil society and the social movements." They made this film, called "Mindy's Nightmare", which you can watch here. It is pretty disturbing, especially given that the Mindy wears a mask throughout, but also because of what it shows about the operation of "justice" in her case.

The cynics amongst you might think that my title is a little ironic, and perhaps complain that Jennifer Harbury only talks about the Bamaca case. However, I would put a positive spin on it, as it seems to me to be a testament to the fortitude of Jennifer that she continues to press for the truth and justice in the case of her husband, and refuses to be silenced despite the campaigns to undermine her directed from certain parts of Guatemala. Equally, she also spends a lot of time putting her experience in context: of the civil war and of US foreign policy in Latin America, for example, so any idea that she has a one dimensional view would be quite wrong.  

Exactly 32 years ago today a massacre took place in the small town of Panzos, in Alta Verapaz. A group of campesinos had gathered in the town square to protest about the depredations of local landowners, among them the town's long time mayor, who had been taking over their land.

Amnesty International have just issued an urgent action on behalf of Delfina vicente Yac, a trades unionist at a garment factory in Guatemala City. She is being pressured to leave her job or quit the union, in terms which are becoming increasingly threatening. Her lawyers have also suffered a suspicious break in and are being followed. Please take action!

The psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed that humans have a hierarchy of needs, from the most basic, required for our very survival, to what he called the need for self-actualisation. These needs are often visualised as a pyramid, with the most basic needs at the bottom. The logic of this analysis is unarguable: without sufficient food, water and shelter the other needs become luxuries or are seriously compromised, overwhelmed by the imperative to stop the aching in the stomach.

"The Committee requests the Government to neither grant nor renew any licence for the exploration and exploitation of natural resources as referred to in Article 15 of the Convention while the participation and consultation provided for by the Convention are not being carried out, and to provide information in this regard".

Norma Cruz is a woman with a very serious commitment to justice, a commitment which has led to her being threatend on many occasions. Her particular area of interest is women, and ensuring that they and their families can achieve justice for violent crimes agains them. Such is her determination that she has not only been noticed by those who would like to stop her, but also internationally, as she won the Woman of Courage award in 2009.

Sadly, she is receiving threats again, these threats have mentioned a specific case which she is following at the moment. Our colleagues in the United States, at the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, have set up a letter for those
concerned to sign. The letter will be sent to the President of the Supreme Court, Álvarez Mancilla. For more details, and to sign up, please follow this link.

You may have noticed that we put up a call for letters of support for Jesus Tecu Osorio as a nominee for the Baldwin Medal. Over the years GSN has had a great deal of contact with Jesus and we were proud to submit our own statement of support for him, see attachment, and are therefore immensely satisfied to see that he has been successful. In a message of congratulation to Jesus' senior associate, human rights defenders programme of Human Rights First Andrew Hudson said "an international selection committee decided that this prize should be awarded to you considering your unique and distinctive work, the effectiveness with which you have advanced human rights in Guatemala and the considerable risk to which you are exposed as a result".

The award will be bestowed at a ceremony in New York in May. Human Rights First's press release can be found here.

In a recent question asked to mark International Women's Day in the House of Lords Guatemala was mentioned a couple of times.