Guatemala Solidarity Network

Yuri Melini, Director of CALAS, is an environmental campaigner for many years in Guatemala. Here in this film by Nicolas Bergeron about when he suffered an attempt on his life. Video is in Spanish with French subtitles.

 

We've just received the following message from Kathy Dill - more info in taking part in this urgent action.

On the afternoon of September 14th, 2009, human rights defender Jesus Tecú Osorio received a telephone call on his personal cell phone from an unidentified extortionist who threatened to kidnap, torture and dismember each of Jesus' children, one-by-one, if his demands are not met.

The caller demonstrated that he knows where Jesus lives with his wife and children, as well as the location of the school where his eldest son studies. Like most human rights defenders in Guatemala, Jesus has received many death threats over the years, none of which have been properly investigated. But Jesus has never let intimidation tactics deter him from continuing his human rights work.

This latest threat of barbarism against Jesus' children is an especially heinous act. It is clear that the perpetrator is counting on Guatemala's legendary culture of impunity to shield him from prosecution. Please join us in urging Guatemalan authorities to identify and prosecute the person(s) responsible.

Bio

Jesus Tecú Osorio is the recipient of multiple awards including the 1998 Reebok Human Rights Award, and an honorary law degree from Saint Francis Xavier University, Jesus Tecú Osorio is an extraordinary community organizer, civic leader and internationally recognized human rights defender. Jesus was born in 1971 in the village of Rio Negro and is a member of the Achí-Maya indigenous community located in the northern highland municipality of Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala.

On March 18th 1982, during the height of Guatemala's genocidal counterinsurgency campaign, state agents surrounded the village of Río Negro and massacred 177 women and children. Jesus and 17 other children were held aside so that they could serves as household labor in the homes of local paramilitary collaborators. After two years the municipality finally allowed Jesus' older sister to claim him.

Ten years later, Jesus heard a radio news story about forensic anthropologists conducting an exhumation of a clandestine grave in the neighboring province of El Quiche. He soon became the driving force behind the campaign to compel the public ministry to authorize the exhumation of the Rio Negro massacre site. Since 1993, Jesus has dedicated his life to the defense of human rights.

His work has led to the exhumation of dozens of mass graves in Rabinal and the community's dignified reburial of the remains. Jesus' testimony led to the conviction of local collaborators and he is currently a prime witness in the case against the intellectual authors of the Guatemalan genocide. Jesus is a founding member and past president of the Association for the Integral Development of the Victims of Violence in the Verapaces, Maya Achi (ADIVIMA),[1] founder of The New Hope Foundation, Río Negro,[2] and current director of Rabinal's Legal Clinic.

Flickr: photos.robert 

Flickr: Surizar 

"Uno de los tres murales pintados en la parroquia de San Sebastián, en conmemoración del undécimo aniversario de la muerte de monseñor Juan Gerardi. 
Los murales son obra de la artista italiana Alessandra Vecci y el pintor guatemalteco Máximo Curruchich."

This is also available as a poster- see attached.

We were recently contacted with information about this interesting archaeological project:

"The project's research focuses on a major, hitherto overlooked, and very long-lived ancient Maya city located in the heart of the seminal Southern Maya Zone (SMZ). At an elevation of from 550-1000 m HAE, Chocolá is located in the upper limits of the piedmont or Bocacosta of southwestern Guatemala. The remains represent an ancient city or of associated communities extending conceivably through 6 by 4 kilometers or more than 9 square miles.

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

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.

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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

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We just received this round up from CIFCA with conclusions on the latest round of trade negotiations between the European Union and Central American countries. For the full round up download the attached report in Spanish below (PDF).



 

Part one of Secil Oswaldo de Leon's documentary on the issue of forced disappearances.

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.

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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.

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Documentary: Km207 Justicia por Nueva Linda


Part One



Part Two

This excellent weekly report can't be found on the web- we publish it here with kind permission from CDHG on this blog.

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INFORME SEMANAL SOBRE DERECHOS HUMANOS
Comision de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala

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Fuentes directas CDHG, Prensa Libre, Siglo Veintiuno, El Periódico, Guatemala Hoy
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CDHG
2 Av. 4-66, apto. C-4, zona 1.
Tel/Fax: (502) 22203576 /22534285
E-mail: cdhg@intelnett.com