Human rights

A powerful, personal story of state-sponsored terror in Guatemala and the lasting effects it has had on families, “The Echo of Pain of the Many” is a timely testament to the brave, untiring efforts of Guatemalans to demand justice and dent the country’s long-standing veil of impunity.

Introducing the film at a London screening on Wednesday, director Ana Lucia Cuevas explained that the title derives from the fact that her own story reflects the painful experience of many thousands of Guatemalans during the country's decades-long civil war. In 1984, her activist student brother Carlos was abducted at the hands of the state. His forced disappearance (and subsequent torture and murder), like that of countless other Guatemalan civilians classed as sympathetic to leftist guerrillas, or anyone seeking change, was the product of a deliberate governmental policy of terrorising the population—a policy supported with money, arms and training from the Reagan administration.

Living abroad in exile for over a decade, it was only in 1999 that Cuevas found out her brother had in fact been killed three months after he was kidnapped. She learned this through the release of an astonishing document—the so-called "death squad dossier" listing with cold bureaucratic precision all the alleged subversives whom the military had abducted, with cryptic annotations marking those who had been killed. “Until then, I’d thought he might still be alive”, Cuevas said in an interview.

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns to London on 23rd March until 1st April and features two films on Guatemala, both directed by Pamela Yates.

When the Mountains Tremble was filmed in 1982. “In the early 1980s, death squads roamed the Guatemalan countryside in a war against the unarmed indigenous population that went largely unreported in the international media. Filmmakers Pamela Yates and Newton Thomas Sigel threw themselves into the task of bringing the crisis to the world’s attention by making a documentary that took them into remote areas of the country where civilian massacres were taking place. Central to their story is Rigoberta Menchú, a Maya indigenous woman who was spurred into radical action by the murders of her father and two brothers.”

“Part political thriller, part memoir, Granito takes us through a haunting tale of genocide and justice that spans four decades, two films, and filmmaker Pamela Yates’s own career. Granito is a story of destinies joined together by Guatemala’s past and of how a documentary film from 1982, When the Mountains Tremble, emerges as an active player in the present by becoming forensic evidence in a genocide case against a military dictator. In an incredible twist of fate, Yates was allowed to shoot the only known footage of the army as it carried out the genocide. Twenty-five years later, this footage becomes evidence in an international war crimes case against the very army commander who permitted Yates to film. Irrevocably linked by the events of 1982, each of the film’s characters is integral to the country’s reconstruction of a collective memory, the search for truth, and the pursuit of justice.”

There were some mentions of Guatemala in Parliament recently in written form, in reply to questions from Katy Clark, the Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran.

The Minister of State with responsibilities for Latin America, Jeremy Brown, visited Guatemala on 26th November and a series of questions were asked relating to that visit and the issue of human rights.

While there, the Minister met with civil society groups and with representatives of the Guatemalan Government with whom he raised the issue of human rights and the UK Government’s concern about the death penalty, the importance of tacking violence and organised crime as well as the impact of climate change.

Ms Clark also asked a question about respecting community consultations (consultas) that we have written about previously, especially with regard to mining. The Minister replied that ‘the ambassador spoke at a seminar on Guatemala's construction industry about the need for responsible development in Guatemala and open dialogue with civil society to ensure human rights are protected.’

You can find more here.

'This is a time of great tension because we know that at any moment, when we least expect it, our lives can be cut short at a stroke'.

So titled an article by Danilo Valladares for Inter Press Service.

As you will have read previously, two community leaders with FRENA (the Front for Resistance in Defence of Natural Resources and the Rights of the People) were murdered recently. GSN has highlighted the killings of both Evelinda Ramírez Reyes and Octavio Roblero and their assassinations were in addition to the slaying of another FRENA leader Víctor Galvez, last year.

Although these killings are of FRENA members, in dispute with the Spanish corporation, Gas Natural-Unión Fenosa, attacks are continuing to increase against human rights defenders. In 2009, 353 attacks were carried out, almost one a day, and 16 activists were killed.

The full article can be read here on the Global Issues website.

The Interamerican Commission on Human Rights recently concluded a visit to Guatemala. As one of the American bodies charged with oversight of the respect for human rights it periodically visits member states. These visits are part of its monitoring role, and form part of the input into its reports. The delegation's primary points of interest were the progress of cases against former high command in the civil war for human rights abuses, indigenous people and the safety of human rights defenders.

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
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ED suspende actividad política en Tamahú y busca apoyo militar debido a conflictos y amenazas

El presidente de la Junta Departamental Electoral, Roberto Alvarado de Alta Verapaz, informó que se vieron obligados a suspender la actividad política de Tamahú debido a los conflictos y amenazas entre seguidores de distintos partidos políticos. Las actividades que se limitaron son caravanas en vehículos, caminatas en el casco urbano, movilización de seguidores y cierres de campaña.

Así también, presidentes de 14 Juntas Electorales Departamentales (JED) denunciaron amenazas de muerte e intimidaciones, entre lista de temores se encuentran: Los amigos de Chilel, simpatizantes violentos de partidos políticos, rivalidad entre candidatos e inconformidad por reelección de algunos alcaldes, son los factores que los presidentes de estas han definido focos potencialmente conflictivos.

Esta problemática los ha obligado a solicitar que se incrementen las fuerzas combinadas (Policía Nacional Civil -PNC- y Ejército), en las periferias de los centros de votación, además de las que ya están planificadas.

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

- Policías y soldados realizan allanamientos en San Juan Sacatepéquez; CUC repudió persecución contra líderes
- Desconocidos amenazan a obispo Álvaro Ramazzini
- A finales de mayo, Pedraz continuará tomando declaraciones a testigos de genocidio ocurrido en Guatemala
- Más de 500 disputas de tierra existen en el país
- Deterioro de Áreas Protegidas se agudiza, 60% está en riesgo
- Relator de ONU para DDHH confirma violaciones contra migrantes en Guatemala y México
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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
=======================================

Policías y soldados realizan allanamientos en San Juan Sacatepéquez; CUC repudió persecución contra líderes

Mil policías y mil soldados ingresaron el viernes 28 a San Juan Sacatepéquez, donde tenían previsto capturar a siete personas sindicadas de retener a personal de una cementera que pretende instalarse en el lugar, según informó Víctor Ruiz, jefe de la División de Investigaciones Criminológicas de la Policía .

El fiscal Johny Mejía manifestó que los cateos se hicieron en viviendas de las aldeas San Antonio Las Trojes 1 y 2, El Pilar 1 y 2, Lo de Ramos, Loma Alta, Santa Cruz Ayapán, Cruz Blanca, Comunidad Ruiz y Santa Fe Ocaña.