Guatemala Solidarity Network

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.”

As we reported back in September, former kaibil Gilberto Jordan was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in Florida for lying on his naturalisation papers. He hid his role in the Dos Erres massacre to obtain US citizenship. Recently, another former kaibil, one its commanding officers at the time of Dos Erres, has been arrested in Canada on the same charge. Again, Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes is wanted as a participant in the Dos Erres massacre, but has been arrested on fraud charges. He is actually resident in California but was visiting Canada when he was arrested.

The US has recently stepped up efforts to track down war criminals who might be residing in its territory. The newly formed Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section of the Department of Justice Criminal Division has been collaborating with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in this task. He now faces extradition to the US, though interestingly, as he also has obtained Canadian citizenship and it is not clear wherther the Canadian legal system would take any action too. There have been calls for him to be tried in Canada for war crimes.

Accompaniment got some perhaps unusual but welcome exposure this week as Peace Brigades International was chosen as the organisation to feature on the Radio 4 Appeal. It features the case of indigenous Mexican woman Valentina Rosendo Cantú, who was able to pursue members of the military who abused her with the support of her accompaniers.  This short broadcast, of 3 minutes will be repeated on Thursday 10 February at 3.27pm

It is with great sadness I report the murder of Víctor Leiva on the 2nd February. Shot with two bullets from a passing truck, Victor died in the hospital of San Juan de Dios that same night. A friend of mine and all those at ACOGUATE. Victor, 24 years old was an artist who founded the theatre group Caja Lúdica, aimed at helping marginalised children through experiences of art and culture. I have rarely in my life met someone with such a beaming, lively beautiful personality. It was a pleasure every time I saw him and its very difficult to imagine the motives of those who committed his murder. Let us hope those responsible will be found and punished correctly. It is a devastating reminder of the violence in Guatemala. You will be sorely, sorely missed Victor.

We’ve noted before about the possible twists and turns in the forthcoming elections especially with regard to the legality, or otherwise, of the putative candidates. Now it seems, the candidature of Otto Pérez Molina has been called into question.

According to a recent post on CERIGUA, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) has decided to reopen the case of disappeared guerrilla Efrain Bámaca, husband of Jennifer Harbury, whose case we featured here. It seems that the Supreme Court could strike him out of the elections on ethical grounds though that must seem highly unlikely at this stage. Whatever next?

 

If you have been to Guatemala, you may have visited one of the ‘holy’ sites in honour of Saint Simon, otherwise known as either Maximón or San Simón. James Rodríguez, of Mi Mundo, has left us with an interesting and enjoyable piece of photo reportage as he bases himself in Kenya for the time being.

As he introduces, “one of the region’s most interesting and perplexing expressions of Mayan-Catholic syncretism involves the worship of Maximón or Saint Simon. Every October 28th, catholic feast day for Saint Simon, thousands of pilgrims from all over Guatemala and neighboring countries flock to San Andres Itzapa to worship the effigy lovingly known as Monchito.”

You can find the full article, with great photographs including above, here – check out the multimedia piece as well.

GSN wishes James well on his new journey.

Well, we've finally gone and joined the 21st century and have opened a twitter account. Hopefully the restriction on text will mean we'll find the time to 'tweet' more often than we blog, but rest assured we'll continue with our more in-depth articles here.  You can follow us on twitter by going to http://twitter.com/guatesolidarity

The news from Guatemala, especially from Alta Verapaz, is something to dread in this year of election, especially with the notion that this will impact on the popular vote come November. The situation provides the ideal opportunity for someone to present themselves as the ‘hard man’ of Guatemalan politics in becoming the answer to the threat of violence unleashed by the incursion of the Zetas and the response of the Guatemalan state. Many commentators have described these events as a widening of the Drug Wars that were initiated in 2006 by the Mexican government of Felipe Calderón, and supported by, if not at the behest of, the United States. This is a war that has claimed more than 30,000 lives in Mexico and its measure of success seems to be on the number, still very few, of gang leaders either caught or killed. The number of dead seems to be unaffected by these ‘successes’. These, though, do seem to get the media into a bit of a lather. The beheadings, rapes, and other forms of violence dominate the news pages for the briefest of times before disappearing to await the next worthy capture or bout of monstrous brutality. Now the news is that Guatemala, that failed State to the south, has been invaded and taken over by the drug gangs. At least, that’s the story.

It is a curious fact for Guatemala Presidential elections that the person who came second in the previous elections will win the following one. This would mean that Otto Perez Molina will win and a poll in El Periódico gave him just under 40% while the second place candidate had 11%. This poll was taken despite the Constitutional ruling that electioneering and campaigning is illegal until the Supreme Electoral Court of Guatemala officially calls an election in May. It seems dubious to me. As we noted previously here, there are several suggested candidates who are constitutionally barred from running for the Office.

In a very interesting article on the forthcoming elections, Barbara Schieber, in the Guatemala Times, states that the elections to the Guatemala Constitutional Court will take place in April this year, and it will be up to the members of this Court to rule on the legality, or otherwise, of the Presidential candidates. It seems there is all to play for.

We recently received a communication from Guatemala that contained a letter from Jennifer Harbury outlining the latest facts on the case of her late husband Efraín Bámaca and his assassination by the Guatemalan military.

As you may know, this case has been before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (CIDH) who were scathing about the Guatemalan judiciary in regard to the case.

For some background on the story you can read here and here.

We received the letter in Spanish and translated into English and any errors in the translation are ours.

The letter refers to the Guatemalan judicial process which is very complicated from our perspective in the UK. It is still worth reading.

You can read it here, in English, and here, in Spanish.

“Guatemala's election campaign got off to a controversial and premature start, with an evangelical pastor, a military officer, a former president, the president's wife and the daughter of a general who led a coup emerging as presidential hopefuls, although three of them face legal barriers to their candidacy, according to experts.”

So begins this article by Danilo Valladares from Inter Press Service, posted by Global Issues. 2011 is an election year in Guatemala and the intrigue is alive and well. What is clear is that the same old games are being played.

Regular readers will be aware of the precarious existence of community leaders in Guatemala. This also applies to trade union leaders. Our friends in Banana Link have recently posted an appeal on their website to end the violence and impunity in Guatemala. The appeal refers to trade union and community leaders amongst banana growing communities in Guatemala.

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.

I came across this beautiful story of adoption from rural East Cork, in Ireland.

Two children from Guatemala, Jacobo aged 4 and Natalie aged 5. Their father, Vittorio, is Italian. Their mother, Jools, is English. A family from three countries - making their home in a fourth, Ireland.

It was broadcast as part of the Documentary on One series on RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster, and you can listen to it here.

Neighbouring Guatemala, Honduras suffered a coup last year which has been little reported, especially here in the UK. The coup, its implicit support from the United States, and its consequences for the rule of law and justice, are pointers in the region that certain class interests remain above the law, even US law, as noted in this analysis from Upside Down World of a wikileaks communiqué from the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa to the State Department. The full communiqué is published by the Guatemala Times.

As a consequence, Honduras is the second most dangerous country for journalists, after Mexico. The coup carried out by the military on behalf of the oligarchs has resulted in a climate of fear among those seeking justice in this so-called democracy.

Sandra Cuffe begins her article on Upside Down World with an apt quote from Eduardo Galeano, “Justice is like snakes. They only bite the barefoot.”