Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2002 - Guatemala

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Assassinations

Assassination of a member of the Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation¹³⁰

On 29th April 2000 Mr. Guillermo Ovalle de León, a member of the Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation (Fundacion Rigoberta Menchú Tum – FRNT) was assassinated by unidentified persons in a public canteen in Guatemala City. Mr. Ovalle de León had received death threats in 2000 on account of his activities with the FRNT. A few minutes after his death the FRNT office received an anonymous phone call, playing the death requiem. The trial of those responsible for the Xaman massacre, in which the FRNT provided assistance to the victims, opened on 30th April 2002.

Assassination of a member of Conavigua¹³¹

On 6th September 2002, Mr. Manuel García de la Cruz, a member of the National Co-ordination of Widows of Guatemala (Coordinadora Nacional de Viudas de Guatemala – CONAVIGUA), was assassinated in Chuacruz, in the Joyabaj Municipality, in the El Quiche Department. His body was found completely mutilated and beheaded, a method reminiscent of the worst moments of the civil war. Furthermore, on 11th September a group of reporters who were preparing to cover a CONAVIGUA press conference were attacked by armed men, who stripped them of their equipment.

Threats/Harassment

Death threats against Dionisio Camajá Sánchez¹³²

On 7th February 2002, Mr. Dionisio Camajá Sánchez, a school teacher in a primary school in Uspatan, in the El Quiche Department, and an active member of the Mutual Support Group (Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo – GAM), a group set up for representing the families of victims, denounced the fact that he had received an anonymous letter, hand-written, ordering him to leave Uspatan, failing which he would be burnt alive with petrol. The letter also mentioned another member of GAM, Mrs. Juana Lux, although the threats were not addressed to her.

Mr. Camajá Sánchez lodged a complaint with the Quiché Public Prosecutor, the Uspatán Judge of Peace, the Uspatán national civil Police, and with the United Nations Mission to Guatemala (MINUGUA), and other international institutions.

Threats and harassment against Father Juan José Aldaz Donamaria and Monsignor Ramazzini¹³³

On 22nd February 2002 health worker Mrs. Ana Alicia de Barrios was interrogated by two armed men who asked her questions about the priest, Father Juan José Aldaz Donamaria, of the San José el Rodeo parish. The facts were denounced to the United Nations Verification Mission to Guatemala (MINUGUA), and to the public prosecutor. On 24th February the priest stated that he was the victim of death threats, probably linked to his work as co-ordinator of a programme of aid to repatriated families. On 1st March 2002 the priest's car, in which there was a floppy disc and evidence for the denunciation, was stolen in Guatemala City.

These threats come on top of the seriously insecure situation of Monsignor Ramazzini, following the occupation by about 1,550 small farmers and premises of the San Luis finca, in San Marcos, on 26th February 2002. It was a means of pressure aimed at getting the Fondo de Tierras – FONTIERRAS – authorities to respond to the requests to purchase land and to regularise the situation of the small farmers. The owners and the President of the Agricultural Chamber of Guatemala accused publicly Monsignor Ramazzini of having instigated the occupation of the land. Shortly afterwards a San Marcos radio station received an anonymous call announcing that "a surprise was being prepared, and that the Catholic Church would be hit where it hurt most". Monsignor Ramazzini played an essential role in favour of impoverished peasants by offering them legal assistance in their negotiations with the finca owners.

In addition, on 17th March 2002 it was found that the three offices of the Archibishop house of San Marcos had been broken into, and that a safe had been forced open, and that 300,000 quetzals had been taken. On 18th March 2002 the house offices received calls saying that "Monsignor had better watch out".

Also, on 20th March 2002, the offices of the Association for the Development of Social Sciences in Guatemala (Asociación para el Avance de las Ciencias Sociales en Guatemala – AVANCSO) were burgled. The aggressors, after hitting, then threatening the janitor, demolished the doors of several offices without taking anything. In the past, AVANCSO had already been the victim of attacks and repeated threats.¹³⁴

Harassment of several human rights defenders¹³⁵

Several human rights organisations in Guatemala received threats following the visit from 26th to 31st May of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders, Mrs. Hina Jilani. On 7th June 2002 a letter signed by a group calling itself "The real Guatemalans", and addressed to eleven human rights defenders qualified as "Enemies of the Nation", was sent by fax and delivered to various Human Rights organisations and the media. In the letter they condemn to death and violently insult the following: Mrs. Clara Arenas, Misters Miguel Angel Albizurez, Miguel Angel Sandoval, Nery Rodenas, Frank LaRue, Mario Polanco, Abner Guoz, Marielos Monzón, Ronaldo Robles, Mrs Rosa María Bolaños and Helen Mack. These defenders, considered to be the first of a list that could expand, are accused of having tarnished the image of the country, in particular by having met with Mrs. Hina Jilani.

Harassment of members of Casa Alianza¹³⁶

On 7th March 2002, after their premises had been broken into, Casa Alianza was able to determine that 18 files concerning street children had been stolen. The same Casa Alianza office had already been broken into in April 2001. Casa Alianza lodged a complaint with the police, but the investigation produced no result.

On 16th May 2002 Mr. Manacer Salazar, a professor working with Casa Alianza, was threatened with a firearm, shortly after a historical decision in a trial in which the organisation had taken a part. On 8th May, Mrs. Mirza Juárez, co-ordinator of the family reinsertion programme, was the victim of a similar attack. Members of Casa Alianza had already been attacked and threatened several times in the past.

Mr. Bruce Harris, regional director for Latin America of Casa Alianza programmes, has to face charges of slander and indirect defamatory accusations on the part of Mrs. Susana Luarca de Umaña, wife of the President of the Guatemala Supreme Court, and Ricardo Umaña, barrister and notary. During a press conference in 1997, Mr. Harris had denounced several lawyers and notaries involved in illicit activities connected with the adoption of children in Guatemala. In its decision of 10th February 1999 the Constitutional Court found that "only members of the press were protected under Art. 35 of the Constitution of Guatemala", refusing therefore a trial before a "Tribunal de Imprenta" (a private jury).

This means that Mr. Harris is liable to up to five years' imprisonment, in the trial that opened on 16th August 2002 before the 12th Criminal Court. In September Mr. Harris raised the incompetence of the Court, but his plea was rejected. At the end of 2002 the procedure of the appeal against that decision had not yet reached its conclusion. A new date has however been fixed for resuming the trial on the substance of the case on 7th March 2003.

Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, had expressed her concern at such a restrictive interpretation of the freedom of expression, as applied in the Bruce Harris case. The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights has accepted to examine the case against the State of Guatemala, for violation of the right of the freedom of expression and the right of equal treatment before the law. A first hearing took place on 14th October 2002.

Intrusions

Intrusion/harassment against the CASODI¹³⁷

On 20th May 2002 the offices of the Co-ordination of Associations and Organisations on Integral Development (Coordinadora de Asociaciones y Organizaciones de Desarrollo Integral – CASODI), an organisation that works in favour of the communities in the application of the peace agreements, were burgled. Various items of equipment were stolen, in particular two computers that contained information of importance for the organisation. CASODI had already been the victim of such an intrusion in December 2001.

Several NGOs broken into¹³⁸

On 21st July 2002 intrusions took place in the offices of five social organisations, three of which being human rights organisations located in the same building: the National Co-ordination of Human Rights in Guatemala, the Multi-Institutional body for peace and the International Centre for Research on Human Rights and Peace (Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala, la Instancia Multi Institucional por la Paz y la Concordia y el Centro Internacional para Investigaciones en Derechos Humanos). Unidentified men forced entry and searched the archives in each office. The data processing and telephone equipment of all three organisations was stolen.

Footprints of military boots were found on the floor in various parts of the building, and the authors left on one of the desks photographs of two of the directors of the organisations, and a document drawn up by the CONADEHGUA containing a report on the role of Civil Self-Defence Patrols in Guatemala (Patrullas de Autodefensas Civiles – PAC). The intrusion occurred the day before the opening of the II Latino-American and Caribbean Consultation on Human Rights Defenders.

Intrusion into the offices of the Social Movement for Childhood and Youth¹³⁹

During the night of 27th August 2002, the Guatemala City offices of the Social Movement for Childhood and Youth (Movimiento Social por la Niñez y la Juventud), an organisation co-ordinating various activities in favour of the respect for Guatemalan children, were burgled. The documentation was searched and the archives, floppy discs and computers stolen. This took pace during the visit of Mrs. Susana Villarán, rapporteur on the situation of childhood in Guatemala for the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, and after the Constitutional Court had confirmed the entry into force of the Code for Childhood and Youth approved by the Parliament of Guatemala on 29th September 1996. Until then it had never been possible to put it into practice, owing to the opposition of the ultra-conservative elements of the State.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

129. Due to the constant deterioration of the situation the Observatory organised an international mission of investigation in order to collect information on the risks facing the defenders. A report has been published: "Guatemala, the defenders in danger: massive, recurrent and unpunished aggressions", 25 March 2002.

130. See urgent appeal GTM 009/0502/OBS 031.

131. See urgent appeal GTM 009/0902 OBS 057.

132. See urgent appeal GTM 001/0202/OBS 011.

133. See urgent appeal GTM 002/0302/OBS 023.

134. See urgent appeal GTM 004/0110/OBS 088.

135. See urgent appeal GTM 005/0602/OBS 037.

136. See urgent appeal GTM 001/0104/OBS 029.2.

137. See urgent appeal GTM 004/0502/OBS 034.

138. See urgent appeal GTM 006/0702/OBS 045.

139. See urgent appeal GTM 008/0902/OBS 055.