Amnesty International - Guatemala, 2002: The human rights toll
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
AI Index: AMR 34/087/2002 (Public)
News Service No: 238
19 December 2002
Guatemala, 2002: The human rights toll
The human rights situation in Guatemala has
deteriorated alarmingly over 2002, Amnesty
International said today, referring to a
string of human rights violations and the
apparent inability of the justice system
to respond to them, not least because of
the victimization of legal personnel working
on human rights cases.
In the past few weeks, Guatemala has witnessed
a wave of abuses which are symptomatic of
the pattern of continuing threats, intimidation
and attacks against human rights defenders
and members of the legal community involved
in efforts to combat impunity or implement
key aspects of the Peace Accords. Journalists
reporting on human rights cases or on allegations
of official corruption, and church figures
and indigenous leaders supporting peasant
farmers seeking to secure land rights and
adequate living conditions, are also under
attack.
The most recent include a gun shot attack
on 5 December against Attorney General Carlos
David Argueta De León, who has been
investigating both high profile human rights
cases and alleged official involvement in
organised crime, either of which could explain
the attack. He had previously received anonymous
telephoned and written threats, yet, extraordinarily,
Guatemala's Minister of the Interior rejected
the Attorney General's report that he had
been fired on.
"The Minister's statement is simply
another indication of the lack of official
support -- let alone protection -- for those
in the prosecutor's office trying to genuinely
carry out their duties and combat impunity,"
Amnesty International said.
One week later, on 12 December, long-term
human rights campaigner Amílcar Méndez
was fired upon after attending a meeting
on the "disappearance" of indigenous
rights lawyer, Antonio Pop Caal. Pop Caal
went missing in October and his body was
only located on 18 December. Guatemalan authorities
are treating his abduction and murder as
a common crime, but Amnesty International
said it would study the case carefully to
see if this was borne out by the facts.
December also saw the latest in a series
of recent attacks against three sisters of
guerrilla leader Efraín Bámaca,
apparently in reprisal for their role in
securing the Inter-American Court's 2000
ruling which held the Guatemalan government
responsible for Bßmaca's detention, torture
and extrajudicial execution at the hands
of the Guatemalan army in 1992. In March
2002, the Court ordered the Guatemalan government
to pay the family reparations. These were
paid over in December on a confidential basis,
but raiders on the homes of two of the sisters
appeared to know about the payment, and apparently
wanted to take it from them.
"The year 2002 had also been extremely
disappointing in that there has been little
advance by the government in implementing
either the human rights-related aspects of
the Peace Accords or the recommendations
of the Historical Clarification Commission
(CEH)," Amnesty International said.
Examples include the continued existence
of the notorious Presidential Guard (Estado
Mayor Presidencial), which should have been
disbanded under the Peace Accords and instead
has had its budget doubled during 2002 with
some funding coming from the budgets of the
Peace Secretariat, created to monitor implementation
of the Peace Accords, and the Ministry of
Agriculture, Livestock and Nutrition.
"It defies belief, that at a time when
the press is full of reports of Guatemalan
children starving to death, funds are directed
from nutrition towards the Presidential Guard,"
Amnesty International said.
"We were also extremely disappointed
by the annulment in October of the 2001 convictions
of three military officers for the murder
of Bishop Juan José Gerardi in 1998.
If justice cannot be seen to be done even
in this most high profile of cases, what
hope is there for the average citizen to
obtain justice through the Guatemala courts?,"
it asked.
"Guatemala keeps assuring the international
community of its commitment to combat impunity
and ensure respect for human rights, yet
the record for 2002 gives the lie to their
claims that the situation is improving,"
the organization stressed.
"We can only hope that the international
community, particularly countries and institutions
that have been major donors to the Guatemalan
peace process, will continue to insist on
real and measurable progress in the new year.
Empty promises must be shown up for what
they are, and replaced by genuine, concrete
steps towards improvement in the human rights
situation," Amnesty International concluded.
Background
During a civil conflict spanning more than
30 years, the Guatemalan army and the civilian
agents under their command were responsible
for gross human rights violations, including
the massacre of the inhabitants of more than
600 indigenous villages. The conflict formally
ended in 1996 when Peace Accords were signed
between the Guatemalan military and the armed
opposition.
The CEH established under the terms of the
Peace Accords published its findings in 1999.
These included the conclusion that the Guatemalan
army had been responsible for genocide in
four specific areas of the country. The wide-ranging
recommendations made by the Commission to
combat impunity and improve human rights
protection have been largely ignored.
The EMP is officially mandated to provide
security to the President, Vice President
and their families, but functions instead
as a military intelligence agency. Successive
administrations have given dates by when
it was to have been replaced by a civilian
agency, but each date has come and gone without
this being done.
At the time of his capture, torture and extrajudicial
execution, Efraín Bámaca Velásquez
was a commander with the Organización
del Pueblo en Armas (ORPA), Organization
of the People in Arms, one of the armed opposition
groups belonging to the umbrella guerrilla
movement which waged a civil conflict against
the Guatemala military for a period of more
than 30 years, until the 1996 final Peace
Accords. Throughout the ten years since Efraín
Bámaca's capture, those associated
with his case have been subjected to repeated
threats and acts of intimidation. Earlier
this year, a witness in the case who had
relocated to the United States, received
threatening phone calls warning him to cease
his involvement in the case.
Public Document
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WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org
For latest human rights news view http://news.amnesty.org
-------------
Dr. Roddy Brett
Campaigner, Coordinador de Campañas,
Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panamá, Venezuela
Americas Program, Programa de las Américas
International Secretariat, Secretariado Internacional,
Amnesty International, Amnistía Internacional
1, Easton Street,
London, Londres, WC1X 0DW
Tel: 44 (0) 207 413 5692
FAX: 44 (0) 207 956 1157
E-mail, Correo electrónico: rbrett@amnesty.org
http://www.amnesty.org
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