Jennifer Harbury letter: Attack on Bamaca Family
December 12, 2002
EXTREMELY URGENT : ATTACK ON BAMACA FAMILY
Dear Friends,
I am writing to ask you for your emergency
calls for protection for my family down in
Guatemala. All three of my sisters in law
have been threatened and one was badly battered
a few days ago in front of her small children.
She is now in hiding with her entire family.
I am leaving for Guatemala in a day or so
to see work with the MINUGUA team and other
human rights groups; and to lodge my formal
protest with the government. The army knows
everyone is getting ready to leave for the
holidays, and they are testing the waters
to see what they can get away with in terms
of retaliation against my family. They also
hope that given the Sept. 11 backlash, that
they can do whatever they please nowadays.
All this is happening because they are up
against the deadline the Inter American Court
gave them for complying with the reparations
order in Everardos case, and they are very,
very angry. I fear that someone is going
to be killed or badly hurt if there is not
an immediate and powerful response from all
of us. Has not the Bamaca family suffered
enough?
Ironically, all of this started with what
appeared to be a startling victory. A few
weeks ago, Copredeh , (the governments defense
lawyers in the case), called us to say that
the government was willing to pay the money
damages award ordered by the Inter-American
Court. We were all astounded by this news,
needless to say. I have always assumed that
it would take me twenty years to get this
particular government to comply in this particular
case. The Court, of course, had also ordered
that Everardos body be returned to me, and
that the Courts findings and fact and law
about what really happened be published in
the main Guatemalan newspapers. But when
we asked about these portions of the order,
we were told that there was no time for discussion
about these issues. The Copredeh people also
insisted that I arrive in Guatemala at once
to sign the papers, and that there should
be no publicity. This caused some obvious
concern, but I did go down, and met with
both the family and COPREDEH lawyers. We
decided that for the sake of the familys
safety, we would keep all this secret until
they could move to a more protected area.
We were, frankly, all amazed when the funds
were actually transferred later that week.
The Guatemalan government has paid the damages
in Everardos case.
Unfortunately, they are evidently now bent
on making us pay too. Some of the reprisals
began even before we had heard from the government.
Several months ago, my sister in law Alberta
Velasquez, Efrains half sister, reported
several disturbing incidents. She and her
family had fled from the remote finca where
they grew up as a result of the army repression
in the area. They have lived quietly in a
small barrio in the Capital until recently.
Then the neighbors began to report that armed
men were looking for her husband and as king
where he lived. Friends told her son that
he should hide, that a car with black glass
windows was circling the area, and had asked
where he lived. The car was full of armed
men. Strangers she had never seen before
began speaking loudly in the streets about
the Bamaca case, swearing they would kill
any relatives if they ever found them. She
and her family once again fled their home,
and are now in a new location.
When I was in Guatemala two weeks ago, I
learned that my other sister in law, Josefina
Bamaca Velasquez, had also fled her home
as well, over a month ago. Armed men had
broken into her small hut on the remote finca
where she still lived, terrifying her, and
searching everywhere, for what she did not
know. Needless to say, a robbery by a large
group of well armed men in a tiny and impoverished
peasant community is very unusual, given
that the residents would have virtually nothing
to steal. Such assaults have traditionally
been politically motivated and carried out
by the army or other state security sectors.
On Wednesday, December 11, my sister in law
Egidia Bamaca Velasquez was attacked in her
home in a small barrio just outside of Malacatan.
Six well armed men wearing ski masks, and
bearing guns and machetes entered her house
and beat her in front of her children, threatening
to kill her. This is a very tiny and frail
woman who suffered from severe malnutrition
for most of her life. The style of the attack
is very much that of the military. Once again
they tore up the house, searching for something,
and lamenting that they had not found it.
I presume they were searching for her bank
book, intending to take away the very funds
they had just been forced to pay in reparations.
Obviously, the military is furious and also
mortified by the payment of the reparation
portion of the award and now intends to seek
vengeance. They know that the best way to
hurt me is to hurt the family. They also
wouldnt mind if a common criminal kidnapped
someone to take the money back, or killed
someone to teach me a lesson. I have now
met most of my 21 nieces and nephews, from
baby Everardo, two years old, to the young
adults. It would be difficult for me to imagine
a brighter, more talented group of young
Mayans, and I am so pleased to think that
my share of the reparations award will send
each and every one of them to the University.
( I signed years ago to give all of my share
to the new generation and will honor that
commitment.) If they live. I could , of course,
try to bring them here, and will do so if
they wish. But exile was not part of the
Courts concept of justice in this case; and
Guatemala has already lost three generations
of its best and brightest, either to the
death squads or as refugees. This has to
end.
I will, as I say, be leaving for Guatemala
either Monday or Tuesday. I have notified
some Congressional offices, but remain concerned
that the army may try to arrest me or charge
me with illegal speech, as they have been
doing with so many other human rights leaders
recently. It is the new fashion to bring
charges for criminal defamation, incitement
to riot, or even treason.as we have seen
in the cases of Rigoberta Menchu, Rosario
Pu, Bruce Harris, and many others. We have
already notified the Court that the family
needs protection at once. However, your calls
to the Guatemalan Embassy, as of early Monday
morning and throughout this week, are the
most important of all. The government needs
to know that this case has not been forgotten,
and that our own commitment to human rights
for all people is as strong as ever. They
are waiting to evaluate our response. Your
calls will keep people alive over the Christmas
holidays, quite literally.
PLEASE CALL OR WRITE THE GUATEMALAN EMBASSY
AT ONCE.
TELEPHONE : 202-745-4952
ADDRESS : 2220 R St. NW Washington D.C. 20008
EMAIL : ambassador@guatemala-embassy.org
Fax: 1 202 745 1908
MESSAGE :
IF YOU WISH TO MAKE CALLS TO CONGRESS TO
ASK THEM TO CONTACT THE GUATEMALAN
GOVERNMENT , PLEASE DO SO. THE SWITCHBOARD
NUMBER IS 202-224-3121.
THANK YOU, EVERYONE FOR YOUR MANY YEARS OF
SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT.
ABRAZOS JENNIFER
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