STRATEGIC ACTION - Guatemala
Dec. 18, 2006
Guatemalan organization threatened and attacked. Attacks believed to be related to advances in a Spanish legal case against former military dictators.
The SJC urges you to write letters pressing the Guatemalan government to protect the threatened individuals.
A Spanish court recently issued warrants for the arrest and extradition of Efraín Ríos Montt, Benedicto Lucas García and other high level military leaders responsible for massacres and other crimes against humanity in Guatemala. This has sparked assaults and written threats against ECAP (Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosocial), a Guatemalan organization that provides psychosocial support to massacre survivors and witnesses involved in various legal cases before both Guatemalan courts and the Inter-American system. Many of these individuals belong to the witness association that has filed charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the military high commands of Efraín Ríos Montt and Romeo Lucas García before Guatemalan courts. Since mid-2006, ECAP, and other organizations have supported a legal process initiated in Spain by the Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation against Ríos Montt, Oscar Humberto Mejía Victores, German Chupina, Ángel Guevara, Pedro García Arredondo, Donaldo Álvarez Ruiz, Romeo Lucas García and Benedicto Lucas García for crimes against humanity and genocide.
THREATS
Since September 2006, various members of the ECAP team have
received written threats, been followed, and faced kidnapping attempts. These
aggressions are apparently related to their work with survivors of the massacre
in Plan de Sánchez (in the municipality of Rabinal in Alta Verapaz), and the
advances in the Spanish genocide case, namely the issuing of international
arrest warrants.
DETAILS
On September 13, someone assaulted an ECAP employee and stole all
the documents related to ECAP's work with the survivors of the Plan de Sánchez
massacre. On September 30, the same person was followed for several hours by an
unmarked car with tinted windows. A few days later, at 3 am on October 2, a
written threat was found at the ECAP office in Rabinal naming this ECAP
individual as well as one other.
At 9am on November 21, on the road between
Plan de Sánchez and the community of Concul, three men in military clothing with
their faces covered attacked the same ECAP employee, attempting to knock him off
the motorcycle he was riding.
In another incident on October 23, an ECAP
psychologist was followed by an unmarked vehicle in the capital.
All of these incidents were denounced before the Ministerio Público (Attorney
General's Office). On October 20, the president of the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights ruled that the State of Guatemala must provide protection to those
working with ECAP, investigate the denounced attacks, identify those responsible
and prosecute them accordingly.
ANALYSIS
The organization coordinating the genocide cases, "Nunca Mas", sees a direct link between the attacks against the ECAP and the struggle against impunity. There are clear connections between ECAP, the Plan de Sánchez Inter-American case, and the recent request for the arrest and extradition of Ríos Montt, Benedicto Lucas García, etc. The ECAP attacks are evidence that efforts to bring about justice for genocide, whether it is in Spain, Guatemala or through the Inter-American system, are being targeted by individuals with the capacity to continuously monitor ECAP members, telephone calls, and plan the attacks carefully.
SUGGESTED ACTIONS
Please send letters to the Guatemalan embassy in Ottawa
- stating why you are concerned (a personal reason)
- calling upon the Guatemalan authorities to protect the workers of ECAP, as stipulated by the Inter-American Human Rights Court on the 20th of October;
- calling upon the President of Guatemala to execute the arrest warrants ordered by the Spanish justice system and extradite those accused.
-asking that Canada express to the Guatemalan authorities our concern about recurring human rights violations in that country
If you can e-mail a copy of your letters to ECAP, it would be helpful.
ADDRESSES
Peter MacKay
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Lester B. Pearson Building,
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0G2
His Excellency Carlos Humberto Jimenez Licona, Ambassador
Embassy of the
Republic of Guatemala
130 Albert St. Suite 1010
Ottawa, ON K1P
5G4
Embassy1@embaguate-canada.com
Name of your Member of Parliament
House of Commons,
Ottawa, ON K1A
0A6
(letters to this address only do not require postage. As parliament will
be taking its Christmas break, it might be better to send your letter to your
local MP's riding address)
ECAP (Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosocial)
2a. Avenida
1-11, zona 3 Colonia Bran, Guatemala
Telefax: +502 2232-1430 /
2253-6071
E-mail: ecap@itelgua.com or
ecap@guate.net.gt
www.ecapguatemala.org
Thank you for taking the time to do this.