This will be the first time Rigoberta Menchú Túm speaks with Montrealers since her visit to this city shortly after she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.

Back then, Guatemala was a country that frequently graced our newspapers or made it onto television news. While the wholesale massacres of the 1980s had diminished in both numbers and intensity, the country was still at war as it was not until 1996 that the hemisphere's longest running war was to come to an end. Rigoberta, the young indigenous woman, had captured the world s imagination. Her unrelenting work on behalf of her people was (and is) a source of inspiration to many.

To some, this month's visit of Rigoberta to Montreal might be a bit of nostalgia, looking back at a Guatemala and a young woman of another era – the way things were, what she did then. It might even be tinged with a bit of romanticism. After all, the peace accords were signed in 1996; the massacres have come to a halt; the country now has a history, albeit short, of democratically elected governments; they are even talking of Guatemala being part of a free trade zone. More important yet, we no longer see Guatemala mentioned in our news media. All must be well.

Would that it were. There are a number of theories as to why Guatemala (and the rest of Central America) is no longer in the news. Some would say that it is the concentration of the ownership of our news media companies and the cutback in the number of correspondents in foreign countries. Others would argue (cf the Nov/Dec 2000 issue of NACLA) that American interests in Latin America are better served by economic than military means. Still others would say that it is compassion fatigue – we want things to be better in Guatemala because we are tired. Another reason might be the penchant of northern NGOs to move from one issue to the next without seeing any of them through.

However, it is clear that no one who has been following the Guatemala scene is now saying that democracy and the respect for human rights are part of that country's landscape. No one, that is, other than the Spanish magistrates who ruled against hearing the case brought by the Rigoberta Menchú Foundation against Gen. Efrain Rios Montt and a number of other former military and civilian leaders with genocide, torture and state terrorism during the 1970s and 80s (cf Upstream Journal Nov/Dec 2000.) As reported by Judge Henry Monroy in the Mar/Apr. edition of the Upstream Journal, at the appeal hearing last December the judges ruled that, while Spanish courts certainly had jurisdiction to hear this case, it would not be heard in Spain because the Guatemalan justice system was capable of dealing with it. It added that there are no proofs of threats or intimidations against those tribunals, that there is no proof that Guatemalan judges would not accept to act in this case.

The decision was certainly a strange one. Even before it was announced, there was ample proof that impunity reigns supreme in Guatemala. In January, 2000, Mr. Param Coomaraswamy, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers denounced the existence of impunity in Guatemala and the government's lack of will to deal with it. He made several important recommendations to the government. Just recently, a year later, he stated that the majority of his recommendations have not been acted upon and reiterated that the government "simply does not have the political will to resolve this problem."

During the past several years, human rights activists have actively tackled the state of impunity in the country. On one front, they have searched for the clandestine graves in which so many Guatemalans were buried. When they find them they open them up to identify the bodies and then give them a decent burial. This process, difficult as it is, brings about a sense of closure for the victims' families. It also can lead to the identification of some of the perpetrators of the massacres, not only those who committed the deeds but those who ordered them.

The second stage is the prosecution of those deemed responsible, on all levels. They argue that as long as those who committed the terrible atrocities are left free, the crimes will continue. They are especially concerned that those at the top will escape unscathed. Hence the importance of the Rigoberta Menchú Foundation's case.

That their fears are well founded is attested to by the latest wave of human rights violations in the country. The targets are now the judiciary and the human rights organizations themselves. Henry Monroy was not the only person involved in the Gerardi case to flee the country. The prosecutor, Celvin Galindo, also went into exile after death threats had been issued against his family. Since last year, according to the Boston Times, a half–dozen attacks have targeted members of the legal team that has been working on the case. The presiding judge had her home damaged by grenades thrown into her backyard..

Param Coomaraswarmy stated that at least nine lawyers had been assassinated in the country between October 2000 and February 2001.

In recent weeks alone there has been the murder of Sister Barbara Ford, an American nun who had worked with war victims. While there is no proof that it was a political killing, her colleagues certainly believe that it was. Around the same time, Aura Elena Farfan of FAMDEGUA was kidnapped and threatened before being released. Other human rights groups also report threats in recent weeks.

Obviously, all this has to be seen against the backdrop of the Portillo/Rios Montt government which quite naturally does not want an end to impunity and which has done precious little to tackle the severe social and economic problems which beset the country.

Menchú is in Montreal for several reasons. One is to help finance the appeal to the Spanish Supreme Court to overturn the decision against hearing the case in Spain. Spain now represents the best hope for the Guatemalan people because it is painfully clear that justice cannot be obtained in their home country. Join us.

- Ernie Schibli