Guatemala News Update: April 13-17

Families Displaced from Polochic Valley Denounce Poor Living Conditions

At a press conference on Friday, April 17, representatives of 14 communities comprising approximately 629 families evicted in 2011 from the Polochic Valley denounced their current living conditions, which have led to issues such as malnutrition and starvation. The Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC) also stated that it will deliver a preliminary Red Cross report to President Pérez Molina on the critical health situation of the families.

Community members are calling on the Guatemalan government to 1) promptly attend to the malnourished children; 2) hold a high-level meeting with community members to discuss the situation, and; 3) fulfill its obligation to grant land to all evicted families.

Top Guatemalan Officials Arrested in Crime Ring Takedown

In a joint effort by the Guatemalan Public Prosecutor’s office and the UN International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), 20 officials were arrested on Thursday, April 16, including the current and former heads of Guatemala’s tax collection agency. The officials are being accused of being part of a tax fraud and contraband ring.

A warrant was also issued for Juan Carlos Monzón, the secretary for Guatemalan Vice President Roxana Baldetti, who is accused of being one of the operation’s ringleaders and is currently out of the country.

The arrests come amidst an important debate about whether or not the CICIG’s mandate, which is set to expire in September 2015, will be renewed. Although a diverse group of Guatemalan and international organizations have advocated for its continuation, President Pérez Molina has suggested that he will not extend the Commission’s mandate.

GHRC Congratulates FAMDEGUA on 22 Years of Searching for Truth, Justice, and Memory

On the 22^nd anniversary of its founding, GHRC would like to recognize the important and brave work carried out by the women and men of the Asociación Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos de Guatemala (The Relatives of the Disappeared and Detained in Guatemala), also known by its Spanish acronym, FAMDEGUA.

Members and supporters of FAMDEGUA attend a mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral to commemorate the organization’s 22-year anniversary.

Carta firmada por 50 organizaciones para verdad, justicia y reparación en el caso de genocidio

La verdad, la justicia y la reparación deben prevalecer en el juicio por genocidio en Guatemala

Organizaciones del continente instan a un adecuado proceso, con las debidas garantías.

18 de marzo de 2013- El próximo 19 de marzo dará inicio en Guatemala la audiencia pública en el juicio que se sigue en contra del General en retiro Efraín Ríos Montt y de su ex director de los servicios de inteligencia militar, también General en retiro José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, como presuntos autores intelectuales de genocidio y crímenes de lesa humanidad (asesinatos, desapariciones forzadas, violaciones sexuales, tortura) en contra de casi dos mil personas, la mayoría de ellas mayas Ixil. Los hechos ocurrieron desde marzo de 1982 hasta agosto de 1983, cuando Ríos Montt ocupó el poder en su país.

En el proceso judicial, impulsado por el Ministerio Público, figuran como abogados directores de la parte querellante, la Asociación para la Justicia y la Reconciliación (AJR), los abogados del Bufete Jurídico de Derechos Humanos y del Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH). Quienes además están siendo apoyados por Abogados sin fronteras Canadá, todos en condición de representantes de las víctimas. La trascendencia de este proceso –inédito en Guatemala- implica el desahogo de aproximadamente 140 testimonios de víctimas y de la comparecencia de unos 70 peritos expertos.