Au Guatemala, les kidnappings et les menaces de mort contre les défenseurs de droits de l'Homme s'intensifient

Publié par Elsie HAAS sur 26 Février 2007, 18:16pm

M. Mulet Représentant civil de l'ONU en Haïti est, comme vous le savez, guatémaltèque. Vous n'êtes pas s'en savoir non plus, qu'il y a au Guatemala une impunité et une violence sans aucune commune mesure avec ce qui se passe en Haïti. Je me demande, Si M. Mulet connaît la recette pour mettre fin à la violence en Haïti, pourquoi ne met-il pas ses talents au service de son pays, le Guatemala ? Est-ce que finalement Haïti et l'ONU seraient une sorte de planque pour cet ex-fonctionnaire guatémaltèque qui n''est pas arrivé, comme le montre l'article qui suit, à faire faire des progrès significatifs à la lutte contre l'impunité et la violence dans son propre pays.

Notes: Élu pour la première fois au Congrès national en 1982, il (M. Mulet) y a également siégé de 1986 à 1996, une période pendant laquelle il a participé de manière active au processus de paix d’Amérique centrale, aux Accords d’Esquipulas et aux négociations de paix au Guatemala. Sources : ONU

Monsieur Mulet ancien fonctionnaire du gouvernement guatémaltèque, nouvellement enrôle à l'ONU

Un organisateur indigène poursuivant les cas nationaux de génocide au Guatemala a été récemment enlevé à Guatemala City. Des autres membres de l'équipe d'activistes légaux avec qui il collabore ont reçu des menaces écrites ainsi que d'autres formes d'intimidation.

D'après le Centre d'Actions en Droits Humains (CALDH), les menaces et l'enlèvement résultent directement de leur investissement dans le procès du génocide. La figure clef recherchée par l'Association pour la Justice et la Reconciliation (AJR) et par la CALDH pour le procès de génocide est Rìos Montt,qui présida le meurtre de 70.000 personnes- majoritairement Mayas- pendant les années 80, et déclara le 17 janvier 2007 (en parlant des élections plus tard dans l'année) que:" j' atteindrai le plus haut poste. Il n'y a pas d'autre voie....je présiderai le Congrès de 2008 à 2012"

NISGUA Urgent Action

Date: February 9, 2007

Fear for Security / Threats, Kidnapping, Break-Ins

Witnesses in National and International Genocide Cases
Center for Human Rights Legal Action – CALDH Staff
Human Rights Defenders Protection Unit - UPD-MNDH Staff
National Movement for Human Rights – MNDH Staff
Communication Association for Art and Peace –COMUNICARTE Staff
The Community Studies and Psychosocial Action Team – ECAP Staff

On January 27, 2007, ECAP released a communiqué concerning the intimidations that they had received in connection with their work in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz. Since October of last year, the ECAP team has been the victim of various written and telephone threats for their psychosocial work related to exhumations and with the survivors of the massacre of Plan de Sánchez.

On February 2, a tire of the vehicle of Otto Navarro, a lawyer who works with CALDH, was slashed. Later in the day, José Roberto Morales, coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Department of CALDH, left his office in a CALDH vehicle. After arriving at his home he was kidnapped by two armed men. They released him in a nearby neighborhood, telling him that they would look for him in his house and kill him if he activated the vehicle’s alarm. Later the vehicle was found intact, with all of his belongings, including his new laptop computer.

Sometime during February 3-5, the offices of the UPD-MNDH, MNDH and COMUNICARTE were broken into by unknown people. Their files were searched, 11 computers were stolen, the video equipment of COMUNICARTE was taken and human feces were left on the terrace. While staff members of these organizations were waiting for the Guatemalan authorities on the morning of February 5, a person ina red Toyota Corolla, with the plates 654CLO, drove past and filmed the group.

On February 5, a note was left on the windshield of the car of Angélica González, another CALDH lawyer . The note said: “stop bothering with protection, protect yourself you don’t understand warning tell Pancho [Juan Francisco Soto, Coordinator of the legal area of CALDH ] to take care of himself and his children and woman that is always alone, we see them and you Abogangsters [Lawyer-Gangster] pieces of [expletive] that only want money. Look for another job but one of these days we will go out for lunch together, as always it’s on us. Understand you sons of [expletive]”. Angélica González is representing ECAP staff and José Roberto Morales before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.

All of these incidents have been reported to the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office.

Context

In a press conference on February 6, affected organizations argued that these attacks could be linked. CALDH’s legal team advises the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) in the cases charging former dictator Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt and other former officials with genocide. ECAP offers psychosocial accompaniment to survivors of genocide, including members of the AJR and other witnesses in cases of human rights violations committed by the military during the armed conflict. The UPD-MNDH records all cases of attacks against human rights defenders. Soon the group will release a report analyzing high-impact cases involving human rights defenders in2006, including the continuing attacks against ECAP. COMUNICARTE is finishing documentaries about topics such as genocide, the Dos Erres massacre, and the women of the Ixcán.

For the ECAP communiqué, see:

http://www.paqg.org/article.php3?id_article=426&sq=docu