Past Action Alerts
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• Urge the Guatemalan Attorney General's Office to Move the National Genocide Cases Forward

The war survivors’ organization Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) presented their two cases in 2000 and 2001 against the military high commands of Romeo Lucas García and Efraín Ríos Montt, respectively. Six years later, the cases remain at a standstill in the investigative phase due to the constant switching of prosecutors assigned to the matter.  Send a letter to the Guatemalan Attorney General asking him to ensure the cases advance.

• Protect Guatemalan Human Right Defenders from Threats and Attack

The last several years have seen a series of alarming attacks against the staff and offices of several Guatemalan organizations working against impunity. It's time to pressure the Guatemalan government to protect human rights defenders.

• Support War Survivors' Right to Truth and Justice

The impunity rate for past and current crimes in Guatemala soars; 99% of crimes committed during the war have not been brought to justice. Of over 45,000 forced disappearances, only one case has gone to trial; and witnesses in the genocide cases have waited over eight years for a trial. Ask President Álvaro Colom to advocate for victims’ right to justice.

• Dile a la Minera Transnacional Goldcorp Inc. que Deje de Acosar a los Defensores Mayas de Derechos Humanos

Goldcorp Inc, por medio de su subsidiara guatemalteca Montana Exploradora, nuevamente ha tomado acciones legales en contra de campesinos Maya Mam que están en contra de sus operaciones mineras en San Miguel Ixtahuacán, en el altiplano occidental de Guatemala.

• Tell Mining Transnational Goldcorp Inc. to End the Persecution of Maya Mam Human Rights Defenders

Goldcorp Inc, through its Guatemalan subsidiary Montana Exploradora, has once again taken legal action against Maya Mam campesinos resisting their mining operations in San Miguel Ixtahuacan, in the Western highlands ofGuatemala.

• Support Outspoken Activists 

A string of threats and attacks have plagued prominent Guatemalan activists including previous NISGUA Tour speaker Iduvina Hernández of Security in Democracy (SEDEM) and Claudia Samayoa of the Unit for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala (UDEFEGUA).

• Support Unionists Fired from Bottled Water Company

A union that NISGUA accompanies, SITRAPETEN, faces threats, surveillance, and bribery attempts for its ongoing struggle for labor rights. The workers were fired from Agua Salvavidas, a purified water distribution company owned by the Castillo Brothers Corporation, after forming the Peten Distributor Employees Union (SITRAPETEN). The union members have set up an encampment to raise awareness about the labor violations and to demand reinstatement. 

• End Violence against Market Vendors

Vendors in Coatepeque are working to protect their traditional local markets in the face of a mega-market funded by an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan. Two of the vendors' leaders have been murdered since December. Vendors have been forcibly evicted from their stands several times in the context of martial law

• Goldcorp Shareholders Meeting May 20, 2008

NISGUA is launching a fresh set of coordinated actions to coincide with the May 20th meeting of Goldcorp's shareholders. We are asking the company to respect the wishes of the people of the local community, who voted overwhelmingly (98%) against the mine.

• Death Threat against Bishop Ramazzini

Bishop Ramazzini is an outspoken leader in the struggle against harmful mining practices in Guatemala and a long-time defender of indigenous people's rights and the environment. He recently suffered another death threat. Please take action to prevent further attacks.

•  Union Organizer with SITRABI Killed

In the early morning hours of Sunday September 23, Marco Tulio Portela Ramirez prepared to go to work at a banana plantation in Izabal, Guatemala. He never made it to work. He was gunned down in front of his house by armed masked men. Marco was the secretary of culture and sport at SITRABI, the union for banana workers in Izabal. SITRABI is the oldest union in Guatemala and arguably one of the strongest and has experienced intimidation in the past. Stand with SITRABI to stop the violence and intimidation of union leaders.

• Fear for Security of ECAP (Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Accion Psicosocial) Members 

Since September 2006, ECAP has been subject to acts of violence and aggression apparently related to its work with AJR members who are survivors of the massacre in Plan de Sánchez, in the municipality of Rabinal in Alta Verapaz, as well as the advances in the Spanish genocide case, namely the issuing of international arrest warrants. Tell President Berger to offer protection to ECAP workers today.