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Solidarity Update: August 26, 2016
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Justice & Accountability
- Santos López Alonzo indicted on charges of crimes against humanity in connection to the Dos Erres massacre
- CREOMPAZ: Constitutional Court challenges congressional immunity for Congressman Edgar Ovalle
- National and international human rights defenders threatened as transitional justice advances
Defense of Life & Territory
- Communities celebrate the release of political prisoners from Huehuetenango
- SEC complaint says Tahoe Resources failed to disclose widespread opposition to Escobal silver mine
News from the Grassroots
- SOA Watch calls for action against militarism on the U.S./Mexico Border
- #StopUrbanShield: Bay Area organizations unite against police militarization
- Last day to enter our drawing: September 4!
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Ramiro Osorio Cristales, a survivor of the 1982 Dos Erres massacre, is set to testify against Santos López Alonzo, the man who kidnapped him as a 5-year-old child.
Photo credit: Toronto Star
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Santos López Alonzo indicted on charges of crimes against humanity in connection to the Dos Erres massacre
On August 24, Santos López Alonzo was indicted on charges of crimes against humanity and murder in connection to the 1982 massacre in Las Dos Erres. López Alonzo was a truck driver for the military unit that massacred more than 200 unarmed civilians – including dozens of children – in Dos Erres, Petén on December 7, 1982. On August 10, he was deported from the U.S. where he was being held in custody and was promptly arrested.
So far, five former soldiers have been convicted in Guatemala in connection to the massacre, including a former military commissioner and four ex-kaibiles – Guatemala’s elite special forces. López Alonzo testified against fellow ex-soldiers from custody in the U.S., claiming that he was merely present, but not active in any of the killings. He has also testified to saving a small boy during the massacre in order to “educate” him.
The boy, Ramiro Osorio Cristales, is one of just two survivors of the massacre. He received asylum in Canada in 1999 and has previously testified against the former soldiers. Now, he is set to testify against the man who abused him and forced him to call him “Papa.” The public prosecutor was given three months to strengthen their case, with the next trial date expected in December.
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CREOMPAZ: Constitutional Court challenges congressional immunity for Congressman Edgar Ovalle
Congressman Edgar Ovalle has been named as a person of interest in the CREOMPAZ case for his role as an operations official at the military base in Cobán in the early 1980s, at a time when thousands of forced disappearances took place in the region. Ovalle is a graduate of the School of the Americas, a founding member of President Jimmy Morales’ FCN party, and is widely known as Morales’ right-hand man.
For more information on the CREOMPAZ case, read NISGUA’s in-depth report.
As a Congressman, Ovalle enjoys diplomatic immunity and cannot be properly investigated for his alleged role in atrocities committed during the internal armed conflict. Last week, the Constitutional Court emitted a resolution requiring the Supreme Court to justify its decision to preserve Ovalle’s immunity without investigation – a decision made earlier this year with no public oversight, illustrating the widespread impunity that benefits Guatemala’s entrenched military elite.
While the decision is pending, human rights organizations hope that the Supreme Court will overturn its decision, that Ovalle's immunity will be successfully revoked, and that he will be fully investigated for his alleged role in carrying out forced disappearances.
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National and international human rights defenders threatened as transitional justice advances
As several important cases for crimes against humanity advance in Guatemalan courts, human rights defenders continue to face threats and intimidation. On August 15, the house of Ramón Cadena, Central American Director for the International Commission of Jurists, was broken into by armed men posing as police. Cadena has played a key role in several high-profile cases challenging impunity, serving as an expert witness in the recent case of political prisoners from Huehuetenango and the upcoming CREOMPAZ case.
Attorney General Thelma Aldana spoke out recently about serious threats she has received while trying cases linking former President Otto Pérez Molina and others to the crime syndicate “La Linea.” Read more in the recent article from the Guardian.
International organizations are also facing threats for their work accompanying many of these cases. On June 21, the offices of Impunity Watch were broken into by armed men who tore the office apart searching for information. The organization works on many cases of transitional justice, including the high-profile case of the 1982 forced disappearance of 16-year-old Marco Antonio Molina Theissen.
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"We are not criminals. We are land defenders."
Freed political prisoners return home to Huehuetenango.
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DEFENSE OF LIFE & TERRITORY
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Communities celebrate the release of political prisoners from Huehuetenango
On July 22, all seven political prisoners from northern Huehuetenango were acquitted of nearly all charges and granted immediate release! For more than a year, the community leaders have been held without trial. Now, after suffering excessive imprisonment due to abuse of pre-trial detention and stall tactics by the prosecution and plaintiffs, the seven community leaders are finally free.
In the verdict, presiding Judge Yasmín Barrios expressed outrage at the unjust criminalization of the seven men, and affirmed the legitimacy of their role as community and ancestral authorities. NISGUA is grateful to the members of our network who regularly followed their case, wrote postcards with messages of solidarity, and read our updates as we visited the men in prison and observed trial proceedings. Visit our blog to see pictures from the "Caravan for Liberty" that accompanied the newly-freed leaders in their return home to northern Huehuetenango earlier this month.
The work is far from over, however. In a split decision by the 3-judge panel, Rigoberto Juárez was convicted of coercion and Ermitaño López was convicted of obstruction of justice, but given the time already served in pre-trial detention, they joined the others in being immediately released. Their conviction will likely be appealed.
To read more about the excessive use of pre-trial detention to criminalize environmental activists and human rights defenders, read the statement from the Departmental Assembly of the Peoples of Huehuetenango (ADH) to mark the International Day of Indigenous Peoples.
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SEC complaint says Tahoe Resources failed to disclose widespread opposition to Escobal silver mine
On behalf of NISGUA and the Diocesan Committee in Defense of Nature (CODIDENA), Toronto-based Justice and Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP) has submitted a complaint to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), calling for an investigation into Tahoe Resources’ compliance with shareholder disclosure policy. The complaint alleges that Tahoe failed to disclose widespread opposition to its Escobal project and, through its Guatemalan subsidiary, Minera San Rafael (MSR), secretly brought lawsuits against the Guatemalan government to suppress community consultations upheld by constitutional and municipal law.
In August 2011, MSR filed a lawsuit against the municipality of Casillas for approving a municipal consultation in which community members were asked to vote for or against mining activities in the municipality. Despite malicious attempts to stop the referendum, over 98% of participants voted against mining. Another lawsuit filed by MSR in June 2012 cited protest as an impediment to operations. Visit Tahoe on Trial for news coverage of the complaint. The full complaint can be found here.
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Join us at the border this fall for the School of the Americas Watch Convergence!
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SOA Watch calls for action against militarism on the U.S./Mexico Border
NISGUA’s fall speaking tour “Guatemalan Women Healing Toward Justice,” will kick off on October 7 in Arizona, where School of the Americas Watch has called for a national convergence of social justice organizations to highlight the impacts of border militarization and to call for just alternatives. From October 7-10, 2016, we will join communities from across the U.S. and Latin America in Nogales, Arizona/Sonora to honor lives lost on the border and to speak out against all forms of U.S. militarism.
We look forward to the opportunity to build community with those building resilience and resistance in the border region and hope that you’ll join us in making NISGUA’s long lineage of solidarity felt throughout the convergence! For more information on how to get involved, contact SOA Watch. If you live in the Bay Area, contact CISPES to participate in their delegation to the border.
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#StopUrbanShield: Bay Area organizations unite against police militarization
In September, NISGUA joins other Bay Area organizations in mobilizing to stop Urban Shield, an annual international SWAT team training, war games, and weapons expo that aims to share and sell new forms of state repression and violence. Learn more about the expo, set to take place in Pleasanton, CA, and how to to get involved.
“The Stop Urban Shield coalition resists the globalization of police repression to stifle community self-determination movements and militarize daily life. We are working to end Urban Shield, and to build up strong and stable communities.” – Mohamed Shekh, Critical Resistance Oakland
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This summer, take a chance for justice
This is your last week to enter to win in our “Take a chance for Justice” drawing! Thanks to the generosity of our prize contributors, this year’s prize list is amazing – handmade fair trade textiles, regional gift baskets from around the U.S., or a roundtrip ticket to Guatemala! Prizes also include Jonathan Moller’s beautiful photography of Guatemala and copies of Skylight Pictures' “Dictator in the Dock,” directed by Pamela Yates, that documents the emblematic 2013 trial that convicted former dictator Ríos Montt of genocide.
Ticket sales go directly towards NISGUA’s ongoing advocacy and accompaniment efforts, to ensure that we can continue our cross-border organizing – something we have maintained for 35 years. Enter to win today! Drawing closes September 4.
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