Angélica González and Jennifer Echeverría
Guatemala
Survivors attend a meeting organized by the Center
for Legal Action of Human Rights. © Private. |
Angélica González and Jennifer Echeverría are part of a team of lawyers at the Guatemalan human rights organization, Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH), or the Center for Legal Action of Human Rights. Due to their work, these women and their colleagues have been subject to a number of aggressions in recent days and recently received a message amounting to a death threat. Amnesty International believes their lives may be in grave danger.
The Center for Legal Action of Human Rights provides legal support to people seeking justice on behalf of relatives killed in massacres during Guatemala's internal armed conflict. The internal armed conflict in Guatemala lasted for over thirty years, from 1960 to 1996, and led to many massacres and mass killings. One such massacre, known as the Plan de Sanchez massacre, was carried out in 1982 by government forces. In 2004, CALDH brought a case against the Guatemalan state for this atrocity, achieving a verdict which forced the Guatemalan government to apologize and pay compensation to the survivors. Since October 2006, CALDH has been involved in the proceedings against several former military officers, including the former Head of State, José Efraín Ríos Montt.
The security situation for human rights defenders in Guatemala has deteriorated significantly in the past year, causing CALDH and organizations like it to suffer an increase in harassment and death threats. Local human rights organizations reported that 14 human rights defenders were killed in 2006, while 278 were attacked, a significant increase over the past years. Guatemala is particularly dangerous for human rights workers because of the number of illegal armed clandestine groups which operate there. The members of these illegal groups are often linked to business and security companies; many are also current and retired members of the armed forces. These criminals have infiltrated the police and other branches of government and are able to control lucrative illegal activities, such as drug smuggling. They are often responsible for violence and threats against human rights defenders.
One February 2, 2007, a colleague of Angélica González and Jennifer Echeverría was assaulted by two men as he was getting out of his car in front of his home. They forced him at gunpoint to lie down on the floor in the back of the car. One man held him down, while the other drove for approximately 20 minutes towards the western edge of the town. They left him there. Though his car was full of valuable items, including his checkbook and laptop, the two men took nothing, indicating robbery was not their motivation.
González and Echeverría have also experienced this harassment. On February 5, 2007, González found a threatening note on her car window, which warned her to "look for other jobs," and to "stop messing around with protection [of others]...protect yourself."
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern for the safety of the staff of CALDH, including Angélica González and Jennifer Echeverría, especially in light of the death threat received by González on February 5th.
- Calling on the authorities to order an immediate and thorough investigation, publishing the results and bring those responsible to justice;
- Reminding the authorities that human rights defenders have the right to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Please send your appeals to:
Attorney General and Head of the Public Prosecutor's office
Lic. Juan Luis Florido
Fiscal General de la Republica y Jefe del Ministerio Público
Edificio Ministerio Público
15 Avenida 15-16, Zona 1, Barrio Gerona, 8vo. Nivel
Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
Fax: 011 502 2411 9124 or 011 502 2411 9326
Salutation: Dear Attorney General/Estimado Sr. Fiscal General
Minister of Interior
Ing. Carlos Roberto Vielmann Montes
Ministro de Gobernación
6a. Avenida 13-71, Zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
Fax: 011 502 2413 8658
Salutation: Dear Minister/Estimado Sr. Minstro
Copy appeals to:
Center for Legal Action on Human Rights
Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH)
6a. Avenida 1-71, Zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
Fax: 011 502 2230 3470
Ambassador Jose Guillermo Castillo
Embassy of Guatemala
2220 R St., NW
Washington, D.C. 20008
Fax: (202) 745-1908
E-mail: info@guatemala-embassy.org
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