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CounterPunch
December
17, 2002
Retaliation
in Guatemala
My Family is Under Attack
by JENNIFER HARBURY
As you read this I am heading for Guatemala. My
family has been attacked there. We urgently need as many calls
as you and your friends can possibly make to the Guatemalan embassy
this week, starting Monday morning.
All three of my sisters in law have been
threatened and one was badly battered a few days ago in front
of her small children. She is now in hiding with her entire family.
I've gone to Guatemala to work with the MINUGUA team and other
human rights groups; and to lodge my formal protest with the
government. The army knows everyone is getting ready to leave
for the holidays, and they are testing the waters to see what
they can get away with in terms of retaliation against my family.
They also hope that given the Sept. 11 backlash, that they can
do whatever they please nowadays. All this is happening because
they are up against the deadline the Inter American Court gave
them for complying with the reparations order in Everardo's case,
and they are very, very angry. I fear that someone is going to
be killed or badly hurt if there is not an immediate and powerful
response from all of us. Has not the Bamaca family suffered enough?
Ironically, all of this started with
what appeared to be a startling victory. A few weeks ago, Copredeh,
( the government's defense lawyers in the case), called us to
say that the government was willing to pay the money damages
award ordered by the Inter-American Court. We were all astounded
by this news, needless to say. I have always assumed that it
would take me twenty years to get this particular government
to comply in this particular case. The Court, of course, had
also ordered that Everardo's body be returned to me, and that
the Court's findings and fact and law about what really happened
be published in the main Guatemalan newspapers. But when we asked
about these portions of the order, we were told that there was
no time for discussion about these issues. The Copredeh people
also insisted that I arrive in Guatemala at once to sign the
papers, and that there should be no publicity. This caused some
obvious concern, but I did go down, and met with both the family
and Copredeh lawyers. We decided that for the sake of the family's
safety, we would keep all this secret until they could move to
a more protected area. We were, frankly, all amazed when the
funds were actually transferred later that week. The Guatemalan
government has paid the damages in Everardo's case.
Unfortunately, they are evidently now
bent on making us pay too. Some of the reprisals began even before
we had heard from the government. Several months ago, my sister
in law Alberta Velasquez, Efrain's half sister, reported several
disturbing incidents. She and her family had fled from the remote
finca where they grew up as a result of the army repression in
the area. They have lived quietly in a small barrio in the Capital
until recently. Then the neighbors began to report that armed
men were looking for her husband and asking where he lived. Friends
told her son that he should hide, that a car with black glass
windows was circling the area, and had asked where he lived.
The car was full of armed men. Strangers she had never seen before
began speaking loudly in the streets about the Bamaca case, swearing
they would kill any relatives if they ever found them. She and
her family once again fled their home, and are now in a new location.
When I was in Guatemala two weeks ago,
I learned that my other sister in law, Josefina Bamaca Velasquez,
had also fled her home as well, over a month ago. Armed men had
broken into her small hut on the remote finca where she still
lived, terrifying her, and searching everywhere, for what she
did not know. Needless to say, a robbery by a large group of
well armed men in a tiny and impoverished peasant community is
very unusual, given that the residents would have virtually nothing
to steal. Such assaults have traditionally been politically motivated
and carried out by the army or other state security sectors.
On Wednesday, December 11, my sister
in law Egidia Bamaca Velasquez was attacked in her home in a
small barrio just outside of Malacatan. Six well armed men wearing
ski masks, and bearing guns and machetes entered her house and
beat her in front of her children, threatening to kill her. This
is a very tiny and frail woman who suffered from severe malnutrition
for most of her life. The style of the attack is very much that
of the military. Once again they tore up the house, searching
for something, and lamenting that they had not found it. I presume
they were searching for her bank book, intending to take away
the very funds they had just been forced to pay in reparations.
Obviously, the military is furious and
also mortified by the payment of the reparation portion of the
award and now intends to seek "vengeance". They know
that the best way to hurt me is to hurt the family. They also
wouldn't mind if a "common criminal" kidnaped someone
to take the money back, or killed someone to "teach me a
lesson". I have now met most of my 21 nieces and nephews,
from baby Everardo, two years old, to the young adults. It would
be difficult for me to imagine a brighter, more talented group
of young Mayans, and I am so pleased to think that my share of
the reparations award will send each and every one of them to
the University. ( I signed years ago to give all of my share
to the new generation and will honor that commitment.) If they
live. I could, of course, try to bring them here, and will do
so if they wish. But exile was not part of the Court's concept
of justice in this case; and Guatemala has already lost three
generations of its best and brightest, either to the death squads
or as refugees. This has to end. I will, as I say, be leaving
for Guatemala either Monday or Tuesday. I have notified some
Congressional offices, but remain concerned that the army may
try to arrest me or charge me with "illegal speech",
as they have been doing with so many other human rights leaders
recently. It is the new fashion to bring charges for criminal
defamation, incitement to riot, or even treason..as we have seen
in the cases of Rigoberta Menchu, Rosario Pu, Bruce Harris, and
many others. We have already notified the Court that the family
needs protection at once. However, your calls to the Guatemalan
Embassy, as of early Monday morning and throughout this week,
are the most important of all. The government needs to know that
this case has not been forgotten, and that our own commitment
to human rights for all people is as strong as ever. They are
waiting to evaluate our response. Your calls will keep people
alive over the Christmas holidays, quite literally.
PLEASE CALL OR WRITE THE GUATEMALAN EMBASSY
AT ONCE. TELEPHONE : 202-745-4952
ADDRESS : 2220 R St. NW Washington D.C. 20008
EMAIL : ambassador@guatemala-embassy.org
Fax: 1 202 745 1908
MESSAGE:
1. Please tell the Guatemalan government
that we will not tolerate acts of state terrorism and reprisals
against any persons seeking justice.
2. We demand guarantees of safety for
all members of the Bamaca family.
3. We demand safe passage for Jennifer
Harbury while she seeks to protect her family.
4. Should there be further actions of
this nature, we will ask our Congresspersons to move for the
extradition of military officers implicated in the drug trade
in Guatemala.
5. If this is how Guatemala respects
the international judicial system, we will start up a campaign
to have Guatemala expelled from the OAS.
IF YOU WISH TO MAKE CALLS TO CONGRESS
TO ASK THEM TO CONTACT THE GUATEMALAN GOVERNMENT , PLEASE DO
SO. THE SWITCHBOARD NUMBER IS 202-224-3121.
THANK YOU, EVERYONE FOR YOUR MANY YEARS
OF SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT.
ABRAZOS,
JENNIFER
Some background
sites:
http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~pavr/harbury/
Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA:
http://www.ghrc-usa.org/
FBI and CIA target Harbury, July 2002:
harbury0722.html
Harbury sues CIA, State, argues before
US Supreme Court: http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020422&s=al
terman
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