Summary of the Findings of the Exit Evaluation
Guatemala Rapid Response Project
Two internal and one external researchers conducted an exit evaluation shortly before the project was closed in February 20081. It has been found that
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Guatemala Project Monthly Reports
December 2007
December 10, International Human Rights Day: Guatemala celebrates this day through the public events, exhibits, publications, and forums of many organizations including the government’s own President’s Commission on Human Rights (COPREDEH). This year COPREDEH presented the fruit of many years of consultation and advocacy in the form of “The National Action Plan for Human Rights”.
January 2008
Inauguration of Alvaro Colom and Rafael Espada1 : On January 14 at 8:00 p.m. Alvaro Colom and his wife Sandra Torres walked the last few blocks into the Central Park of the capital, smiling and waving at the crowd through the tight circle of security personnel and photographers. In his address to the public Colom said his administration would focus on “those who have the least and those who are most abandoned”. “Today begins the privilege of the poor, today begins the privilege of those without opportunity.”
November 2007
November 25, International Day of Nonviolence Against Women
The Consortium of Actors for Change1, together with other organizations of the “November 25 Collective”, organized public programs of theatre, music, speeches, forums and a caravan through the center of the capital. The Consortium requested NPG accompaniment for some of these events because they had recently received threats both at the institutional and personal level.
October 2007
CICIG Opens Dialogue to Establish Its Priorities
The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) has announced it will begin its operations the first of January, 2008. CICIG is the result of a joint agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Guatemala to investigate and bring to light the identities of the illegal groups and parallel structures, their sources of financing, and their ties with agencies within the government.
September 2007
1. The Case of El Gallito and Implications for the National Police
On September 22 the National Civilian Police (PNC) received a denunciation about the kidnapping of five young people in the Barrio (neighborhood) El Gallito in the central zone of Guatemala City. A few days later they were found dead. Thanks to information given by a witness about the presence of a police car, the investigators discovered that the patrol car DG 002, assigned to members of the private security force of the Director of the PNC, was in the area the day of the crime.
Guatemala Team Coordinator join Guatemalan elections as observer
| The following letter has been written by Guatemala Team Coordinator Betsy Crites. For the first round of elections, the team members decided to volunteer as election observers. This has not been part of their regular work for NP but an additional activity. |
Dear Friends,
August 2007
The election related violence in Guatemala grabbed the attention of international news services this month. Reuters, The Economist (England), El País (Spain), The New York Times (U.S.) and others picked up different elements of the story. Some reported the three attacks on activists in Rigoberta Menchu’s party, including the murder of one candidate and an attempted murder of two daughters of another candidate.
July 2007
Human Rights Defenders Report: NP’s partner organisation La Unidad released its preliminary report on the first 6 months of 2007. The report indicates that attacks on human rights defenders continue to go down from a high in January. However, as compared with 2006 the numbers are somewhat higher. By the end of June of 2007 there had been 136 attacks. By this time in 2006 there were 121. La Unidad categorizes human rights activists as economic, social, community activists, as civil/political, and as other. Those in the first category have been the hardest hit.
June 2007
1. La Unidad - Proactive with National Police: In spite of the criticism and distrust of the National Police, The Unit of Protection of Defenders of Human Rights (La Unidad) has taken a proactive step to protect human rights defenders. La Unidad has reached an agreement with the National Civil Police emergency service, 110, to respond to calls of human rights defenders who are being watched and/or followed by persons presumably gathering information. This emergency number has been used in the past following break-ins, car robberies or assassinations.