Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA

URGENT ACTION

RELATIVES OF PLAINTIFF IN BLACK THURSDAY CASE FIRED ON

October 24, 2005

According to information received from the Coordinating Committee of International Accompaniment in Guatemala, relatives of HÉCTOR RAMÍREZ RUBIO, the co-plaintiff in a criminal trial against Efraín Ríos Montt, were shot at on October 19, around 2:30 P.M., as they were in their car near a shopping center in western Guatemala City.

In the car were Hector Ramírez Rubio’s two sisters-in-law, CAROL STEPHANIE GUDIEL MORALES and BLANCA ESTELA GUDIEL MORALES, as well as CARMEN ROXANA MORALES DE GUDIEL and two of Ramírez Rubio’s nephews.

Prior to the shooting, they had been followed by a light blue sedan with polarized windows and a red pick up truck, also with polarized windows. According to a distributor that works at the entrance of the shopping center, one of the vehicles drew up beside the one in which Rámirez’s relatives were traveling and two shots were fired. The shots apparently were aimed at the tires with the intention of causing an accident, or toward the asphalt with the intention of intimidating the relatives of Héctor Ramírez.

The other vehicles driving on the road came to a stop and people waiting at a nearby bus stop ran for cover. Ramírez’s relatives headed north, trying to escape their attackers. They left one of the cars behind, but the other continued in pursuit, a fact that they noticed as they entered a stream of traffic on the Highway to the Atlantic. The driver in the car carrying Ramírez’s relatives undertook evasive maneuvers, driving down the wrong side of the road and managing to lose the pursuers. The car Ramírez’s relatives were using was the same one Ramírez Rubio had been using for the past month.

Additionally, suspicious people have recently arrived in the middle of the night and tried to break into the house of Hector Ramírez Rubio’s brothers, DAVID FERNANDO RAMÍREZ RUBIO, JORGE VINICIO RAMÍREZ RUBIO and BYRON VINICIO RAMÍREZ RUBIO.This has occurred in spite of security measures previously agreed on with the Presidential Human Rights Commission (COPREDEH).

BACKGROUND

Hector Ramirez Rubio’s father, Hector Ramírez, was a journalist who died of a heart attack during riots on July 24, 2003, in Guatemala City. On July 24 (known as “Black Thursday”) and July 25 of that year, masked people armed with sticks, stones, and firearms, who were organized by members of the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG), violently demonstrated to declare their support for the presidential candidacy of FRG representative Efraín Ríos Montt. Journalists were attacked and pursued and as a result Hector Ramírez died of a heart attack.

On July 26, 2003, his family filed a law suit against Ríos Montt and his followers, charging them with Ramírez’s death. The case proceeded slowly until January 2004, when the family’s legal representatives asked for Ríos Montt’s arrest. Since March 8, 2004, Ríos Montt and six others have been under house arrest, pending an investigation of the charges of premeditated homicide, coercion, and threats in connection with the Black Thursday riots.

The family of Héctor Ramírez Rubio benefits from protective measures issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights because they have been victims of threats, intimidation, and aggression since September 2003:

In September 2003, Hector Ramírez Rubio, the son of the deceased journalist, received a call from a man who introduced himself as an “army specialist.” The man offered him information on the Black Thursday case in exchange for money. Mr. Ramírez rejected the proposal.

In October 2003, a vehicle with polarized windows parked in front of the workplace of Roxana Marubbene de Ramírez (Mr. Ramírez’s wife). When she left work, the vehicle began to follow her. Realizing she was being pursued, she headed towards Precinct 12 of the National Civil Police. The car disappeared when she arrived at the police station.

During the first week of May 2004, Mr. Ramírez received another call from a man offering him information on the case in exchange for money. The man invited him to meet in the front of the city hall so that he could give him information, and he insisted that he arrive alone. Again, Mr. Ramírez rejected the invitation.

Monday, May 17, 2004, at noon, a farm-type vehicle with polarized windows and two motorcycles were parked in front of the house of Mrs. Ramírez’s parents. A man dressed in black approached the house and knocked on the door, while another waited in the street. The man asked a relative about the cars parked in the garage and about all their belongings. The relative told the stranger to leave or he would call the police. At that moment, the man tried to enter the house, but the relative slammed the door.

On the same day, at approximately the same hour, around eight people in a double-cabin pick up truck arrived at the house Mr. Ramírez’s mother’s house and asked similar questions to those asked at the home of the in-laws, and then left. The acts of intimidation were reported to the media, and the government responded by temporarily sending out two National Civil Police officers to provide perimeter security at the home of Mr. Ramírez.

The following day, Roxana Marubbene de Ramírez (Héctor Ramírez’s wife) left her home by car. Fearing for her safety, she repeatedly asked an officer to accompany her, and he agreed. Noticing a vehicle following them, the officer told Mrs. Ramírez to drive against the flow of traffic to see if indeed the vehicle was pursuing her. The vehicle also drove against the flow of traffic for two blocks, then immediately changed its direction after noticing the presence of the officer.

On May 19, 2004, unknown persons attacked David Fernando Ramírez Rubio while he was on his way home at night. Two people who pretended to be using a pay phone physically assaulted him. One of the aggressors told him, “You better take off running, because if we catch you, we’ll kill you.”

The most recent threats and harassment come approximately two months after parliamentary immunity was stripped from the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) representative for Sololá, Luís Antonio Nazareno, and the FRG representative for Baja Verapaz, Juan Santa Cruz Cú, both of whom allegedly participated in the riots of July 2003.

RECOMMENDED ACTION

-Contact the Guatemalan authorities and express your concern for the safety of Héctor Ramírez Rubio and his relatives.

-Ask that the authorities provide adequate security to Ramírez and his relatives, in accordance with their wishes.

-Ask that the authorities investigate the reported incidents and prosecute those responsible. SEND RESPONSES TO:

Ministro de Gobernación
Carlos Vielman
6a.Avenida 4-64, zona 4, nivel 3.Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
Fax: + 502 2362 0237
Email: ministro@mingob.gob.gt
Salutation: Señor Ministro

Fiscal General de la República y jefe del Ministerio Público
Juan Luis Florido
8a. Avenida 10-67, Zona 1, Antiguo Edificio del Banco de los Trabajadores,
Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
Fax: + 502 2251 2218
Salutation: Estimado Fiscal General

Comisión Presidencial de Derechos Humanos (COPREDEH)
Frank La Rue
13 Calle 15-33 Zona 13
Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
Fax: + 502 2334 1615
Correo-E.: copredeh@copredeh.gob.gt
Salutation: Señor Licenciado

SEND COPIES TO:

Ambassador H. E. Guillermo Castillo
Embassy of Guatemala
2220 R St. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 745 1908
email: ambassador@guatemala-embassy.org

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

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