Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA

New Threats to Nueva Linda Leaders

June 6, 2006

On June 5, 2006, at around 9:00 A.M., a resident of the village of Santa Rosa, in Champerico, Retalhuleu, was on the side of the road waiting for a truck to take her to the city of Retalhuleu. A dark red pickup truck pulled up, with license plate 211CEJ . This vehicle is often on the Nueva Linda plantation, and on this occasion was driven by Selvin Augusto Pérez Galicia, accompanied by another, unidentified person. Pérez Galicia got out of the truck and began asking the resident questions about where to find Mariano Calel and José Guillermo Alegría, both members of the Board of Directors of the Nueva Linda Pro-Justice Campesino Movement and members of the Campesino Development Comittee (CODECA). Pérez Galicia told the resident that he had some accounts to settle with both men.

Since November 2004, the Nueva Linda Pro-Justice Campesino Movement has been occupying the banks of the highway in front of the Nueva Linda plantation, demanding justice for the disappearance of Hector Reyes and for the massacre of nine campesinos in a violent eviction carried out by the police. Since November 2004, the campesino group has been subjected to continual intimidation, threats, and attacks by finca owner Virgilio Casado and members of the plantation’s security forces.

On January 20, 2006, Selvin Augusto Pérez Galicia fired on a group of campesinos, leaving three seriously injured. On April 27, he threatened Mariano Calel with death. On May 14, he fired various rounds at the tents of the campesinos on the roadside. No one was injured in that attacks.

HIJOS Intimidated

An organization supporting the May 29 peaceful protest of the Nueva Linda Pro-Justice Campesino Movement has also been a target of apparent intimidation. The human rights organization Hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio (Children for Identity and Justice against Forgetting and Silence) received constant hang-up telephone calls on the day of the Movement’s protest in Guatemala’s Central Park. The calls are believed to be an act of intimidation, given that HIJOS is actively supporting the Movement in its struggle for justice.

In a June 8 communique, the Nueva Linda Pro-Justice Campesino Movement, the Campesino Development Committee, the Anti-Imperialist Block, and Canadian Rights Action Foundation denounced the continuous threats, acts of intimidation, and attacks against the campesino group. They expressed great concern about the fact that these intimidating actions were being carried out not only on the roadside, but leaders of the movement were being hunted down in their communities. They are holding plantation owner Virgilio Casado Briz responsible for any attack on the campesino group, along with Departmental Governor Carlos Quintana, Minister of the Interior Carlos Vielmann, and National Civil Police Chief Erwin Sperisen, for not having the means to protect the physical safety of the people who are peacefully demonstrating against impunity.

 

 

Home | Site Map | Contact Us

3321 12th Street NE, Washington, DC 20017

This site is maintained by the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA
as a means of informing the general public of the Commission's work
on behalf of the people of Guatemala