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HUMAN RIGHTS LEADER THREATENED
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WHO:
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Mario Antonio Godínez López
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General Coordinator
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Association for the Promotion and Development of the Community
(CEIBA)
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On July 7 at 7:40 A.M, the following faxed message arrived at
his office in the town of Buena Vista, Chimaltenango:
Huehuetenango, June 29, 2005
URGENT NOTICE
Mario Godínez,
We inform you that the latest destabilizing actions
carried out by your organization have provoked discontent and
indignation in the organizations working for peace in the
department.
We recommend:
That you abstain from carrying out meetings of more than
twenty people in any place because we will understand this as
an act of new provocation and we will react in response to
your destabilizing actions.
We recommend a great deal of prudence in what you plan
from here on out in the communities and in the
department.
Sincerely Yours,
HUEHUETENANGO GROUP OF ACTION FOR PEACE
Background
CEIBA supports and coordinates work on various issues with a
number of organizations. Mario Godínez has recently coordinated
and strengthened work against mining concessions authorized for
nineteen communities in Huehuetenango. He has also been very
active in the struggle against the Dominican Republic-Central
American Free Trade Agreement. His organization participated in
the demonstration against DR-CAFTA in March that left one
campesino with injuries requiring the amputation of a leg
(CEIBA continues to provide him with medical assistance), and
one teacher dead, the victim of an extrajudicial
execution. CEIBA is supporting the Campesino Unity Committee, a
co-plaintiff in the law suit related to the teacher's
murder. On March 16, the day after the demonstration,
unidentified, armed men went to Godínez's office and asked for
the director of CEIBA or the deputy director of CEIBA. Mario
Godínez was not in the country at the time.
In April, Godínez traveled to the United States to lobby
against DR-CAFTA with a delegation led by Monsignor
Ramazzini, the Archbishop of San Marcos, who has also been
threatened with death. On that occasion a Guatemalan
congressman accused Godínez of having links to parallel powers
in Guatemala. Mario Godínez has currently left his workplace
to protect himself.
NOTE: Sombrilla has worked closely with CEIBA during the past
four years as they provide training for Reproductive Health
Promoters in the communities of the CPR. CEIBA has been an
important partner which is why Sombrilla feels closely linked
to this issue.
REQUESTED ACTION
Contact the Guatemalan authorities and express serious concern
about the threat received by Mario Godínez. Urge them to:
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Guarantee the safety of Mario Godínez and his family
and all others who work with with CEIBA, according to their
wishes.
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Investigate the threat thoroughly and prosecute those
responsible.
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Ensure that CEIBA can proceed with its peaceful, legitimate
work.
APPEALS TO:
Presidente de la Repblica de Guatemala
Licenciado Óscar Berger Perdomo
Casa Presidencial, 6 a. Avenida, 4-18 zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala
GUATEMALA
Email: presidente@scspr.gob.gt
Fax: 011-502-2251-2218
His Excellency Carlos Humberto Jiménez
Guatemalan Ambassador to Canada
Embassy of Guatemala
130 Albert Street, Suite 1010,
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 5G4
Fax: 1 (613) 233 0135
E-mail: embassy1@embaguate-canada.com
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