Elites in Guatemala, long-time natural allies of U.S. and Canada, are alive and well

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April 30, 2024


** Covenant-of-corrupt traditional elites in Guatemala, long-time natural allies of U.S. and Canada, are alive and well… excluded (for now) from the executive branch, these elites control the legislature, judiciary, police and military
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Below
* Prensa Comunitaria: the corrupted Constitutional Court just named its new President, someone included on U.S. government’s “Engel’s List” of corrupt individuals
* Prensa Comunitaria: on-going illegal detention of Ruben Zamora, journalist, founder and former director of the elPeriodico newspaper

The Constitutional Court (CC) has a new president
April 18, 2024, by Miguel Angel Sandoval
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(Translated by Rights Action)

In a swearing-in ceremony, attended by members of the [U.S. government’s Engel list “of individuals who have knowingly engaged in acts that undermine democratic processes or institutions, engaged in significant corruption, or obstructed investigations into such acts of corruption”], a few judges, defeated politicians and fraudulent lawyers, all products of corruption, unpresentable magistrates and deputies, and a long list of mafiosi, the CC appointed a new president who, by the way, is included in the Engel list in his own right. This is not insignificant. We will see.

In this ceremony, where the magistrates were dressed in costumes of a play of the absurd, there was a notable absence: the president of the republic did not attend in protest against the CC appointing a corrupt person. And likewise, there was no one from the government cabinet. No one from the government cabinet was present in this act of the Engel list. Seeing is believing.

If we accept that the CC is the highest body of the State in constitutional matters, and that the once called Celestial Court is now referred to in social networks as the Korte Konstitucional -KK-, we can understand the process of decomposition that took place in recent years.

Honorability is no longer the brand image of the CC. Now its figurehead is that of corruption as pointed out by the Engel list, as well as by many countries and actors of the international community and of national opinion.

The KK (CC) is no longer the last frontier in legal issues. It is the first stop in hindering the actions of a government that seeks to fight corruption. This is the way things are. It is no coincidence that the Court has been linked to the Covenant of the Corrupt, or that it has been accused of making arbitrary judicial resolutions. These are the facts and they are well documented.

But what should also be emphasized is that a quick look at the national media, both written and online, shows that inauguration was not a significant event for any of them. They chose to neglect the key fact that the government did not attend the celebration of the corrupt, and the government made its absence clear.

In addition, it is not mentioned that the new president of the KK is a member of the Engel list. Is this the best way to inform? people ask in different spaces. It would seem not.

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IAPA urges Guatemalan government to guarantee freedom of the press
April 22, 2024, by Simón Antonio Ramón
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(Translation by Rights Action)

At its mid-year assembly, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) issued a resolution on the press freedom situation in Guatemala. It highlighted the violation of due process in the case of Jose Ruben Zamora Marroquin, and the lack of progress in the investigations of the murder and the exile of journalists.

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) in its mid-year assembly, April 17-19, issued a resolution for Guatemala, Cuba, Haiti and Peru regarding freedom of the press. In the case of Guatemala, the resolution addresses access to public information, judicial harassment, stigmatization, impunity, murder and exile of journalists.

The organization, which brings together media in the region, denounced that for more than nine months the criminal proceedings against journalist Jose Rubén Zamora Marroquín have been paralyzed, due to the resolution of an Appeals Court which ordered “the repetition of the trial”.

It also pointed out the deficiencies in the investigations into the murder of journalists Gleymer Renan Villeda and César Augusto Leiva Pimentel, which occurred in December 2023, in Izabal and Jutiapa respectively.

The IAPA also recognized the exile of journalists to safeguard their lives and freedoms, who were criminalized by the justice system and the government of Alejandro Giammattei. “There is a high number of journalists who remain in exile due to judicial harassment deployed during the previous government,” states the resolution.

In view of the situation, the Inter American Press Association, after meetings with the government of Bernardo Arévalo, asked to address this problem affecting the press. “Urge the government to continue promoting an environment conducive to the full exercise of freedom of the press and access to public information, respecting and protecting the fundamental role of the media in a democratic society,” the organization’s document states.

On judicial actions affecting press freedom, they mention the case of journalist Jose Rubén, who was imprisoned during the Giammattei administration. “Urge the authorities to release journalist Jose Rubén Zamora, or at least make it possible for him to follow the judicial process under house arrest, fully respecting due process and allowing the presentation of all relevant evidence,” reads the resolution.

The Arévalo government was also asked to attend to the journalists who were forced to go into exile due to the persecution of the previous government. “Urge the new government to create the necessary conditions for journalists currently in exile to be able to return to the country and carry out their informative work without fear of reprisals”, they conclude.

Recommended background
* January 14, 2024: A day to honor the Guatemalan people (and countless exiled Guatemalans and activists around the world), by Grahame Russell, Rights Action, January 15, 2024, [link removed]
* Bitter white-washing of U.S. role in Guatemala by author of “Bitter Fruit: The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala”, by Grahame Russell, Rights Action, March 18, 2024, [link removed]

TESTIMONIO - Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala
Edited by Catherine Nolin & Grahame Russell
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Rights Action (U.S. & Canada) - Chipping away to transform our profoundly unjust and unequal, local-to-global, economic, military and political order

Since 1995, Rights Action funds land, justice, human rights and democracy struggles, environment, community development and emergency relief projects in Guatemala and Honduras. Rights Action works to hold accountable the U.S. and Canadian governments, multi-national companies, investors and banks (World Bank, etc.) that help cause and profit from exploitation and poverty, repression and human rights violations, environmental harms, corruption and impunity in Honduras and Guatemala. In our archives ([link removed]), find some of the community defense struggles Rights Action has supported since 1995.

Act / Stir up the pot / Chip away

Keep sending copies of Rights Action information (and that of other solidarity groups/ NGOs) to family and friends, your networks, politicians and media outlets, asking: ‘When will there be binding legal and political accountability for how our governments, companies and investment firms help cause, benefit from and turn a blind eye to corruption and impunity, and to poverty, repression environmental harms in countries like Honduras and Guatemala (and beyond)?’
* U.S. Senate: [link removed]
* U.S. House: [link removed]
* Canadian Parliament: [link removed]

Follow work of other solidarity/NGO groups
* Honduras Now: [link removed]; [link removed]
* Honduras Solidarity Network: www.hondurassolidarity.org; [link removed]
* Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective: www.solidaritycollective.org; [link removed]
* Friendship Office of the Americas: [link removed] ([link removed])
* NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with People of Guatemala): www.nisgua.org; [link removed]
* GHRC (Guatemalan Human Rights Commission): www.ghrc-usa.org; [link removed]
* Breaking the Silence: www.breakingthesilenceblog.com, [link removed]
* CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with People of El Salvador): www.cispes.org; [link removed]
* Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ) www.afgj.org ([link removed]) ; NicaNotes, [link removed]
* Friends of Latin America [link removed]
* Friendship Office of the Americas [link removed]
* Peace Brigades International-Canada: [link removed]; [link removed]
* NicaNet Google Group: [link removed]
* Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign (NSC) (UK): [link removed]
* Mining Watch Canada: www.miningwatch.ca; [link removed]
* Mining Injustice Solidarity Network: [link removed] ([link removed]) ; [link removed]
* Mining Justice Alliance: [link removed] ([link removed])
* Common Frontiers Canada: www.commonfrontiers.ca; [link removed]
* Alliance for Global Justice: www.afgj.org; [link removed]
* CODEPINK: www.codepink.org; [link removed]
* School of Americas Watch: www.soaw.org

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Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)

To support land and environmental defenders, and human rights, justice and democracy defense struggles in Honduras and Guatemala, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
* U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
* Canada: Box 82858, RPO Cabbagetown Toronto, ON, M5A 3Y2

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