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Below: GHRC (Guatemala Human Rights Commission) information: Take action!
As the U.S., Canada and France seek a military solution in Haiti, to help keep in place a compliant “open for global business” government, the U.S. sends ever more military hardware to the corrupt, repressive “open for global business” government in Guatemala. There is no way this does not result in on-going exploitation of, and repression against the impoverished, Mayan majority population of Guatemala!
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In the Midst of Human Rights Crisis in Guatemala, US Donates $4.4 Million Worth of Military Equipment: TAKE ACTION!
October 25, 2022, Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC)
Amidst an intensifying crackdown on human rights defenders, journalists, and judicial sector workers in Guatemala, the US handed over $4.4 million worth of military equipment to the Guatemalan Army.
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On October 13, at the Mariscal Zavala base, the US Ambassador William Popp oversaw the donation of 95 tactical vehicles to the Guatemalan Army. According to the Embassy’s press release, the donation from the Department of Defense “concludes the US Fiscal Year 2019 proposal to donate equipment to support border security efforts in Guatemala.”
In a period marked by what human rights groups have classified as a “downward spiral” in Guatemala, security aid to Guatemala is being questioned on Capitol Hill, and this open, high-level show of support for forces that have been used to repress legitimate protest is cause for concern.
Worthy of mention is the fact that at the Mariscal Zavala base, Guatemala’s most prominent journalist, José Rubén Zamora, is being detained on baseless charges, along with the financial director of Rubén’s newspaper El Periodico, Flora Silva.
Vehicles donated by the US government have been used to intimidate human rights defenders, anti-corruption advocates, and even US Embassy officials. In 2018, as then-President Jimmy Morales began his campaign to expel the International Commission Against Impunity (CICIG), Guatemalan armed forces in US-donated jeeps circled the offices of CICIG and the US Embassy, as well as the homes and offices of prominent human rights defenders.
Last October, according to witnesses present, the US-donated jeeps were used to intimidate Indigenous human rights defenders from El Estor. President Giammattei had declared martial law following a protest against an illegal mine [operated by the Switzerland-based Solway Investment Group] that continues to harm the environment and local communities. Eye-witnesses claim that several of these US-donated J8 jeeps were among the hundreds of police and military vehicles that occupied their town during the state of siege.
The State Department has declined to certify that Guatemala meets the human rights and anti-corruption conditions attached to the State, Foreign Operations law for FY22, which should result in freezing 50 percent of aid to the central government of Guatemala (excluding some categories of aid such as humanitarian assistance). The donation of military equipment directly undercuts efforts by the State Department, in accordance with the State, Foreign Operations law, to ensure that the Guatemalan government’s actions to undermine the rule of law meet with some consequences.
Write a letter to the State Department and express your concern:
Send copies to your Member of Congress and Senators:
GHRC (Guatemalan Human Rights Commission)
www.ghrc-usa.org
https://twitter.com/GHRCUSA
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Rights Action archives
More information - Guatemala
- FAMDEGUA, Asociación Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos de Guatemala, [email protected], https://www.facebook.com/FAMDEGUAG/, https://twitter.com/FamdeguaG
- Verdad y Justicia en Gua
- temala, https://www.facebook.com/VerdadJusticiaG, https://twitter.com/VerdadJusticiaG/
- NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with People of Guatemala): www.nisgua.org, https://twitter.com/NISGUA_Guate, https://www.facebook.com/NISGUA.Guate
- GHRC (Guatemalan Human Rights Commission): www.ghrc-usa.org, https://twitter.com/GHRCUSA
- Breaking the Silence: www.breakingthesilenceblog.com, https://twitter.com/BTS_MG, https://www.facebook.com/BTSGuateMaritimes
- Rights Action
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Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)
To support land and environmental defenders, and human rights and justice struggles in Honduras and Guatemala – including these crimes against humanity, and organized crime/ corruption trials in Guatemala, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
- U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
- Canada: (Box 552) 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8
Credit-Card Donations: http://rightsaction.org/donate/
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