AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

View Alerts By > Case | Date | Country | Victim

AAAS Human Rights Action Network

View the digitally signed version of this alert.

FACTS OF THE CASE:

The prosecutors for Myrna Mack, the prominent anthropologist slain by security forces on 11 September 1990, face serious new challenges to their case. In February 1997, a lower court rejected the amnesty request filed by the three military commanders who ordered Dr. Mack’s execution on the grounds that the new amnesty law only applied to cases related to armed conflict. During the first week of March, the defendants, Edgar Agosto Godoy Gaitan, Juan Valencia Osorio, and Juan Guillermo Oliva Carrera, filed for an appeal. However, the appeals court stated it had no competence to hear appeals on the amnesty law, declaring that only the Supreme Court had the authority to do so.

Moreover, Dr. Mack’s case has been seriously set back by the December 1996 decision by a Guatemalan court to effectively annul the prosecution’s investigation of the defendants and the indictments against them. The annulment arose out of the passing of a new Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) several months before the start of the investigation. A Supreme Court ruling on 15 October 1996 stated that the case had been incorrectly assigned to proceed under the new code and would have to be tried under the former criminal code. Following reassignment of the case, the investigation’s findings were annulled. Despite the position of the appeals courts that the ruling to reassign the case is non-reviewable, Helen Mack, Dr. Mack’s sister, has filed several extraordinary (amparo) petitions challenging the decision. Guatemalan courts are expected to review the amparo petitions following a ruling on the defendants’ amnesty appeals.

At the regional level, significant steps have been reached in resolving the case. In March 1996, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights declared the Mack case admissible on the grounds that domestic remedies have not been effective. Consequently, adjudication may proceed through either a public report by the Commission or evidentiary proceedings and a decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Many of the individuals involved in the case have been threatened. Most seriously, the chief homicide investigator responsible for the Mack case, Jose Miguel Merida Escobar, was murdered on 5 August 1991. In his report, he had concluded that Dr. Mack’s murder was politically motivated and named Noel de Jesus Beteta Alvarez, a member of the military intelligence unit, as one of the perpetrators. Beteta Alvarez was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. Employees of the Association for the Advancement of Social Science in Guatemala (Asociacion para el Avance de las Ciencias Sociales en Guatemala [AVANCSO]), which Dr. Mack co-founded and specialized in rural studies and development policy, have received numerous threats, reportedly from members of the government’s security forces. On 3 March 1997, AVANCSO employees were warned that the motorcycle of Gustavo Adolfo Albizures Estrada, AVANCSO’s messenger, had been burned and that Clara Arenas, AVANCSO’s Executive Director, would suffer the same fate.

AVANCSO has been receiving threatening phone calls since the signing of the peace accord between the government and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteco (URNG) on 29 December 1996. At that time, two men had appeared at AVANCSO’s offices and questioned staff members about their work. These two men were later identified as the perpetrators of a 24 February 1997 attack on Mr. Albizures, in which the assailants stole his motorcycle and interrogated him on Ms. Arenas’s relations with Dr. Mack and her sister Helen Mack.

Following a 26 February 1997 meeting between Ms. Arenas, Ms. Mack, and the National Defense Minister Julio Balconi to discuss the attack on Mr. Albizures, AVANCSO received an anonymous phone call threatening: “[t]ell those bitches that wherever they go and whatever they say, we’ll be watching them.” On February 28, AVANCSO received a similar threat.

Not only do threats against AVANCSO undermine the progress made by the peace accord, they violate Guatemala’s international legal obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the American Convention on Human Rights. The murder of Dr. Mack and the unwarranted delay in the prosecution of her case are inconsistent with international standards for human rights, including the right to life under Article 4 of the American Convention on Human Rights and the right to effective legal remedies and due process guaranteed under Articles 1,8, and 25. (Source of this information: March 1997 Lawyers Committee for Human Rights Advocacy Alert and Update)

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send telexes, telegrams, faxes, or airmail letters:

• expressing concern for the security of Ms. Arenas and Mr. Albizures, and the lack of effective judicial proceedings, including the unwarranted delay in the prosecution of Dr. Mack’s case;
• calling for the Guatemalan government to conduct a full investigation of the continued threats against AVANCSO; and
• demanding that the Guatemalan government uphold international law under the Covenant for Political and Civil Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights by guaranteeing the physical security for AVANCSO employees and their ability to conduct the organization’s work without intimidation.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

President Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen
Presidente de la Republica
Palacio Nacional
Ciudad de Guatemala
GUATEMALA
Fax: 502-2-21-45-37


Lic. Rodolfo Mendoza
Minister of Governance
Ministro de Gobernacion
Palacio Nacional
Cidudad de Guatemala
GUATEMALA
Fax: 502-2-51-53-68


General Julio Balconi
Defense Minister
Ministro de la Defensa
Palacio Nacional
Ciudad de Guatemala
GUATEMALA
Fax: 502-3-32-51-18


Lic. Jorge Mario Garcia Laguardia
Human Rights Procurator
Procurador de los Derechos Humanos
12 Av. 12-17, zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala
GUATEMALA
fax: 502-2-38-17-34

COPIES SENT TO:

Lic. Pedro Miguel Lamport
Embassy of Guatemala
2220 R St., NW
Washington, DC 20008
fax: 202-745-1908


H.E. Donald J. Planty
U.S. Embassy Unit 3303, APOAA 34024
fax: 502-331-8885

Please send copies of your appeals, and any responses you may receive, or direct any questions you may have to Elisa Munoz, AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, 1200 New York Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20005; tel. 202-326-6797; email EMUNOZ@AAAS.ORG; or fax 202-289-4950. The keys to effective appeals are to be: courteous and respectful; accurate and precise; impartial in approach; and as specific as possible regarding alleged violation and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. Reference to your scientific organization and professional affiliation are always helpful.

The keys to effective appeals are to be courteous and respectful, accurate and precise, impartial in approach, and as specific as possible regarding the alleged violation and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. Reference to your scientific organization and professional affiliation is always helpful.

To ensure that appeals are current and credible, please do not continue to write appeals on this case after 90 days from the date of the posting unless an update has been issued.

To verify the contents of this alert and/or the electronic signature, please download the signed file for this alert along with the Program's PGP Public Key.

Main | CSFR Letters | Science and Human Rights Program