Please forward the below letter
to Guatemalan and US authorities today! Download the letter here and
forward it with a personal note to embassies, consulates and
Guatemalan officials. The contact list can be found here.
Additionally, please consider sending the letter to your elected representative and make sure to follow up and request a response.
Dear Mr. Julio Ligorría Carballido, Guatemalan Ambassador to the United States,
The below signed members
of the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA)
write with deep concern regarding the decision of the Guatemalan
government to cancel the temporary residence permits of two
international accompaniers representing Peace Brigades International
(PBI). The measure was the result of two resolutions issued on July
1, 2014 by Guatemala's Ministry of the Interior and Office of
Migration Services. The resolutions did not state the reasons or events that led to the visa revocation, nor did they provide evidence to justify the decision. Ten days after the resolutions were issued, and on the same day the volunteers were required to leave the country, the Minister of the Interior Mauricio López Bonilla informed PBI that the revocations had been annulled and the accompaniers would be allowed to remain in the country.
We denounce the attempt
to undermine international accompaniment and observation, efforts
implemented by PBI at the request of individuals, communities, and
organizations under threat. We express our grave concern about the
targeting of international observers who provide human rights
protective accompaniment and the use of these strategies as a means
of undermining the security of human rights defenders in Guatemala.
We reiterate our solidarity with PBI Guatemala, a sister organization
carrying out impeccable work in defense of human rights.
For more than thirty
years, NISGUA and the Guatemala Accompaniment Project have played a
vital role in creating and protecting political space for Guatemalans
to defend civil, political, economic, social, cultural,
environmental, and indigenous rights. NISGUA volunteers, like those
from PBI, provide the non-partisan, non-interventionist and
non-violent observation that human rights defenders depend on to
carry out their work in the face of actual and potential human rights
threats and attacks. This work is recognized in the United Nations
Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups
and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which underscores the
fundamental role of international cooperation in contributing to the
protection of human rights.
We request that you call
on President Otto Pérez Molina, the Ministry of the Interior and the
Office of Migration Services to respect the right of Guatemalans to
carry out their work in defense of human rights and to request the
presence of international accompaniment and observation when that
work is at risk. We also ask that you demand clarification from the
Office of Migration Services for the hasty and irregular process by
which the permits were initially revoked. Finally, we ask that you call on the
state of Guatemala and its corresponding institutions to uphold their
obligation to protect human rights defenders, recognizing the
critical role they play in the construction of a participatory
democracy with respect for the rule of law.
We look forward to your
response and thank you in advance for your consideration of the above
requests.
Sincerely,
Network in Solidarity
with the People of Guatemala/NISGUA and the Guatemala Accompaniment
Project network:
Guatemala Accompaniment
Project Council, USA
Copper Country Guatemala
Accompaniment Project, MI
Kickapoo Guatemala
Accompaniment Project, WI
Lakes Area Group
Organizing for Guatemala (LAGOS), MN
Needham Congregational
Church/Guatemala Partnership, MA
New Hampshire-Vermont
Guatemala Accompaniment Project, NH-VT
Santa Elena Project of
Accompaniment, OH
Task Force on the
Americas, CA
Wyoming Guatemala
Accompaniment Project, WY
Unitarian Universalist
Church of Arlington-Partners for Arlington and Guatemala, VA
CC:
United States Embassy in
Guatemala
Political Affairs Officer
Norman Galimba
GalimbaN@state.gov
Guatemalan Consulates in
the United States
Guatemala Office of
Migration Services
Director Manual Vicente
Roca Menéndez
direccion@migracion.gob.gt
President of the Republic
of Guatemala
Otto Pérez Molina
informacion@secretariaprivada.gob.gt
ottoperezmolina@guatemala.gob.gt
ottoperezmolina@guatemala.gob.gt
Guatemalan Ministry of
the Interior
Mauricio López Bonilla
fdeleon@mingob.gob.gt
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