Sepur Zarco: First case of sexual slavery will be heard in Guatemalan courts

On June 22, 2015, Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez ruled to accept witness testimonies and other evidence in the Sepur Zarco sexual slavery case. This is the first case of its kind to be heard in Guatemala courts and will be presided over by Judge Yassmín Barrios. The case first began in September 2011, when the Breaking the Silence and Impunity Alliance[1] filed a legal complaint against former military personnel on charges of sexual violence committed against the Q'eqchi' women at the Sepur Zarco military base during the internal armed conflict. Although no firm trial date is set, it is expected to begin early next year.

In 1982, the military arrived in Sepur Zarco in eastern Guatemala and accused the Q'eqchí community of forming part of the guerilla. The nearby military base, used as a rest and recreation center for soldiers, was operating within a larger context of illegal land grabs. The center had the support of powerful national and international economic interests who were using large areas of land in the area to produce sugar cane for biofuels and carry out other resource extraction activities.

During the preliminary phase of the trial, 15 women testified to having been enslaved and repeatedly raped by soldiers - sometimes in front of their children - between 1982 and 1988. During these years, they were also forced to cook for the soldiers and wash their clothes. Many of the women were held hostage at the base for at least 6 months in 1982 after their husbands had been disappeared.

Former Colonel Esteelmer Francisco Reyes Girón and former Military Commissioner Heriberto Valdéz Asig were arrested and indicted in 2014, Reyes Girón is being charged with crimes against humanity, including sexual violence, sexual slavery, domestic slavery, cruel and inhumane treatment, and murder. Valdéz Asig is also being accused of crimes against humanity, including sexual violence and forced disappearance.

For more information on the Sepur Zarco case, read an article written by a Luz Mendez, a leader with UNAMG, and an interview with Gabriela Rivera, a lawyer with Mujeres Transformando el Mundo. 

A survivor testifies in 2012 with the support
of an interpreter. Photo credit: CPR Urbana

This case of sexual slavery has opened the door for other cases of sexual violence committed during the armed conflict to be heard - including during the 2013 genocide trial - and has set the stage for the inclusion of the systematic use of sexual violence by the military as considered a war crime. According to the Historical Clarification Commission, 88.7% of the sexual violence committed during the armed conflict was against indigenous women.

Judge Barrios presided over the historic 2013 genocide case that convicted former general Efraín Ríos Montt of genocide and crimes against humanity. Ever since the Constitutional Court overturned the verdict ten days later in a controversial ruling, Judge Barrios has had to fight her own legal battles against economic and military interests that continue to hold power in Guatemala. Shortly after emitting the sentence, Guatemala's Bar Association imposed sanctions on her and attempted to have her suspended from the bench . Later, the Constitutional Court unanimously rejected the sanctions, citing the Bar's actions to impose sanctions on Barrios as an "improper intrusion on judicial independence."

The Public Prosecutor and plaintiffs for this case have already denounced the stalling tactics being employed by the defense in this case as an attempt to evade justice. In the coming months, it will continue to be important to hold the international spotlight on this precedent-setting case. Through ACOGUATE, NISGUA has accompanied the Sepur Zarco case since 2012.

[1] The Breaking the Silence and Impunity Alliance is made up of three organizations: Women Transforming the World (Mujeres Transformando el Mundo - MTM), the Community Studies and Psychosocial Action Team (Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosocial - ECAP) and the National Union of Guatemalan Women (la Unión Nacional de las Mujeres Guatemaltecas - UNAMG).

Ixil communities of Nebaj express opposition to US-led extraction in their territory

"Historically, we have never received the support of the state or the government for our development, which is why it seems fair that we be able to take advantage of our own natural resources in order to improve the living conditions of our people according to our own vision of development." 

Letter from communities of Nebaj to US-owned Double Crown Resources Inc.

In May 2014, US-owned natural resource exploration and development company, Double Crown Resources, Inc., bought the exclusive rights to all barite production from the Bilojom II mine site located near Salquil Grande, Vicalamá and Tzalbal, three Maya Ixil communities in the municipality of Santa Maria Nebaj. Despite having already presented their formal opposition to the imposition of large-scale projects on their territory to the Guatemalan Congress in 2010, plans to ramp up the extraction of barite, a non-metalic mineral used primarily for petroleum and natural gas drilling and extraction processes, continue.

In response, representatives from the affected communities submitted letters to Guatemalan and international authorities in which they reject the extraction of barite on their communally owned lands and demand respect for the right to consultation and self-determination.

Community representatives meet with the Guatemala Human Rights Ombudsman. Photo NISGUA

NISGUA joined the communities in submitting our own letter to Double Crown Resources (en español aquí) expressing our concern regarding the imposition of mining projects without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous population. Likewise, we are concerned by the participation of a US-owned company in the ongoing usurpation and exploitation of Ixil lands and peoples given the history of genocide and forced displacement in the region during the internal armed conflict.

While clandestine extraction of barite from the region known as Corralcub has been occurring illegally since the early 1990s, the involvement of Double Crown Resources, through their relationship with the Mexico-based Geominas de Guatemala S.A., indicates a concerning turning point for the imposition of large-scale extractive projects in the department of Quiché. Double Crown Resources plans to export an estimated 10 thousand metric tons of what they consider to be extremely high-quality barite to their soon-to-be completed processing plant in New Orleans, LA.

Widespread community opposition is focused on concerns regarding the impact on local water sources. During a previous phase of barite extraction beginning in 2003, Geominas utilized dynamite to remove the mineral, causing massive destruction of the natural environment that local communities depend on. Communities explain the impacts stating, "As a result of the constant explosions, the springs from Vijolom II that served the community of Salquil Grande dried up, and thousands of people in the surrounding  communities were left without drinking water."

In their letter, communities also call into question the legality of the mining licenses given that the land in question is communal property of the ejido of the municipality of Santa Maria Nebaj. "This land is the property, not only of the municipality of Nebaj, but also of each and every citizen of the municipality. This is to say that the land is communally owned and managed by the indigenous farming communities and is protected under the communal system by the communities and peoples, as well as by their municipal authorities."

NISGUA has provided on-the-ground human rights accompaniment to communities, witnesses and survivors in the municipality of Nebaj since 2001 when the legal case for genocide and crimes against humanity against former general Efraín Ríos Montt was filed. In May 2014, the witnesses and survivors of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation along with their legal team, achieved what many believed was impossible – Ríos Montt was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced to 80 years in prison.

Over the years, we have heard stories from our partners in Nebaj about how the violence of the 1980s sought to eliminate their families and communities through massacres, extra-judicial executions and forced displacement. We have also heard about the ways in which that violent past has continued into the present – how the current attempts to remove the indigenous Ixil population from their ancestral, communal lands ring as alarming echoes of the past. 

Certainly the tactics have changed – communities are not attacked with tanks and bombs, but rather by an army of multi-national development firms that threaten their communities with the very same displacement and loss of culture. The opposition to Bilojom II mine is just one of many examples throughout Guatemala in which indigenous communities, in the midst of healing and seeking justice for the deep wounds of the armed conflict, have stood up in defense of their land, livelihoods and culture.

Retired military officials arraigned for atrocities at Sepur Zarco military base

Ex-colonel Esteelmer Reyes Girón and ex-military commissioner Heriberto Valdéz Asij were arraigned and ordered to pre-trial detention on June 23 by Tribunal "B" of the High Risk Crimes Court. The two will remain in prison while they await trial on charges of assassination, forced disappearance, and crimes against humanity.

Estelmer Reyes Girón and Heriberto Valdéz Asij in court on June 23.
Photo: CPR-Urbana

The accusations stem from acts ostensibly committed between 1982 and 1983, when Reyes served as colonel of the military base Sepur Zarco, located in eastern Guatemalan department of Izabal, with Valdez as his subordinate. Reyes is accused of the assassination of Dominga Coc and her two daughters, whose remains were exhumed and identified by specialists with the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation. Valdez is accused of forcibly disappearing a group of campesinos in 1982, who were at the time involved in a prolonged struggle to obtain legal titles for their lands.

The two are additionally accused of holding at least 15 Q'eqchí women as sexual slaves in the military base between 1982 and 1988. The women were enslaved after their husbands were forcibly disappeared, and held hostage in the military base for at least 6 months.

In September 2012, these 15 women presented their testimony to the court in anticipation of the upcoming trial. The women, concerned for their personal security, wore scarves over their heads to protect their identities as they recounted their stories.

In September 2012 15 women presented their testimony to a Guatemalan court.
Photo: Sandra Sebastián

According to the Commission for Historical Clarification, sexual violence was a "widespread and systematic practice by state agents as part of the counterinsurgency strategy" during Guatemala's 36-year long internal armed conflict. The women of the Sepur Zarco case set global precedent when the trial opened, as the first time the crime of sexual slavery as a crime against humanity was tried in a national court.

Judge Miguel Ángel Alvez reads his order sentencing Valdéz and Reyes to await trail in prison. (En español)

After the court presented its order, the ex-military officials were immediately brought to the Mariscal Zavala Prison. The two men will remain imprisoned until the commencement of their trial, which is tentatively scheduled for the beginning of October.

NISGUA, through the Guatemalan Accompaniment and ACOGUATE, has accompanied the Sepur Zarco case since 2012.

Guatemala commemorates victims and 15 yr anniversary of truth commission

February 25 marks the annual Day of Dignity for Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict in Guatemala. In addition, 15 years ago to the day, the UN-sponsored Historical Clarification Commission presented its "Guatemala: Memory of Silence" report. Twelve volumes in total, the report provides findings from a detailed investigation of the acts of violence that occurred during Guatemala's 36-year internal armed conflict. 

On February 25, 1999, the head of the Commission shared before a packed audience at Guatemala's national theater: "The Commission concludes, with great consternation, that within the framework of counterinsurgency operations carried out between 1981 and 1983... agents of the State committed acts of genocide against groups of Maya people."

Further, the Commission revealed, according to their investigation, that the Guatemalan Army was responsible for 93% of deaths during the conflict, while the guerrillas were responsible for 3%. These and other findings would help form the foundation for the historic genocide trial against Ríos Montt that took place from March to May of last year.

This year, Guatemalan human rights defenders and social organizations partnered with musicians, poets and artists for a multi-generational, interactive day of activities to celebrate the 15-year anniversary of "Memory of Silence" and commemorate victims of the internal armed conflict. This year's events were particularly special, reflecting on the genocide trial and its historic sentence, that continues to validate genocide survivors' decades-long struggle seeking truth and justice for crimes of the past.

An emblematic photo of an Ixil woman swearing in
 to the genocide trial helped to set the stage.

"Justice for the disappeared"

The "Mother of the Disappeared" looks over just a few faces of
those disappeared during the internal armed conflict. 

Nearby schools brought students to participate in the day's activities and learn the importance of February 25. Youth were encouraged to get creative and write messages of inspiration on the public sidewalk and street, including: “Peace,” “No to racism,” “Free,” “Yes to life,” “The right to decide,” “I love Guatemala.”

The youth listened on to invited speakers, including Anselmo Roldán Aguilar, president of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR). He shared part of his story as a genocide survivor and explained, "Some say they don't want to remember what happened during the conflict, that's because they did not experience the violence first hand."

While justice in Guatemala has taken a serious hit recently with the fate of current Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz's term limit uncertain and the issue of Ríos Montt's amnesty still unresolved, Roldán shared an inspiring message on behalf of the AJR. He declared: "We will continue fighting to break down the wall of impunity in Guatemala so we can all live in peace."

AJR board members, including President Anselmo Roldán (far right),
take the stage at the Feb. 25 events.