Fuerza.
So you know how I was, and am still all about, Jennifer Harbury (I met her through the Rights Action delegation I did in April of last year, then I read her books and took my summer Dragons group to meet her), well her case has been re-opened, here is the short update from the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission:
---
January 26, 2011: Supreme Court orders reopening of Bámaca Case. The Guatemalan Supreme Court’s Criminal BRANCH resolved to reopen the case of the disappeared guerrilla Efrain Bámaca, husband of Jennifer Harbury. The decision was based on the resolution emitted by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in 2000 that ordered the case to be reopened. The Guatemalan Constitutional Court tried to close the case, but the IACHR argued that the case was considered a crime against humanity and therefore could not be closed. The office of the UN High Commissioner called the decision “significant,” saying it “sends a clear message that the grave human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict won’t remain in impunity.”
Efrain Bamaca, on a poster downtown Guatemala City. Along this wall, though not pictured, are other posters of the faces of the Disappeared during the armed conflict.
---
I've said it once, or twice or more, and I'll say it again, Jennifer Harbury is one of the most amazing people I have ever had the privilege to meet. In the early 90's her husband was kidnapped by the Guatemalan army and kept and tortured for 2-1/2 years without trial, and eventually killed. But the army, and the US Embassy, lied to her about it all. She is seeking justice for him, and through her effort thousands of others who were "disappeared" during the war. She still doesn't know where he ended up, buried or whatnot. In the US, they've found a couple of ex-soldiers involved in massacring villages during the worst parts of the war, but for the most part no one has really been "caught" for any of the 200,000 killed & another 50,000 disappeared - a few cases have put some army people in jail but for the most part they still roam free... and this year are running for president! Or enjoy seats in Congress!
From the Guatemala Human Rights Commission:
January 21, 2011: Guatemalan kaibil captured in Canada for massacre at Dos Erres, Peten. Jorge Vinicio Orantes Sosa, a former Guatemalan special forces officer, or kaibil, was detained in Canada while visiting his parents. He is accused of having led the massacre of 251 farmers in the community of Dos Erres, Peten in 1982 and had fled the United States to escape arrest. The U.S. has requested his extradition to process charges against for falsifying information on his application for citizenship. Orantes Sosa's arrest follows the arrest and sentencing of another ex-kaibil Gilberto Jordan, who also participated in the Dos Erres Massacre, in a Florida court in September 2010.
From the Guatemala Human Rights Commission:
January 21, 2011: Guatemalan kaibil captured in Canada for massacre at Dos Erres, Peten. Jorge Vinicio Orantes Sosa, a former Guatemalan special forces officer, or kaibil, was detained in Canada while visiting his parents. He is accused of having led the massacre of 251 farmers in the community of Dos Erres, Peten in 1982 and had fled the United States to escape arrest. The U.S. has requested his extradition to process charges against for falsifying information on his application for citizenship. Orantes Sosa's arrest follows the arrest and sentencing of another ex-kaibil Gilberto Jordan, who also participated in the Dos Erres Massacre, in a Florida court in September 2010.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment