Guatemala Represion: Message from Mesa Global
I just got off the phone with Norma Maldonado from Mesa Global in Guatemala. She asked me to post to this list the information that there was an extremely violent reaction to today's national strike, declared in response to the Guatemalan Congress' passage of CAFTA last Thursday, and they URGENTLY need the support of the international community.
She told me that over 30,000 people took to the streets this morning in Guatemala City alone, and were greeted by "1980's style" repression from the Army and Civilian National Police. The protest began at the US Embassy but when the protestors arrived at the Parque Central (in front of thePresidential Palace) the security forces arrived and threw an enormous amount of tear gas on the protestors, including many women with children and others who were in the plaza for reasons unrelated to the national strike. They also used rubber bullets on the protestors. The show of force was so strong that people were forced to flee, many were running through the streets until they arrived at the offices of their various civilsociety organizations, in which many of them are still barricaded at this moment, with police presence outside. She said the police are now roaming the streets detaining people in Guatemala City and they have no information about what may have happened in other parts of the country; they are isolated and worried.
Rumors are flying that there are arrest warrants out for 20 leaders of civil society organizations, the names of whom she did not have, although she knew of at least one person who has already been detained (José Pinzón of the CGTC). Many others are also in custody or were taken to hospitals following injuries and at this time they don't know how many. She described it as an emergency requiring our most immediate attention because the safety of many are in the hands of the security forces at this time. Faxes, emails, phone calls to both the Guatemalan Embassy in the US and the US Embassy in Guatemala are really important. Below is the contact info .... Please help!
Thanks,
Angelina Godoy
University of Washington, Seattle
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Guatemalan embassy in Washington:
www.guatemala-embassy.org
Tel : (202) 745-4952
FAX : (202) 745-1908
Email:
Ambassador H.E. Guillerme Castillo
ambassador1
guatemala-embassy.org
Whole list of other emails and telephone numbers for embassy staff:
http://www.guatemala-embassy.org/staff.php
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U.S. Embassy in Guatemala:
http://usembassy.state.gov/guatemala/