I received the following communication from Bruce Harris, Executive
Director of Casa Alianza and am passing it on to the list.
Brian
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>November 22nd, 1995
>
>For more than 5 years, children have had their eyes gouged out, their ears
>and toungues cut off and have then, and only then, been shot through the
>head. The perpetrators of this grotesque form of torture have been
>uniformed. They are the National Police. And they are literally getting away
>with murder....
>
>Covenant House (Casa Alianza in Spanish) has been working with street
>children and abandoned children in Guatemala since 1981. We provide
>residential and non-residential services for the estimated 5,000 street
>children in Guatemala City. These children average between 8 and 14 years
>old, both boys and girls.
>
>During the past five years, Casa Alianza's Legal Aid Office for Street
>Children in Guatemala has been documenting the torture and violence
>against the street children. It has been horrendous to say the least.
>The first case was 13 year old Nahaman Carmona Lopez, a frail street
>boy who was kicked to death in the middle of Guatemala City by four
>uniformed National Policemen on March 4th, 1990. Then four street
>youth, Julio Caal (15), Jovito Jose Juarez (17), Federico Figueroa
>(20) and Henry Giovani Contreras (18) were kidnapped by at least two
>members of the 5th precinct of the National Police. Their bodies were
>found ten days later - their eyes had been gouged out, their ears and
>tongues cut off and then - and only then - they were shot through the
>head.....
>
>In February 1990, the UN Convention Against Torture and Cruel and
>Inhumane Treatment came into effect in Guatemala. According to the
>Convention, the Guatemalan government should have made a formal report
>to the UN Committee Against Torture (in charge of monitoring the
>implementation of the Convention Against Torture), but to date, some
>five years later, the government has not done so - until today.
>
>Casa Alianza has put together a 100 page illustrated report,
>graphically documenting 5 years of torture of Guatemalan street
>children by the uniformed authorities in Guatemala, which has been
>sent to the UN Committee Against Torture who met last week to hear the
>Guatemalan government's report about torture in their country. The >Guatemalan
>government, represented by Lic. Vicente Aranz, the President of >COPREDEH, the
>government's human rights office, had originally travelled to >Geneva in April
>of this year to make a report saying that "torture does not exist >in
>Guatemala". The day before they were going to make their report, they
>caught wind that Casa Alianza had presented a preliminary report to
>the UN Committee and so the Guatemalans requested six months to revise
>their report.
>
>To date, they have not shared their "revised" report
>with us, but according to press reports out of Geneva, the Guatemalan
>government has, for the first time ever, admitted that there is torture in
>Guatemala.
>
>PLEASE RAISE YOUR VOICE....
>
>Please send an e-mail message TODAY to Lic. Vicente Aranz, President
>of COPREDEH at <copredeh@nicarao.apc.org> recognising the Guatemalan
>governments admittance of the continued use of torture in their country, and
>ask his government to guarantee that the perpetrators of the torture and
>murder will
>be prosecuted - uniformed or no. Please do NOT just forward this
>message to COPREDEH, and please send a copy of your message to Casa
>Alianza at <casalnza@sol.racsa.co.cr> so that we can measure the
>response.
>
>You can cite some of the following cases of torture and cruel
>treatment of street children - just a selection of those in the Casa
>Alianza report:
>
>- Moises Diaz (13) and Williams Chalin (14); severely beaten by two
>National Policemen on October 12th, 1990 - Carlos Rodriguez (13),
>Felipe Gonzalez (15), Antonio Franco (14); viciously kicked and beaten
>by a member of the National Police and the Treasury Police whilst
>sleeping, on November 8th, 1990. The children required medical
>treatment. - Sandra Hernandez (16) - Beaten over the head with a night
>stick by two National Policemen on March 14th, 1991. Sandra's head had
>to be stitched up by a doctor. - Julio Cesar Reyes (15) - Burnt 19
>times with cigarettes on his left arm by two men who threatened to
>arrest the boy, on March 14th, 1993. - Juan Humberto Ramos Cifuentes
>(19) and Cecilio Jax (16) - shot, kidnapped and murdered by two males,
>seemingly private policemen, working under the co-ordination of the
>Ministry of the Interior. Their bodies were thrown into the rubbish
>dump in Zone 3 of Guatemala City on July 20th, 1994. - Daniel Rosales
>(10) and Ruben Garcia (14) - both shot to death at close range in the
>back by two uniformed private policemen working under the authority of
>the Ministry of the Interior, on September 24th, 1995. - Oscar Rene
>Marroquin; shot twice by a private policeman, who then paid two
>members of the National Police to take the wounded boy away. Oscar was
>found dead the next morning dumped behind a football stadium, on
>January 6th, 1995.
>
>If you would like a copy of the 100 page, illustrated report
>(available in both English and Spanish), please send a US dollar
>cheque for ten dollars (includes postage), made out to Casa Alianza,
>to the following address:
>
>Casa Alianza
>SJO 1039
>PO Box 025216
>Miami FL 33102-5216 USA
>
>Thank you very much for your support. This is a way that you really
>CAN make a difference. Warmest regards,
>
>Bruce Harris
>Executive Director
>Latin American Programmes