[Peace] Forward from Jessica Popuvac, Urgent Action from Jennifer Harbury

[Meridith Kruse]

Dear Friends of Guatemala,

Please read and take action on the following letter written by Jennifer
Harbury, concerning the Bamaca Witness, Otoniel De La Roca Mendoza, who is
being threatened in his US home.  As you will read, your efforts have made,
and continue to make a difference.

Adelante,
Max Gimbel
Info-Doc Program Coordinator
Update Editor
3321 12th St. NE
Washington D.C. 20017
202.529.6599
mgimbel at ghrc-usa.org

URGENT ACTION :  BAMACA WITNESS RECEIVES THREATS IN US

January 13, 2003

Dear Friends,

             Let me start this letter by thanking everyone for the
incredible number of phone calls and messages that went to the both
Guatemalan and US officials over the attack on my sister in law in
Guatemala. I was able to go down there and work things through, and for the
time being , the three sisters appear to be safe. The Inter-American Court
has also issued protective orders. Unfortunately, one of the key witnesses,
Otoniel De La Roca Mendoza,  has been receiving threats against both himself
and his family up here in the United States. We need your help once again,
and urgently.

             I know that many of you will remember Otoniel's case from our
urgent actions in years past. His wife, mother, father and sister were all
"disappeared" by the Guatemalan army in the 1980s, and he himself was seized
and badly tortured. His torture included electrical shocks, drownings,
beatings with a bat, and "hoodings" with a rubber hood filled with
pesticides. While he was being detained, his two small toddlers were dragged
from a Church sanctuary and held on the base with him as a form of
additional pressure. Needless to say, he is very, very protective of all of
his surviving family members. Despite the trauma he has endured, he had the
strength and courage to step forward and testify to the OAS about seeing
Everardo in army captivity in 1992. Not surprisingly, this forced him into
exile together with his family. They have been sticking together and
supporting each other in a remarkable way, and have really built a new lives
for themselves here.

             Over a year ago, Otoniel began receiving frightening  calls
from Guatemalans, telling him that he had talked too much, and that he
should have been killed when they had the chance. He was also told that he
and his children would be killed. The threats continued for some time, and
worse yet, there were several very disturbing incidents of strange cars
cruising slowly by their home, and at one point, a car with darkened windows
following Otoniel home from work.  In the end, they were forced to move.
Thanks to everyone's calls then, the threats came to an end, and the family
began to feel safe.

             Over the holidays, however, just as I reached Guatemala to
assist my sisters, Otoniel's family began to receive strange calls, from
persons who would not speak, but only asked for Otoniel. The operator told
them calls were coming from outside the United States. His child took one
such call and reported that there was an "hombre bravo" (angry man), asking
for his father. Otoniel took the next call and was screamed at by a
Guatemalan man  who told Otoniel that they had been looking for him, and
that he didn't seem to care that he and his family would be killed.  With
that, Otoniel hung up and had his phone  disconnected. That slowed the calls
for the time being, but we are all extremely concerned that the cars with
black glass windows will once again show up, or that worse will happen. I
note that a nephew of Otoniel's has recently been tortured and murdered in
Guatemala.

             In short, the Guatemalan death squads still feel quite free to
terrorize people legally living here in the United States. We need your
calls once again!

 PLEASE CALL THE GUATEMALAN EMBASSY!

 The telephone number is 202-745-4952 and the fax is 202-745-1908

 Please tell them that :

 We will not tolerate Guatemalan military acts of terror within the United
States.

That if this is how the Guatemalan army respect international court
decisions, then we will begin a campaign to have Guatemala expelled from the
OAS.
If there are any more threats we will ask Congress to extradite the
Guatemalan military officials known to be involved in drug trafficking.


If you wish to inform your Congresspersons of this situation, and ask them
to contact the Guatemalan Embassy as well to voice their concerns, please do
so. The Congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121.

Thank you to everyone for all of the calls made last December. The response
was really extraordinary and it did a great deal of good. The reaction of
both US and Guatemalan officials was very telling.   I know the calls may
seem tedious, but they do work, and work very well.   Abrazos, Jennifer