Legal Security for Indigenous peoples – Stop the Impunity!

The Civil War in Guatemala (1960-1996) officially ended 14 years ago, but the human rights situation has barely improved since. The head of the UN-Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala – CICIG), Carlos Castresana, has stepped down from his position as a statement of protest against the lack of support from the Guatemalan government for his work.

In Guatemala, state institutions as well as the justice system are riddled with corruption. In less than two percent of the cases are crimes resolved and perpetrators held accountable for their actions. This impunity has contributed significantly to the increase of violent crime over the last few years, which especially affects the indigenous population of Guatemala, the Mayans. More people were killed in 2009 than the annual average during the 36-year civil war. Up to 60 percent of the Guatemalan population are, according to their own estimates, descendants of the Mayan.

This phenomenon of impunity is a sad tradition in Guatemala that continues to create suffering for the indigenous people of the country. The indigenous people were already exposed to serious violent crime during the civil war. Hundreds of Mayan villages were attacked, the residents murdered and their houses burned to the ground. Approximately 200,000 Mayans were forced to flee. At the height of the violence were the targeted massacres ordered by the chief of state, Efraín Ríos Mont, in 1982/83. Legal action has rarely been taken since. There has been no reprocessing of the past or of the crimes committed against the indigenous population. The indigenous people of Guatemala have therefore lost faith both in the justice system and in any form of legal security.

The Commission against Impunity in Guatemala began its work at the end of 2007. The Guatemalan government under Oscar Berger, the president at the time, established the institution as a collaborative effort with the UN. Its goal is to help people regain some trust in the justice system. Its mission: to seek out the organized crime in state facilities and to improve the investigative and criminal prosecution processes. Carlos Castresana is the head of the UN Commission (Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala – CICIG).

Castresana and his commission have certainly reached important successes in the struggle against corruption and impunity. Lawyers, judges and policemen have been removed from their positions and prosecuted in court. Former president Alfonso Portillo was arrested in January of 2010 and charged with embezzlement of monies during his time in office (2000-2004). Portillo also has to answer for corruption charges in the USA. The Guatemalan government is shaky in its support of the commission, however, and has at times even boycotted its work. With the appointment of Conrado Reyes to the position of Attorney General, an important position in the judicial system has been filled by a man whose connections to illegal organizations are well-known.

Carlos Castresana stepped down from his position on June 7, 2010 in response to the lack of support from the Guatemalan government. The government has showed no sign of reducing the crime rate or of clearing up the human rights crimes committed against Mayans. Francisco Dall´Anese Ruiz has took over as the head of the commission in the beginning of July 2010. Supporting the commission and its goals must become an important part of the political culture in Guatemala.

Help us call on the Guatemalan government and its president Álvaro Colom to prioritize the effective collaboration between the UN Commission against Impunity in Guatemala and Guatemalan institutions, as well as to ensure a fair handling of the past with regard to the Indigenous people of Guatemala. In this way, legal security should become possible for both the Indigenous and non Indigenous citizens of Guatemala.

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