PBI-Guatemala accompanies ceremony on 3rd anniversary of Hogar Seguro fire

On March 9, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “Apart from the [International Women’s Day] march, yesterday we accompanied the ceremony for girls burned in the Virgin de la Assumption state home, which was organized by the members of the Network of Healers.”

Forty-one girls, who were 14 to 17 years of age, died in a fire at the Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asuncion shelter south-east of Guatemala City on March 8, 2017.

The Guardian has reported, “It has emerged that 56 girls had been locked inside a room measuring 6.8 metres by 7 metres as punishment for organising a protest the day before against cramped conditions and abuse by staff. More than 700 children lived at the home, which had capacity for 400-500.”

Al Jazeera adds, “Some of the victims [of the fire] had run away from home, fleeing abuse and sexual assault by relatives. But many faced more of the same inside the shelter. …For years, girls reported being raped and forced into prostitution inside the state-run facility, but their protests were ignored.”

To read more about the TZ’KAT Network of Ancestral Healers of Community Feminism from Ixmulew (the Network of Healers), please see PBI-Guatemala accompanies TZ’KAT who seek an end to violence against the land and women.

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied TZ’KAT since February 2018.