PBI-Guatemala observes IWD march, shares photo of poster in the Plaza de la Niñas of Luz Haydee Méndez Calderón

Published by Brent Patterson on March 9, 2025March 9, 2025

On March 8, PBI-Guatemala posted on Facebook:

“Today, #PBI observes the march for the commemoration of #InternationalWomen’sDay. Different women’s groups showed their rejection and repudiation of hatred, discrimination, persecution, violence and decisions that violate the human rights of girls, adolescents, women and the LGBTIQ+ community. They also demanded the fulfillment of their rights to education, decent working conditions, health, access to justice and security, among others.

The march culminated in the Plaza de la Niñas where a ceremony was held to remember the violent death of 41 girls and adolescents as well as 15 injured in the fire at the Hogar Seguro de la Asunción eight years ago on this same day.”

The Plaza de la Constitución was renamed Plaza de las Niñas de Guatemala 8 de Marzo in memory of the 41 teenage girls (ages 13 to 17) killed in the fire at the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home on March 8, 2017.

One of the photos PBI-Guatemala shared in their Facebook post is a large poster of a painting of Luz Haydee Méndez Calderón.

Mendez Calderon was forcibly disappeared on March 8, 1984. She was 36 years old and the mother of two children aged 9 and 11.

The Vancouver Sun provides this biographical background on her: “She was born in 1948 to a family that ran a modest bakery. Affectionately known as “La Chapparita,” or “Shorty,” as a child, she sold bread in the streets. Méndez Calderón’s father participated in the pro-democracy revolution of 1944, bringing about a decade of reforms, before the U.S.-backed coup in 1954 triggered the civil war. At university, Méndez Calderón participated in progressive movements and wrote for the student newspaper.”

Journalist Sandra Cuffe has also reported: “At the time, Mendez Calderon was secretary of international relations for the Guatemalan Labour Party, which had been forced underground after a United States-backed coup in 1954 and became one of the armed fighter groups involved in a 36-year conflict with the military.”

The article by Cuffe in Al Jazeera adds: “The Diario Militar, or Death Squad Diary, documented the abductions, torture, disappearances and executions of 183 people, including Mendez Calderon, between 1983 and 1985. The military intelligence dossier includes a section with a numbered list of the 183, with their names, affiliations, photograph, date and location of abduction, and other basic details.”

The CBC has also reported: “At the time, the Guatemalan army, supported by U.S. military aid, said it was fighting terrorists bent on a Communist overthrow. Government opponents said they were merely struggling to provide more rights to impoverished Mayan peasants being squeezed off the land by fruit growers and coffee conglomerates, or employed by those same companies for low wages.”

That article further notes that Mendez Calderon’s daughter Wendy arrived “in Vancouver in 1985 as political refugees after the disappearance of her mother.”

Update on #CasoDiarioMilitar

PBI-Guatemala has been accompanying the #CasoDiarioMilitar court hearing process that began in May-June 2021.

In May 2024, PBI-Guatemala commented: “Currently, the process is moving very slowly and is practically at a standstill. However, the families and friends of the people who appear in the [military diary} commemorate the publication of this document every year [on May 20, 1999], in the hope of learning the whereabouts of their loved ones and raising awareness about the importance of this document in the history of Guatemala.”

Most recently, in December 2024, Prensa Comunitaria also reported: “Currently, the case is paralyzed.”

Accompaniment

PBI-Guatemala now accompanies the Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala (FAMDEGUA). They note that FAMDEGUA “is playing a key role in the Diario Militar case.” FAMDEGUA was accompanied by PBI from 1992 until 1999, when PBI’s Guatemala Project was temporarily closed. In 2023, after receiving a renewed request from the organization, PBI began accompanying FAMDEGUA again in April 2024.

We continue to follow this.