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Embassy of Canada in Guatemala rejects the conviction of anti-corruption prosecutor Virginia Laparra

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Virginia Laparra

La Hora reports: “The Embassy of Canada in Guatemala joined the rejection of the conviction issued against the former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI) of Quetzaltenango, Virginia Laparra, and noted that selective prosecution undermines the rule of law, judicial independence and the guarantee of human rights in the country.”

On Twitter, the Embassy stated: “Canada is deeply concerned about the sentencing of jailed anti-corruption prosecutor Virginia Laparra. The selective prosecution of those who stand up against corruption undermines the rule of law, judicial independence and the guarantee of human rights in Guatemala.”

Background

Deutsche Welle has reported: “Former Guatemalan anti-corruption prosecutor Virginia Laparra was sentenced on Friday [December 16] to four years in prison.”

The article continues: “Gonzalez’s verdict forces Laparra to pay a fine of 10 quetzales (about $1.25) a day for four years to avoid going to prison, although the former prosecutor has been behind bars [in a military prison] since her arrest in February.”

What are the charges against her?

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) explains: ““Abuse of authority,” “false testimony” and “usurpation of powers” –all because she dared denounce a high-risk judge in Quetzaltenango, Lester Castellanos, who she reported for improperly revealing information about a restricted case to a lawyer named Omar Barrios, and who was sanctioned as a result with a five-day suspension.”

WOLA adds: “This is precisely the job she was charged with carrying out at the FECI [Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity].”

After hearing the sentence, Laparra said: “This is a legal aberration and a terrible precedent.”

She has further stated that the charges against her are part of a “vengeance” campaign by right-wing forces intent on protecting corruption rackets and military officers blamed for crimes during the 1960-1996 civil war.

Political persecution

LaHora.gt adds: “National and international organizations pointed to a political persecution against the former head of the FECI of Quetzaltenango since her arrest.”

Reuters also provides this context: “FECI collaborated with the CICIG [International Commission Against Impunity], a U.N. body that was expelled from Guatemala in 2018, after successfully imprisoning former presidents, officials and businessmen involved in corruption cases.”

And Sandra Cuffe has reported: “The CICIG worked alongside Guatemalan investigators and prosecutors to dismantle criminal networks entwined with state power.”

It was ended by the Guatemalan government in September 2019.

Organizations respond

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, says: “Virginia Laparra is a prisoner of conscience who has been unjustly deprived of her liberty for more than nine months. The criminal prosecution initiated against her is unfounded and solely due to her work as a prominent anti-corruption prosecutor.” 

“It is unacceptable that the highest authorities lend themselves to the manipulation of the criminal justice system to harass and punish those who have contributed to significant advances in the fight against impunity in emblematic cases of corruption and human rights violations, thus dignifying Guatemala’s justice system in the eyes of its population.”

Guevara-Rosas adds: “Virginia Laparra must regain her freedom immediately.”

And WOLA comments: “This is justice in Guatemala today. Anti-corruption prosecutors are persecuted and jailed  for doing their job. Judges who have worked a lifetime to combat crime, violence and corruption are being forced out of the country. Corrupt officials in the Public Ministry, with the complicity of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court, are using the law as a blunt instrument to remove prosecutors and judges from their positions and are putting lackeys in their place, or using familiar tactics, including bribery, threats, and blackmail, to ensure the collaboration of others.”

The LaHora.gt article also notes that: “The United Nations (UN), the Unit for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders of Guatemala (UDEFEGUA) and the US Bar Association (ABA) attended the hearings in the case as observers.”

Facebook posts about Virginia Laparra by PBI-Guatemala.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya to Ministry of Energy and Mines on the El Tambor mining project

By
Brent Patterson
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On December 21, PBI-Guatemala posted on Facebook: “Yesterday, #PBI accompanied the La Puya Peaceful Resistance to the Ministry of Energy and Mines to present the delegates for the pre-consultation stage on the El Tambor mining project.”

Background

On March 2, 2012, residents from San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc – an area known as La Puya, just north of Guatemala City – set up a 24-hour a day blockade at the entrance of the Vancouver-based Radius Gold Inc. El Tambor mine.

By August 2012, the Canadian company sold El Tambor to US-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates, but retained an economic interest in the mine (including quarterly royalty payments on the gold production from the mine).

On May 23, 2014, the communities in resistance to the mine were violently evicted by the police. Just prior to the eviction, Peaceful Resistance member Yolanda Oquelí appealed to the police as a PBI-Guatemala volunteer observed the exchange.

In February 2016, the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya won a Guatemalan Supreme Court ruling that provisionally suspended the mining license because there had not been prior consultation with affected communities, as is required under Guatemalan and international law, in particular the International Labour Organization’s Convention 169.

In December 2018, Kappes, Cassiday & Associates filed a $300 million claim with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank arbitration mechanism, claiming its investor rights under the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) had been violated.

On May 21, 2021, the court suspension on the mine imposed in 2016 was lifted, but authorization for the mine to begin operation has not been granted.

Current situation

In June 2022, Prensa Latina reported: “The Minister of Energy and Mines, Alberto Pimentel … stated that the Government will soon issue regulations for carrying out community consultations stipulated in Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on indigenous and tribal peoples.”

“In addition, the pre-consultation stage is being prepared for the Progreso VII Derivada Mining project, also known as El Tambor or La Puya.”

The article also noted: “[Pimentel] also announced that the National Mining Policy is being prepared [and] would be finished in 2023, since he wants to finish it before the change of government.”

PBI-Guatemala has accompanied the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya since November 2012.

 

Blockade at Brady Road landfill in Winnipeg demands search for murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Tre DeLaronde

The Winnipeg Free Press reports: “A group of advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people has shut down public access to Winnipeg’s Brady Road landfill, calling for a halt to dumping and a search for human remains.”

“The group has vowed to maintain a blockade and camp outside the city-run landfill until a search is conducted.”

Tre DeLaronde, a participant in the blockade of the landfill, tells the newspaper: “Even if it takes a whole year, we will be here. We’re here in solidarity with the families so they may have a voice and their cries are not ignored.”

Another participant, Taylor Orpin, says: “We told them if you do not stop dumping, we will. This landfill has ample space to dump elsewhere. That was a simple ask to stop desecrating the land where our sisters lie.”

APTN adds: “Demonstrators, advocates and affected family members want city police to do a second search of the dump for more remains of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls [some of the remains of Rebecca Contois were found in this landfill].”

Pharroh.jij has posted on Instagram:

“Let’s support this local warrior society in helping these indigenous daughters to lay their mothers to rest. I also want to reiterate that this blockade is 10000000% necessary, if these bodies are not recovered it will send a message to white supremacists everywhere to bury indigenous peoples in landfills since nobody will look for them.”

The blockade began on Monday with temperatures around -25C.

David Hartsough remembers PBI-Guatemala’s role following the murders of Hector Gomez and Maria Rosario Godoy de Cuevas

By
Brent Patterson
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Video: David Hartsough speaks about PBI in Guatemala.

In this 5-minute video, David Hartsough talks about the repression against Guatemalans in the early-1980s and the accompaniment that was provided by Peace Brigades International to the Mutual Support Group (GAM) beginning in 1985.

Hartsough says: “Those women [the leaders of the GAM] say we wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for Peace Brigades International. And the other organizations, people say they wouldn’t have had the courage to become active again if it hadn’t been for those women.”

In August 2004, the New Internationalist also published this article that says:

“The country is Guatemala. The year is 1985. Since 1978, the military machine (built with help from the US) has indiscriminately killed as many as 100,000 Guatemalans. Their bodies have been found piled up in ravines, dumped at roadsides or buried in mass graves.

A Mutual Support Group [GAM] has been formed to bring back into the light the disappeared and dead. In March, then again in April, two of their leaders were seized, tortured, and murdered: Hector Gomez, burned with a blowtorch on the stomach and elsewhere; Maria Rosario Godoy de Cuevas, found dead with bite marks on her breasts and her two-year-old son with his fingernails pulled out.

Photo: Hector Gomez was murdered on March 30, 1985.

Photo: Rosario Godoy de Cuevas addressing a GAM rally two months before she was assassinated on April 4, 1985.

‘Their two remaining leaders – both women – came to Peace Brigades International and said: “We must continue to speak out but we don’t want to die,” David Hartsough remembers.

He had been invited to Guatemala by his friend, Alain Richard – a Franciscan working in a team of three with Peace Brigades International. He and the team agreed to accompany the remaining two leaders 24 hours a day, providing an international presence that would effectively deter a military out of control. That presence – always non-violent – gave the two leaders safe space in which to continue their work.

Photo: Alain Richard.

‘Their courage inspired others. And they didn’t die. Walking down the street with these courageous people was one of the scariest things I’ve done.’ And that, coming from David Hartsough, is saying something.”

Part of this story is also told in the book Unarmed Bodyguards by Liam Mahony and Luis Enrique Eguren. They wrote:

“On Saturday, March 30, 1985, Hector Gomez left a GAM meeting at the PBI house. He was found dead the next day with his hands tied behind his back, no tongue, and signs of beating and burns.

On April 3, PBI’s Alain Richard warned founder and secretary of GAM Maria Rosario Godoy de Cuevas not to leave her home for any reason because she was also in danger of being killed. The next day she was found dead in her car in a ravine with her brother and her two-year-old son, who had been ill. The cause of their deaths was strangulation, and the child’s fingernails had been pulled out.

According to Alain, the idea of personal accompaniment did not arise until after her death: “The night before I had to leave [the country to renew my visa], a close diplomatic contact visited me, along with Jean-Marie Simon of Americas Watch, and they told me, ‘Listen, you’ve started to be with these women. That has to continue. How can you make sure you have enough people to do that?’”

This was the beginning of PBI ‘escorting’: providing the surviving GAM leadership with around the clock unarmed bodyguards.”

PBI first arrived in Guatemala in 1983, next year will be its 40th anniversary.

Hartsough is now 82 years old. In 1987, just after the events described above, he co-founded the Nuremberg Actions blocking trains carrying munitions to Central America. He is also a co-founder of Nonviolent Peaceforce and World Beyond War. Hartsough has been arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience more than 150 times.

PBI-Colombia accompanies the Commission of Justice and Peace at gathering of communities from humanitarian and biodiversity zones

By
Brent Patterson
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On December 20, PBI-Colombia posted on Instagram:

“We accompany @justiciapazcolombia in Jiguamiandó #BajoAtrato where communities from various Humanitarian and Biodiversity Zones are committed to community and environmental education, and prepare proposals to continue building #FutureWithResistence from their territories.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission since 1994.

PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS as it installs a billboard with a call for acceptance of international human rights

By
Brent Patterson
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On December 20, PBI-Colombia posted on Instagram:

“We accompany @credhos_paz and we support actions they carry out to respect #IHL [international human rights], #HumanitarianAgreement and ceasefire. In #MagdalenaMedio, guarantees of protection are necessary for communities that continue to be exposed to serious risks and armed conflict.”

CREDHOS also tweeted:

“In the Correg[miento or village] of San Miguel del Tigre of Yondó, Antioquia, we installed a billboard with a call for Respect and Acceptance of #DIH [international human rights], the Humanitarian Agreement of #MagdalenaMedio the ceasefire and hostilities, in order to protect the civilian population and their property.”

PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) since 1994.

When CREDHOS sought refuge at the PBI house in Barrancabermeja on Christmas Day

By
Brent Patterson
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As Christmas approaches for many people, we revisit this story told by Ivan Madero of the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS).

In this video Ivan explains the intensity of the security situation in the city of Barrancabermeja, Santander in 1995.

So much so that he explains CREDHOS members “sought refuge, each of us with our respective families, in the PBI house and spent Christmas there.”

Ivan says: “It was a very special moment, there was a high risk, but in PBI we found fraternity, affection, a good reception, and this was very important.”

PBI-Canada wishes Ivan and CREDHOS members a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Defence Department receives approval for initial $7 billion order of 16 F-35 warplanes

By
Brent Patterson
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The Canadian Press reports: “The Department of National Defence has quietly received approval to buy 16 F-35 fighter jets and related gear for a price tag of $7 billion.”

“The approval covers an initial set of 16 F-35s, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, as well as spare parts, weapons and various startup costs associated with obtaining new jets, such as building new facilities.”

The article adds: “Two defence sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet made public, say a funding request sent to the Treasury Board got the green light earlier this month.”

The Canadian government remains committed to purchasing 88 fighter jets for an estimated $15-19 billion. The Canadian Press notes: “Sources said Canada will be purchasing [the remaining 72] F-35s in blocks over the next few years.”

Weapons

The article does not specific what weapons or the break-down of the specific costs of how much will be spent on bombs and missiles.

Further reading: Canada continues to invest in F-35 stealth fighter with nuclear strike capabilities (August 16, 2021).

Building new facilities

It has been previously reported, however, that some of the F-35s will be stationed at Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake in northern Alberta.

Further reading: New warplanes signal the Canadian military’s continued occupation of Dene Su’lene’ lands in northern Alberta (November 24, 2021).

Overall costs

As we have previously highlighted, the Government of Canada has not publicly stated how much the full order of 88 F-35 warplanes will cost over its expected 30 year lifespan.

In June of this year, Anne Ngoh Ngando of the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer stated: “At this time, we are not currently planning any further analysis [beyond their March 2011 fiscal report] of the F-35.”

That study (at a time when the Government said it would purchase 65 F-35s for $9 billion) concluded: “Relying on historical trends and applicable cost drivers, the PBO was able to forecast a total ownership cost of approximately US$ 29.3 billion for the 65 aircraft over a 30-year period. This includes both acquisition and long-term sustainment costs and reflects a 75% confidence interval.”

But in their September 2022 study, the No Fighter Jet Coalition estimated the lifecycle cost of 88 F-35s to be $76.8 billion (including the $19 billion acquisition cost).

Unanswered questions

The Department of National Defence Department has also not disclosed how much it has budgeted or expects to spend on missiles and bombs for the F-35s over the next 30 years. It has also not disclosed the casualty figures from the estimated 1,598 offensive bombing missions against Iraq, Syria, Libya and Serbia conducted by the current fleet of CF-18s over the last 30 years.

And with the news of this imminent contract coming just weeks after the COP27 summit concluded in Egypt, we also note that the Government of Canada has not disclosed any figures in relation to the projected greenhouse gas emissions from these warplanes.

We continue to express our concerns about the consequences and lack of information about the purchase and use of these warplanes.

Exciting plans for 2023!

By
Brent Patterson
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This coming year we are planning to:

– bring PBI accompanied defenders from Guatemala, Colombia and Honduras to Toronto to participate in activities that challenge the PDAC convention and the mining corporations that impact local communities in Latin America and around the world

– bring social leaders criminalized by the Canadian oil company Frontera Energy to Toronto at the time of the company’s annual shareholders meeting

– host a series of webinars on topics including on how court injunctions bring police violence to communities asserting their rights, the struggle against the PIM pipeline megaproject in Mexico, and the fight against water privatization in Honduras

– launch a campaign that calls for the RCMP’s C-IRG resource extraction protection unit now patrolling Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia to be abolished

– begin a process of conversations and consultations to see if we might be able to build the capacity to provide some form of physical accompaniment to Indigenous land defenders in this country as our colleagues to in Latin America.

If you are able to support this work with a donation, large or small, one-time or on a monthly-basis, please click here.

Thank you and happy holidays.

Brent

Accompaniment in 2023

By
Brent Patterson
-

Thank you for your support of Peace Brigades International!

This year we worked very hard to visibilize and strengthen the security situation for the human rights defenders PBI accompanies in Latin America.

One of the ways we did this was to organize six webinars with these defenders to provide them with a platform to them to tell their own stories, share their struggles and connect directly with audiences in this country (and in other countries too!).

We had more than 800 people register for these webinars, some of whom attended more than one webinar. Another 850 people watched the videos of these webinars afterwards.

We believe this international visibility can help stop an armed actor from doing violence against a defender (in situations that have become increasingly dangerous this year).

We have also been building the visibility of defenders on social media (we grew our Twitter audience by more than 1,500 people this year) and we produced regular e-newsletters that provide updates on PBI accompanied struggles (with more than 1,100 readers per issue).

We would like to continue to do this in 2023 – and do more!

We are already planning to bring mining-impacted defenders to activities that will challenge the PDAC mining convention in Toronto in March and social leaders from Colombia to Toronto at the time of the Frontera Energy shareholders meeting in May.

We have also just started processes to see if we could provide some form of accompaniment – as we do in Latin America – with Indigenous land defenders in this country.

If you are able to support this work with an online donation, please click here.

Thank you and happy holidays.

Brent

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