On October 18th Guatemala will celebrate its (non-violent) Democratic Revolution of 1944 with a new, democratic revolution, one that has arisen to defend their newly elected president, Bernardo Arévalo.
President-elect Arévalo does not take office until January 14th – nearly five months after his election on August 20th – and corrupt forces within the existing Guatemalan government have sought to use this long transition period to derail his administration before it even begins. But Guatemalans have risen up to oppose them, mounting a powerful, nationwide campaign of resistance demanding the resignation of the corrupt officials behind what Arévalo calls a “slow-motion coup.”
The resistance campaign, buoyed by the critical leadership of “Ancestral Authorities” of Indigenous communities has been costly but resilient – even in the face of repression like the deadly armed attacks in Malacatan last Monday.
- Édgar Gutiérrez who is a former Foreign Minister turned journalist. For years, his opinion columns and analysis published in many media outlets have helped the public better understand how corruption structures operate, as well as the links between corrupt officials, corrupting elites, and organized crime. This has earned him constant legal and media attacks, which is why he now lives in exile in Mexico.
- Gregorio “Goyo” Saavedra is a young journalist and lawyer who has specialized in analyzing and denouncing “Lawfare” the corrupt manipulation of the legal system to attack political opponents. He will explain the “absurd” legal tactics being deployed by the losers of last August’s election as they attempt to undo its clear mandate for deep, institutional reform.
In the wake of the horrific Hamas murders and kidnappings on October 7th, the state of Israel launched attacks causing ghastly suffering for the people of Gaza. This is an intentional violation of international law that clearly prohibits collective retribution of this kind.. A spokesperson for the Israeli military nevertheless declared “the emphasis [of our Gaza campaign] is on damage rather than on precision.”
To date, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have engaged in an intense and indiscriminate bombing campaign that has killed over 17,000 inhabitants of Gaza, nearly half of whom are children. Nearly half of the housing units in Gaza have been destroyed. Hospitals, mosques, churches, bakeries, apartment complexes – buildings full of people – have been reduced to rubble. The suffering is immense and ongoing.
Tell Congress Pass the Ceasefire Now Resolution TODAY
The Biden Administration has offered virtually unconditional support for Israel’s military operations, despite occasional ineffective declarations about humanitarian aid and the need to minimize civilian casualties. Congress – both Republicans and Democrats – have largely gone along, backing proposed increases in financial and material support for Israel despite IDF actions that violate international human rights standards against collective punishment.
There cannot be double standards for international law or human rights. We cannot allow atrocity to justify atrocity. We condemn the brutal and inhumane attacks by Hamas, just as we condemn the collective punishment inflicted upon the people of Gaza. We mourn for all the victims, insist that all hostages be released, and insist on the principle that ALL human lives have value.
Around the world the call for an immediate ceasefire is gaining momentum. From London to Los Angeles, Sydney Australia, Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia – Yemen, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Jordan, millions of people have taken to the streets to call for an immediate end to the violence, and to address the longstanding demands of the Palestinian people for national liberation and end to the occupation.
We are asking members of Congress to sign the Bush and Tlaib Ceasefire Now Resolution –calling for an immediate ceasefire and resumption of life saving humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Will you please send a message to your member of Congress asking them to co-sponsor this bill?
The spiraling escalation of inhumane violence in Gaza over the last week is heartbreaking and unacceptable. Further bloodshed and the suffering of innocents cannot and will not resolve anything.
Today’s attack on the Anglican hospital that killed more than 500 people is just the next exhibit of untold horrors that awaits us on a path of total rage and revenge unleashed.
That is why we are calling on President Biden to use his trip to Jordan and Israel to insist on an immediate cease fire and the swift delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza before more lives are lost. Please help us send this message:
Dear President Biden,
As the largest provider of military aid to Israel the United States must use all its influence to call for restraint: An immediate ceasefire that allows for urgent humanitarian relief for Gaza as well as the safety and immediate release of hostages.
Wise leadership can turn this moment of extreme peril into an opportunity for peace.
Please President Biden, take the risks of true leadership for peace. Speak up for all the children of the region and their dreams to one day live in peace and freedom from fear.
It is not too late.
Justice for the 43 Forcibly Disappeared Ayotzinapa Students in Mexico
Justice for all victims of forced disappearance everywhere
The People’s Movement for Peace and Justice (PMPJ) demands that the Mexican military make available to the mothers and fathers of Ayotzinapa and to the public all information regarding the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa Rural School students, which took place on September 26, 2014.
As a binational coalition made up of migrant, Indigenous, Black and Afro-descendant groups, victims of violence, and diverse community leaders, we understand that the disappearance and lack of justice for the 43 young Indigenous students would never have been committed against students from an exclusive, privileged university. We know that if such an event had happened, the government response would have been strikingly different. We are well-aware that the Ayotzinapa tragedy reflects the vulnerabilities and structural violence that Mexico’s poor, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities have had to endure for far too long.
It is now well-established (as evinced by messages that were intercepted by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), subsequently shared with the Mexican Government, and, more recently, leaked to the media) that organized crime, the Mexican military, and the Mexican government were aware of the kidnappings of the students as they took place and that they engaged in efforts to obfuscate the truth. They undoubtedly thought that no one would care, but they were absolutely wrong.
The disappearance of the Ayotzinapa 43 has aroused the indignation of all of Mexico and the world and brought to light the complicity of Mexican state authorities and organized crime. It is unacceptable that, to this day, the search for the 43 Indigenous students has been undermined and neglected.
We demand the release of all information in the hands of the Mexican military and other government institutions that is in any way related to the Ayotzinapa case, and we do so in the critical period of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s final year in office.
As long as the Ayotzinapa case is treated with impunity, we cannot ensure that such a tragedy will not be repeated. As long as the case remains unresolved, there will be a thirst for justice and a void in the hearts of the People in Mexico.
Alive they took them away, alive we want them back!
Signed,
PEOPLES MOVEMENT FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE (PMPJ)
PLATFORM GROUPS OF THE PEOPLES MOVEMENT FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
- Black Co-Networks for Peace and Justice (PMPJ)
- Indigenous and Natives Peoples Constituent Platform (PMPJ)
- Monthly binational roundtable on migration and Human Rights
- Binational Network for gun violence prevention and gun violence survivors
CANADA
- Black Lives Matter-YYC
GUATEMALA
- Children’s Rights Institutional Observatory (CIPRODENI)
HONDURAS
- Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras
MEXICO
- Academic Group for Transnational Processes BUAP CA 230
- Afrodescendant Women’s Network CDMX
- Afrodescendant Youth Network of Latin America and the Caribbean
- Afro-Mexican Youth National Network
- Afro-Mexican Community of Temixco, Morelos
- Afropoderosas
- ALDEA
- Americas Program AMERICAS:ORG
- Attention Center for Indigenous Migrant Families (CAFAMI)
- Benemérita Autonomous Universidad–Puebla
- Casa Tochan
- Casa Nyahbinghi México
- Casa Tecmilco
- Center for Ecumenical Studies, AC
- Exodus Center for Migrant Attention
- Mothers and Fathers of the Ayotzinapa 41
- Hospitalidad y Solidaridad, AC
- Huella Negra
- José María Morelos and Pavón Regional Center for the Defense of Human Rights
- Justice for the Forcibly Disappeared A.C. Querétaro
- International Peace Service (SIPAZ)
- LV Advocacy and Arts for the Rights of Women, A.C. (Las Vanders)
- Mano Amiga Collective of Costa Chica
- Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH)
- México negro AC
- Native Peoples in Resistance (MOTO CHIAPAS)
- Network of Women from Native and Afrodescendant Communities (REMIAC)
- Mujeres Afrodescendientes CDMX (Afro Descendant Women)
- NuestraRed.mx
- Puebla Region Citizens’ Initiative
- RIA Institute
- Tembembe Center for Afro-Mexican Studies
- SERAPAZ
COLOMBIA
- Inter-University Network for Peace
- Kavilando Press and Research group
UNITED STATES
- Black Lives Matter–South Bend
- Change the Ref
- CODEPINK
- Collective of Autonomous Coastal Communities and Organizations
- Council of Native Peoples (NYC)
- Friends of Latin America
- Global Exchange
- Hacer las Paces (Making the Peace)
- International Tribunal of Peoples’ Conscious in Movement
- Lila LGBTQ Inc.
- Mexico Solidarity Project
- Migrant and Minorities Alliance
- Migrants and Minorities Alliance
- National Lawyers’ Guild- SF Bay Area chapter
- Newtown Alliance
- North American Indigenous Center of the New York
- San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
- Transnational Peoples Network (RPT)
- Witness at the Border
It has been nine years and we still don’t know the full truth about what happened in Iguala, Mexico on the night of Sept 26th, 2014 when police disappeared 43 students from the rural teachers college in Ayotzinapa.
Recently, a blockbuster article in the New York Times detailed the complicity and involvement of the Mexican Army and police in cartel activity as well as the disappearance of the 43 students and the murder of 6 people that night. The students had gone to Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico to commandeer buses to travel to Mexico City to participate in protests.
Since 2014, the families of the disappeared, as well as civil society organizations both within Mexico, the United States and beyond, have demanded answers and accountability.
The first, sham investigation from the Peña Nieto administration tried to fool the parents by pointing to a site where the government planted false evidence. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) committed to finding the students and the truth and bringing the perpetrators to justice. And though his administration took early steps to fulfill his promise, it has since shut down the investigation. There is significant evidence that the Army was monitoring everything, was in telephone communication with police and cartel members, and was present as the students were being disappeared.
Independent investigators under-covered the existence of military documents that could further illuminate the full truth of what happened that night. Both the Army and AMLO deny those documents exist. The families are demanding the information be turned over.
The AMLO administration wants to move on, to achieve only a partial truth that papers over the degree of military complicity, and fails to bring all those responsible to justice.
But the families of the disappeared will not give up, and neither will we. To mark the nine year anniversary of the disappearance, civil society organizations throughout the United States and Mexico are taking action to put pressure on the AMLO government to come clean and pursue justice.
Global Exchange and our partners at the People’s Movement for Peace and Justice are organizing actions in Mexico and here in the U.S. Find more information and how you can take action with us here.
If you cannot make it to one of these in person events, we hope you can take a moment of your time to send a letter to Mexican President Obrador calling for a full accounting of the events of September 26, 2014.
Nine years is far too long. The truth must come out, no matter the cost.
Yesterday, on the International Day of the Disappeared, Global Exchange and the People’s Movement for Peace and Justice were honored to give space and give voice to family members suffering from the tragic forced disappearance of their loved ones. We hosted a BiNational webcast: Until We Find Them. We were joined by:
- Pablo Centeno, father of Snider Centeno, disappeared by police forces in Triunfo de la Cruz, Garifuna territory, Honduras.
- José Ugalde, father of Esaú Ugalde, who disappeared on September 14, 2015, at the age of 25, and three months later, was found dead.
- Iakowi:he’ne’ Oakes, Director of the Native American Center of New York.
The conversation was hosted by Carla Garcia of OFRENAH and Marco Castillo, Director of Global Exchange
Thank you to everyone who joined us for this powerful and emotional conversation. If you missed yesterday’s conversation, we invite you to view (and share) it here. (In Spanish here).
Forced disappearances is a growing crisis facing our region. In Mexico, 110,985 people were reported missing from 1964 to August 22, 2023, according to data from the National Registry of Missing or Unlocated Persons. In Honduras, according to police reports, more than 3,037 women were reported missing between 2018 and 2019. In the United States, according to the National Crime Information Center, by 2016 there were 5,712 reports of missing Indigenous women and girls.
This devastating reality does not impact everyone equally, with forced disappearances disproportionately impacting BIPOC communities, economically marginalized communities and vulnerable populations.
Today, the People’s Movement for Peace and Justice stands up to say Ignored No More.
We call on the governments of Mexico and the United States to reallocate the resources and funds they use to detain, criminalize and deport migrants to find our disappeared loved ones.
They should put the search for the disappeared at the center of the Bicentennial Agreement and any other binational security cooperation agreement.
The US government must stop the export of weapons to corrupt police and military units and end arms trafficking.
Mexico must declare a national emergency due to disappearances and involve all citizens in the search for the missing and disappeared..
And in all cases, those responsible must be identified, punished to the fullest extent of the law, and all necessary measures must be taken to protect the victims and their families.
We thank all families and organizations dedicated to searching for the disappeared. We invite the public to demand justice and not allow any Government to ignore this crisis.
As long as one is missing, any of us can disappear.
Joseph Biden
President of the United States
We as members of US and global gun violence prevention and human rights organizations write to express our deepest concern about the role of US guns in growing violence against journalists and against human rights and land defenders in Mexico, specifically in the state of Guerrero. We urge you to take swift and decisive actions to stop the cross-border trafficking and legal exports of guns that find their way to that state.
An estimated 250,000 firearms are purchased annually in the US for trafficking in Mexico. Many of these guns, in addition to those exported through legal sales to the Mexican government for use by police, end up in states such as Guerrero where state forces collude with criminal organizations. Guerrero’s strategic geographical location for drug and human trafficking have made this territory the center of a deadly dispute between organized crime groups, local and state police, as well as the military, one of the main buyers of US guns in the hemisphere.
The impacts of violence in the state are undeniable. The Jose María Morelos Human Rights Center, which has accompanied victims of forced displacement and violence in Guerrero since 2011, in a letter to the White House, documented more than 1,807 forced disappearances and more than 1,360 violent homicides occurred in the state of Guerrero in 2022 alone. According to them, most of these tragic acts happened “with the use of US guns, including [A]R-15, AK 45, M4, Mini-14, AKM, G3, as well as bazookas, tripode submachine guns, Barrett rifles, hand grenades and hand guns from multiple brands”.
Article 19 and multiple media outlets have documented growing violence against journalists in Guerrero, which has become the second most dangerous state in the country and one of the most dangerous in the world to practice journalism. 10% of the 157 killings of journalists in Mexico between 2020 and 2022 happened in the state of Guerrero, including the homicide of Fredid Roman, who was gunned down in August of that year, and the recent attacks and intimidation acts on journalists Arturo de Dios and Eduardo Yener de los Santos, in January and April this year.
This targeted form of violence, with guns from the US, has a direct impact on freedom of expression and the right to report in Guerrero. According to journalist Arturo the Dios, there are “zones of silence” where it is impossible to write about violence without risking getting killed.
Activists in Guerrero are also the target of multiple forms of violence. The cases of land defenders Vicente Suástegui, disappeared in August 2021, and Arnulfo Cerón, disappeared in October 2019 and found dead in November of that same year, haven’t found justice. More recently, RFK Rockefeller awardee Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, located in Tlapa, Guerrero, denounced being the subject of illegal espionage. Teodomira Rosales, Director of the Jose María Morelos Human Rights Center in Chilpapa de Álvarez, Guerrero, was a victim herself of threats and attacks from members of organized crime groups and had to flee the state with other members of the team.
The worldwide known case of the disappearance of 43 students from the teacher’s college of Ayotzinpa, Guerrero in 2014, is another case that shows the role of US guns in Guerrero. After the disappearance of the students, local, state police and military units continued to receive guns from the US through legal purchases without any end user control requirement from the US government.
Violence in Guerrero, perpetrated mostly with US guns, will continue as long as US guns continue to arrive through legal and illegal means to the state, despite the evidence of criminal collusion and impunity for violence by local and state police and the military, as in the case of Ayotzinapa.
Many of us confirmed this in a recent delegation to Mexico, composed of human rights and gun violence prevention organizations, as we heard from the victims, journalists and human rights defenders about violence carried out by both criminal groups and military and police authorities. We witnessed the life threatening circumstances in which the population survives, with levels of gun violence considerably worse than in the United States.
President Biden, action is required now and you can play a significant role in ending gun violence in Guerrero. Please consider the following actions:
- Because of the role of US-sourced firearms in violence in Guerrero, grant asylum for all victims and survivors of violence from the state of Guerrero.
- Press the Government of Mexico for effective human rights-centered public safety in Guerrero, including effective protection for journalists and human rights and land defenders, as part of the Bicentennial Agreement.
- Include the impacts of US-sourced guns in Mexico, including high-violence regions like Guerrero, in your public and private statements about gun violence prevention.
- Direct the Departments of State and Commerce to stop all gun exports to police and military units in the state of Guerrero until substantial advances are made to end collusion between state forces and organized crime and to investigate and bring to justice serious human rights violations in the state .
- Direct federal agencies to actively enforce the provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act against the trafficking of guns destined for Mexico.
- Direct ATF to lead increased cross-border efforts to end gun trafficking to Mexico and produce accurate, timely and effective gun tracing data.
We know and trust that you can and will take action before violence with US-sourced guns in Guerrero takes more innocent lives and expands to other regions in Mexico and the United States.
Name | Nationality / Organization name |
Daniel | US Citizen |
Evelyn Fraser | Academic Coaching DC |
Fabiola Campos | ÁGAPE ppr la libertad y el Respeto a la Vida |
Leonor Flores Aguilera | Amores …Cadhac |
Arturo Cervantes Trejo | ANASEVI AC. |
NORA TORRES Rdz | BUSCANDO NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS DE TAMAULIPAS A.C. |
elizabeth lee | Camada Peace Action Network |
David Adams | Center for Architectural& Design Research |
Norma Mendieta Mendieta | Centro de Atención a la Familia Migrante Indígena AC |
Sara San Martín Romero | Centro de Estudios Ecumenicos A.C. |
Ma Sandra Beatriz Mercado Sánchez | Colectivo De Pie Hasta Encontrarte Guanajuato |
Marta Pablo Cruz | COLECTIVO OAXAQUEÑOS BUSCANDO A LOS NUESTROS A.C. |
Rebeca Zúniga-Hamlin | Denver Justice and Peace Committee (DJPC) |
Raquel Pastor | Derechos de la Infancia y la Adolescencia |
José Ugalde Mejia | Desaparecidos justicia a c Querétaro |
Mercedes Lourdez González González | Desaparecidos justicia A C. Querétaro |
Michaelene Loughlin | Emmaus Community of Christian Hope |
Consuelo Tafoya Guerrero | ENLACE COMUNICACIÓN Y CAPACITACIÓN A.C. |
Juan Aguirre | Estudiante |
Ethan Vesely-Flad | Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR-USA) |
Pedro Pérez Pineda | Firma |
Sharon R. Olberding | Franciscan Peace Connection |
José Luis Manzo Ramírez | Frontera con Justicia AC [Casa del Migrante Saltillo] |
JOSE ENRIQUE KOENIGUE | FUNDEJ JALISCO |
Judith Beck | Global Exchange |
Don D Emmal | Hunger programs |
Elvira Martinez Monroy | Independiente |
Má del Socorro romo franco | Independirente |
Brian Stefan-Szittai | InterReligious Task Force on Central America |
Marcia Halligan | Kickapoo Peace Circle |
Tania Del Moral | Latin America Working Group |
Tracy Rosenberg | Media Alliance |
Laura Carlsen | MIRA Feminisms and Democracy |
Dennis Kreiner | mr |
Claudia Velasquez | Mujeres, Organización y Territorios MOOTS AC |
Jarrett Cloud | US Citizen |
Carmen | US Citizen |
Lindsay Hope Kern | US Citizen |
Sherri Hodges | US Citizen |
Lorraine | US Citizen |
Jim Loveland | US Citizen |
B.C. Shelby | US Citizen |
Po Murray | Newtown Action Alliance |
Jerrilynne Titsworth | US Citizen |
David Ramsay | US Citizen |
Calli Madrone | US Citizen |
Trevanne Foxton | US Citizen |
Klaus Steinbrecher | US Citizen |
Lana Henson | US Citizen |
Joseph Dadgari | US Citizen |
Reed Fenton | US Citizen |
Joel Kay | US Citizen |
Tina Ann | US Citizen |
Charles Dineen | US Citizen |
Guadalupe Yanez | US Citizen |
George Flores | US Citizen |
Bryn Hammarstrom | US Citizen |
Eugenia Ahern | US Citizen |
Deborah Richardi | US Citizen |
irantzu | US Citizen |
Andrea | US Citizen |
Jean Lindgren | US Citizen |
Timothy Post | US Citizen |
judith williams sandoval | US Citizen |
JUAN CARLOS ROSAS PAREDES | US Citizen |
Tony Segura | US Citizen |
Jerry Rivers | North American Climate, Conservation and Environment(NACCE) |
Daniel Perez | Ongd AFRICANDO |
Gregory Perkins | PCUSA |
cheryl kozanitas | Peace Action of San Mateo County |
LaVern Olberding | Peace Resource Center-San Diego |
Paul George | Peninsula Peace and Justice Center |
Jonathan Peter | Peterfam Trust |
John Herbert | Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC) |
Programa Casa Refugiados AC | |
Catalina castillo castañeda | Red x la infancia ac |
Lana May | US Citizen |
Elisse De Sio | US Citizen |
Robin Terry | US Citizen |
Kit | US Citizen |
Abbie Bernstein | US Citizen |
Marilyn Long | US Citizen |
Patricia Mensing | Sisters of Saint Joseph |
Jesús Salazar vidales | Tesoros perdidos |
Clementina Lorenzo flores | Tesoros perdidos |
Una promesa por cumplir | |
Maria angelica Quevedo Bedolla | Unidas por el dolor |
Tranquilina Hernández Lagunas | Unión de familias Resilientes Buscando a sus corazones desaparecidos |
Alexis Maestre Saborit | Union for the Justice Laura Marx |
Maribel Ramos | |
Patricia Vallejo | |
Enrique Pastor | |
Berenice Gonzalez | |
Irma Pous Fernandez | |
Jorge Pastor | |
TELLO ALFONSO JULIETA | |
Elena Marquina Barrera | |
Silvia G Goytia | |
Silvia | |
Irene Rivera Pérez | |
Patricia Rojo | |
Lucila Servitje | |
Liliana Trueba | |
Martha Cain | |
Judith | |
Sidney Ann Ramsden Scott | |
Catherine Crockett | |
Abigail Hossler | |
cheryl kozanitas | |
Chris Nelson | |
Robert Beren | |
Thomas | |
Judy bierbaum | |
Sallie | |
Ron MIttan | |
Paul Markillie | |
Ernst Rudolf Mecke | |
cynthia edwards | |
Roberta Frye | |
Dona LaSchiava | |
Leanne Friedman | |
Mark Karlin | |
Lisa Kellman | |
Esther Garvett | |
Maure C Briggs | |
Ruth | |
Kyle SCHMIERER | |
Catherine Lanzl | |
Bianca Benincasa | |
Joseph Abela | |
Helen Gex Greer | |
tony hintze | |
Kathy Bradley | |
susan tucker | |
Molly Lazarus | |
Connie Tate | |
michael lahey | |
Musa Eubanks | |
Óscar Revilla | |
Bruce Ross | |
Patricia Blackwell-Marchant | |
Mark Nuckols | |
Jon Anderholm | |
Roman LoBianco | |
Fermin Morales | |
Lynn Shoemaker | |
Glenn Hufnagel | |
Joan Yater | |
Luis Escala Rabadán | |
Mary Danhauer | |
Barbara Hoch | |
Melissa Fleming | |
Marie Focella | |
Amy Henry | |
Susan Cotton | |
Carol Frechette | |
Larry Lewis | |
Wallace Schultz | |
Dorothy Lynn Brooks | |
Steve Overton | |
Robert Janusko | |
Mark Hayduke Grenard | |
Judy Butler | |
Penny Robinson | |
Justin Truong | |
Lorie Lucky | |
Tom Meisenhelder | |
Cory Pinckard | |
Lourdes Best | |
Drewek | |
Cindy Meyers | |
Mike Shores | |
Mark Soenksen | |
Mark Proa | |
Michele Spring-Moore | |
June Elliott | |
Stephanie C. Fox | |
Tony Clunies-Ross | |
Diambu Smith | |
Janice Wilfing | |
mark levin | |
Rick Moffat | |
Ian | |
Joseph Reginald Cota | |
Lois Kaufman | |
Kelly Caffrey | |
Nancy Hiestand | |
Joan Sitomer | |
Jack Stansfield | |
Ronald Brown | |
Richard Johnson | |
Hannah | |
Crystal Schaffer | |
Julie Skelton | |
Virginia | |
Dan Hubbard | |
Eric Nichandros | |
Virginia. Jastromb | |
Marian Scena | |
Don Hon | |
Michael Swanson | |
Jeffrey Colledge | |
Maryann Smale | |
Mary Lebert | |
alice jena | |
Theodore | |
Joseph De Feo | |
Stephanie Eastwood | |
Carolyn Riddle | |
joe smith | |
Zoe Harris | |
Hilde Kinable | |
Glenn Dansker | |
Ira Gerard | |
Cori Bishop | |
Michael Hogan | |
Manuel Leon Torres | |
Morgan Paulus | |
Carola Barton | |
Lynn Biddle | |
Antonieta | |
LaVern Olberding | |
Jim Yarbrough | |
Brian Dolenz | |
Lorin Peters | |
Kenneth Crouse | |
Robert New | |
Shannon Markley | |
Rich | |
Tim Glover | |
Leah Hallow | |
Lynn Abbott | |
Winston | |
Monica Stuhlreyer | |
Julia Richards | |
A.L. Steiner | |
Susan Perry | |
Warren M. Gold | |
Scott V Grinthal | |
Steve Bloom |
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
President of Mexico
Dear Mr. President,
Through this letter, the undersigned individuals and organizations from Mexico, the United States and Europe want to express our concern and pain at the situation of violence in the state of Guerrero.
Several of the US and European signatory organizations recently visited Mexico as part of an international arms delegation from the United States to Mexico and as participants in the Summit for Peace. During our stay we learned, through the voice of the Undersecretary for Human Rights, Alejandro Encinas, and Alejandro Celorio, Legal Adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, about the efforts of his administration to stop arms trafficking from the United States and about the commitment of his government to defend Human Rights and address the causes of violence, including inequality and marginalization.
On the other hand, during a visit to the state of Guerrero, we heard from human rights defenders, journalists and families who were victims of forced displacement and relatives of the disappeared about the bloody reality facing the population of that state.
The José María Morelos Human Rights Center, in a letter to President Biden, reports that in the year 2022 alone, 1,807 disappearances were committed and 1,360 intentional homicides were committed by members of organized crime in collusion with local authorities.
We listened to the testimonies of local journalists about how the State of Guerrero has become the second most dangerous entity in the country to practice journalism, with 10% of the 157 murders of journalists committed between 2020 and 2022 in the country. Days after our visit and presenting the situation of violence in the state, journalist Eduardo Yener de los Santos was the victim of assault and robbery at his home.
Organized crime groups terrorize entire regions, as in the recent attacks in the Tierra Caliente area and in the high mountains of Guerrero.
And as if that were not enough, organizations with a long and proven track record in the defense of human rights in the region, such as the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, have been subjected to intimidation and espionage actions.
We know that much of this violence is carried out with firearms that come from the United States, and our organizations are spearheading many of the efforts to stop the flow of guns out of our country, including a recent letter to President Biden, lobbying Congress to pass the ARMAS Act, supporting the prohibition of assault weapons and promoting the demand of your Government to gun manufacturers weapons and gun dealers in Arizona.
Your government is taking important steps towards peace in Guerrero, but we are extremely concerned about strengthening the role of the Mexican armed forces without this implying greater transparency or security in Guerrero. The Mexican Army is one of the principal gun buyers from the United States in the world and we know little or nothing about how, to whom and under what criteria it distributes these weapons to police units and military zones in Guerrero, despite the fact that many of these units have proven links to organized crime. In the case of Ayotzinapa, for example, the Guerrero state police continued to receive weapons imported by the army, despite the proven links of this corporation with organized crime that led to this still unresolved tragedy.
We are very concerned about the lack of prompt and expeditious justice mechanisms. Most of the cases of victims of violence that we know of have filed lawsuits without any consequences. The cases of disappeared activists, such as Vicente Suástegui, and of those who have died, like Arturo Cerón, remain unresolved. According to the Morelos Center for Human Rights, more than 25 defenders have had to flee the state, while migrant aid organizations report that thousands of people from Guerrero have had to leave their homes to seek refuge in the United States.
Therefore, we kindly request that, in addition to your current efforts:
- Take the necessary measures to return public security to a civilian institution and strengthen transparency and citizen observation of temporary military action.
- Ensure prompt and expeditious justice for all the people of Guerrero, as well as the effective protection of victims of violence.
- Strengthen and accompany the work of human rights organizations and state journalists.
- Relaunch your administration’s efforts to establish a sensible drug policy that puts people at the center.
President, count on us to accompany the fight to end the flow of arms from the United States to Mexico and for a sensitive and humane drug policy in that country. We hope to have your commitment to prioritize the end of violence in Guerrero.
NAME | NATIONALITY/ORGANIZATION |
jANET MAKER | US Citizen |
Timothy Post | US Citizen |
Klaus E. Lehmann | US Citizen |
john sinnigen | US Citizen |
Martha Kransdorf | US Citizen |
Rocky Schnaath | US Citizen |
Judith Lienhard | US Citizen |
Matthew Cloner | US Citizen |
Gloria Gonzalez-Lopez | US Citizen |
Marilyn Jane Long | US Citizen |
A Lee Miller | US Citizen |
dianne post | Central Phoenix Inez Casiano NOW |
Valarie Liveoak | US Citizen |
Rick Moffat | US Citizen |
Julia Richards | US Citizen |
Anna McNaught | US Citizen |
Carol Devoss | US Citizen |
Michael Halloran | US Citizen |
Peter Townsend | US Citizen |
Barbara Tapia | US Citizen |
Dr James Creechan author of Drug Wars and Covert Netherworlds | Author |
David Walker | US Citizen |
Debra Atlas | US Citizen |
Ruth S Sheldon | US Citizen |
Susan Boggiano | US Citizen |
B.C. Shelby | US Citizen |
Elisse Diane De Sio | US Citizen |
Lawrence C. Hager | Northern Virginians for Peace and Justice |
Tina Ann | US Citizen |
Julie Adelson | US Citizen |
Maure C Briggs | US Citizen |
Melissa Fleming | US Citizen |
Elizabeth Butler | US Citizen |
Bill Rosenthal | US Citizen |
Lawrence Abbott | US Citizen |
alyson shotz | US Citizen |
Fred Lavy | US Citizen |
Daniel Wilkinson | US Citizen |
Steve Graff | US Citizen |
Michael Garitty | US Citizen |
Lupe I. Torre | US Citizen |
Rich & Eileen Heaning | US Citizen |
Susan Ruzic | US Citizen |
Brandon Kozak | US Citizen |
John Webster | US Citizen |
Katherine Wojtan | US Citizen |
Betsy Eudey | US Citizen |
Susan | US Citizen |
Maria Ponce Sevilla | US Citizen |
Richard Stern | US Citizen |
Barbara and Jim Dale | US Citizen |
Karen Levine | US Citizen |
Rick Se | US Citizen |
José Luis Loera | Programa Casa Refugiados AC |
Kyle Schmierer | US Citizen |
Lawrence G. East | US Citizen |
Dan Hubbard | US Citizen |
Koen Ooms | US Citizen |
Richard Han | US Citizen |
Janet Williams | US Citizen |
Bernice Coleman | US Citizen |
Melvin Mackey | US Citizen |
Linda Ferland | US Citizen |
les roberts | US Citizen |
Matthew Anderson | US Citizen |
Sherri Hodges | US Citizen |
Ellen S Cohen | US Citizen |
Richard Johnson | US Citizen |
Diana Horowitz | US Citizen |
Steve Bloom | US Citizen |
Carla Garcia | Co-redes Negras por la Paz y la Justicia |
Jerome Geffner | US Citizen |
Robert A Veralli | US Citizen |
Linda Rushoe | US Citizen |
Harriet Mullaney | US Citizen |
John Reed Brundage | US Citizen |
Igor Rodriguez | US Citizen |
Carrie Kuehl | US Citizen |
Kathy Bradley | US Citizen |
Carly Cassano | US Citizen |
Scott Gibson | US Citizen |
Jonelle Ringnalda | US Citizen |
Lorie Lucky | US Citizen |
Jane C. HOlt | US Citizen |
Leticia morales | US Citizen |
Gerritt and Elizabeth Baker-Smith | US Citizen |
Rachael Denny | US Citizen |
John Arnold | US Citizen |
Marta Diaz | US Citizen |
US Citizen | |
Dawn M Albanese | US Citizen |
Bruce Richard Ross | US Citizen |
Musa Robert Eubanks | US Citizen |
Romana Rojas | US Citizen |
PatrIcia Mensing | US Citizen |
ALFRED JONAS | US Citizen |
Glenn R. Hufnagel | US Citizen |
John K Pritchard | US Citizen |
Mark Seis | US Citizen |
Derek Gendvil | US Citizen |
Faith Colligan | US Citizen |
Edward Norkus | US Citizen |
Sandra Connan | US Citizen |
Nancy Hiestand | US Citizen |
Jeff Shelby | US Citizen |
Johannes Kiockern | US Citizen |
Kathleen Doyle | US Citizen |
Susan K. Shimer | US Citizen |
Maureen Sheahan | US Citizen |
Ernst Rudolf Mecke | US Citizen |
Janice Welsch | US Citizen |
Judith Beck | US Citizen |
Patricia A. Blackwell-Marchant | US Citizen |
Stephanie C. Fox | US Citizen |
Mark Ginsburg | US Citizen |
Marianne Montero | Riverdale Presbyterian Church |
Ted Fishman | US Citizen |
Ryan Baka | US Citizen |
Steve Overton | US Citizen |
Susan Zipp | Associaton of World Citizens |
Meg Newman | US Citizen |
Tammy Lettieri | US Citizen |
Tony Clunies-Ross | US Citizen |
Mike Lyman | US Citizen |
Paul Helbling | US Citizen |
Jarrett Cloud | US Citizen |
Pamela Brubaker | US Citizen |
June Esposito | US Citizen |
Russell Novkov | US Citizen |
Merilie Robertson | US Citizen |
Amy Henry | US Citizen |
Elizabeth G. Burr | US Citizen |
angela wilson | US Citizen |
US Citizen | |
David Kannerstein | US Citizen |
Paul Eisenberg | US Citizen |
Aaron Stark | US Citizen |
Judy bierbaum | US Citizen |
Andrea La Vigne | US Citizen |
William Welkowitz | US Citizen |
Mary Murphy | US Citizen |
Amy | US Citizen |
Linda McDowell | US Citizen |
joe smith | US Citizen |
Barbara Porter | US Citizen |
Lorraine Brabham | US Citizen |
Loretta Armstrong | US Citizen |
Lisa Gherardi | US Citizen |
Fred Granlund | US Citizen |
Brian J B | US Citizen |
Kathy Braun, OSF | US Citizen |
cheryl kozanitas | US Citizen |
Ronald Brown | US Citizen |
Pamela Gibberman | US Citizen |
Marc Beschler | US Citizen |
Patrick Malone | US Citizen |
Jefferey | US Citizen |
Mary Danhauer | US Citizen |
Khairieh Amr | US Citizen |
Rena Lewis | US Citizen |
Victoria Thornton Bruckner | US Citizen |
Ken Windrum | US Citizen |
Antonieta Gimeno | US Citizen |
Molly Lazarus | US Citizen |
Helen Gex Greer | US Citizen |
Marie Lucey | US Citizen |
Marsha King | US Citizen |
Stuart Lynn | US Citizen |
C s | US Citizen |
S. Kay Olson | US Citizen |
susan tucker | US Citizen |
Jean Lindgren | US Citizen |
Joan Yater | US Citizen |
Michael Swanson | US Citizen |
Patricia Miller | US Citizen |
Claudia Velasquez | US Citizen |
Patricia Guthrie | Guthrie & Larason |
Janet Court | US Citizen |
Jennifer Kane Rodehaver | US Citizen |
alice jena | US Citizen |
Mark Proa | US Citizen |
Barbara Hoch | US Citizen |
Linda Paul | US Citizen |
Teresa Jaeger | US Citizen |
Lori Lyles | US Citizen |
David Gardner | US Citizen |
gina willis | US Citizen |
Miriam Bannon | US Citizen |
Eric NIchandros | US Citizen |
Joseph De Feo | US Citizen |
John Hockman | US Citizen |
Marta Wilcox | US Citizen |
Clinton Keaton | US Citizen |
Terrie Smith | US Citizen |
Dr. Mha Atma S Khalsa | US Citizen |
Dean Griswold | US Citizen |
Maryann Smale | US Citizen |
Cindy Meyers | US Citizen |
Norma Mendieta Mendieta | Centro de Atención a la Familia Migrante Indígena |
JOHN C PROCHASKA | US Citizen |
Karen Jacques | US Citizen |
Carmen J AgoyoSilva | US Citizen |
Theodore Voth | US Citizen |
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Susan Scott | US Citizen |
judith williams sandoval | US Citizen |
Diane Olson Schmidt | US Citizen |
Kathy Shores | US Citizen |
Maryellen Redish | US Citizen |
Elyse Jacobson | US Citizen |
Celeste Hong | US Citizen |
Hilde Kinable | US Citizen |
Peter Costantini | US Citizen |
David Adams | US Citizen |
Charles Christopher Weisbecker | US Citizen |
Ian Brown | US Citizen |
Dorothy Anderson | US Citizen |
Carole Browner | US Citizen |
Grace Payne | US Citizen |
Tsee Lee | US Citizen |
Raymond Finney | US Citizen |
Paul Wasserman | US Citizen |
Marie Manning | US Citizen |
Don Somsky | US Citizen |
sudia paloma mccaleb | US Citizen |
Lansing Shepard | US Citizen |
FERNANDO COTO | US Citizen |
Shirleem | US Citizen |
Kathleen Carr | US Citizen |
Patricia Zamudio | US Citizen |
Danie Kaufman | Endangered Language Alliance |
Karla J Devine | US Citizen |
Sayrah Namaste | US Citizen |
Janice Dlugosz | US Citizen |
Cory Pinckard | US Citizen |
Leslie Mullin | US Citizen |
Matthew Boguske | US Citizen |
Susan Perry | US Citizen |
Ricardo Guillermo Gállego | Iglesias por la Paz |
Larry Lewis | US Citizen |
Lopamudra Mohanty | US Citizen |
Andrew R Kalukin | US Citizen |
Adriana Sletza Ortega | Cuerpo Académico Procesos Transnacionales y Migración BUAP-CA-230 |
Carolyn Riddle | US Citizen |
A.L. Steiner | US Citizen |
Cori Bishop | US Citizen |
Sherry Purcell | KINGSTON CENTRAL AMERICA SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE. |
Robert Poignant | US Citizen |
Jeffrey Paul Horejsi | US Citizen |
Lorin Peters | US Citizen |
Allan Campbell | US Citizen |
L. Bradley | US Citizen |
Drew Cucuzza | US Citizen |
Susan Goldberg | US Citizen |
Utkarsh Nath | US Citizen |
enea.koxhioni@gmail.com | US Citizen |
Ira Gerard | US Citizen |
Brian Peng | US Citizen |
Tania Del Moral | Latin America Working Group |
Arturo Cervantes Trejo | Universidad Anáhuac México |
Michelle | Impacta Cine |
José Luis Manzo Ramírez | Frontera con Justicia AC [Casa del Migrante Saltillo] |
Po Murray | Newtown Action Alliance |
Verónica Evangelina Guillén Trujillo | Junax Ko’tantik |
Liliana cristina sandoval | Buscadoras zacatecas a. C |
Marcela María Aguilar Esquivel | Mexican Citizen |
Leonor Flores Aguilera | Cadhac …Amores |
Jesús Salazar vidales | Tesoros perdidos |
Enrique Pastor | Mexican Citizen |
Raquel Pastor | Derechos de la Infancia y la Adolescencia |
BERENICE GONZALEZ | Mexican Citizen |
Jorge Pastor Escobar | Mexican Citizen |
TELLO ALFONSO JULIETA | Mexican Citizen |
María Eugenia Guerrero Juárez. | Colectivo Amor, Esperanza y Lucha Zacatecas. |
Elena Marquina Barrera | Mexican Citizen |
Silvia G Goytia | Mexican Citizen |
Marta Pablo Cruz | Colectivo Oaxaqueños Buscando a los Nuestros A.C. |
Irene Rivera Pérez | Mexican Citizen |
Angélica Rodríguez | Regresando a casa Morelos A. C. |
Patricia Rojo | Mexican Citizen |
Programa Casa Refugiados AC | |
Ed Perry | Mexican Citizen |
Global Exchange will be investigating, observing, and reporting on Guatemala’s historic (run-off) presidential elections.
Tune in here for updates and news.
The August 20th election is in the international spotlight because emergent democratic forces represented by the Semilla Movement and their candidate, Bernardo Arévalo, won a run-off spot in the general elections that took place last June and then successfully defended it against trumped-up legal attacks that sought to disqualify their party and close the door on democracy.
Hundreds of observers are expected to be in the country during the election.
Tension between Guatemala’s authoritarian ruling structures and the democratic impulses of its people are nothing new.
In 1944 (during the final days of WWII) Guatemala had a popular uprising that brought Bernardo Arevalo’s father, Juan Jose Arevalo Bermejo out of exile and into the Presidency, where he built a broad consensus, modernized education, established the first ever labor code and created the social security system that still exists today.
When Arévalo’s successor, President Jacobo Arbenz, sought to expand those gains with a land redistribution program he came up against an implacable oligarchy that welcomed the notorious CIA led coup of 1954 that snuffed democracy and led to generations of terror, repression, civil war, and the genocide of Indigenous communities –much of it with the direct or implicit support of the United States.
Things began to improve in Guatemala following the signing of the 1996 Peace Accords, but recent decades have seen an upsurge in criminal violence, environmental destruction, and rampant corruption, while the structures of extreme wealth and enforced poverty continue much the same as in1944
History may or may not be repeating itself as the candidacy of Bernardo Arevalo takes center stage, but there is no doubt the Movimiento Semilla has created high expectations and infectious positive energy throughout Guatemala and Latin America.
Our delegation is being convened by CESJUL, the Bogota, Colombia based legal training and human rights organization. They have assembled a stellar group of journalists, human rights specialists, scholars, and elected officials from Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and the United States.
Our observers will be just that, observers. And they will report on what they see. That’s where you come in. Working closely with [Prensa Comunitaria] the journalists on our team will deliver contextual analysis and up to the minute coverage of this hotly contested event.
For the latest on upcoming pre, during and post election webcasts and live updates please visit our webpage.
¡Viva la democracia!