Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Guatemala.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Guatemala. Some of these links may lead to websites that
present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt
has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** Fleeing
torture and kidnappings, immigrants from Central America seek asylum in Utah Cristina Flores,
KUTV, Salt Lake City, 7 June 2018 [accessed 7 June
2018] Romulo said he had
a good life in Guatemala with his wife and two daughters. He owned several
small businesses including a taxi service and a corn grinding operation. He said business
owners are often extorted by gangs. When it happened to him, he went to police
who instead of helping him, showed up at his house and arrested him. He said they took
him to a dark house and kept him there for two weeks. He said they waterboarded him and fed him food that he thinks
contained urine. One day, they
gouged out his eye and sent it to his wife with a demand for ransom. When his
family paid only part of the ransom, the kidnappers dumped him on the road. Guatemala’s
ex-army chief jailed for 1981 rape and torture Agence France-Presse AFP, 23 May 2018 www.journalducameroun.com/en/guatemalas-ex-army-chief-jailed-for-1981-rape-and-torture/ [accessed 25 May
2018] Guatemala’s former
army chief and other retired officers received long prison terms Wednesday
for the rape and torture of a woman and the disappearance of her brother in
1981 during the country’s civil war. The court handed
former army chief of staff General Benedicto Lucas
a 33-year term for crimes against humanity over the aggravated rape of Emma
Guadalupe Molina Theissen at a military barracks. Three other officers, Manuel Callejas, Hugo Zaldana and
Francisco Gordillo, received the same sentence. Marco Antonio, aged
14, was kidnapped from his family home by a group of soldiers in the capital
of the Central American country on October 6, 1981, and is still
missing. The abduction came a day
after his sister, then 21, escaped from a military barracks in the west of
the country where she had been tortured and repeatedly raped. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Guatemala U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/guatemala/
[accessed 22 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT The law prohibits
torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, but
there were reports alleging government workers employed them at the Federico
Mora National Hospital for Mental Health (see section 6). The Office of the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) noted that documentation and
reporting mechanisms for torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment or punishment remained weak, thereby hindering a full understanding
of the prevalence of the problem. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prison conditions
were harsh and potentially life threatening, with multiple instances of
inmates killing other inmates. Sexual assault, inadequate sanitation, poor
medical care, and significant overcrowding placed prisoners at significant
risk. Authorities occasionally held pretrial detainees together with
convicted prisoners, juveniles with adults, and male with female detainees. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/guatemala/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 12 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE
OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? High levels of
violence, kidnappings, and extortions at the hands of the police, drug
traffickers, and street gangs continue, with related fears and risks
routinely affecting the lives of ordinary people. The link between the state,
politicians, the military, and illicit actors
complicates a cohesive response to the country’s security challenges.
However, the country’s homicide rate dropped for the eighth straight year in
2017. At the end of the year, police reported 4,409 homicides, compared to
4,550 homicides in 2016, and 4,778 in 2015. Additionally, in January 2017,
the demilitarization of the police force began, with the removal of all
military forces from civilian security expected in 2018. Prison facilities
are grossly overcrowded and rife with gang and drug-related violence and
corruption. Prison riots are common, and are frequently deadly. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] GUATEMALA ATTACKS ON HUMAN
RIGHTS DEFENDERS, JOURNALISTS, AND TRADE UNIONISTS - Attacks and
threats against human rights defenders are common, significantly hampering
human rights work in the country. Acts of violence and intimidation against
trade unionists endanger freedom of assembly and association and the right to
organize and bargain collectively. Fifty-three trade unionists were killed
between 2007 and 2013, according to the International Trade Union
Conference. Journalists, especially
those covering corruption and drug trafficking, also face threats, attacks,
and legal intimidation. Does Torture Work?
Evidence from Guatemala Central American
Politics, 14 April 2014 centralamericanpolitics.blogspot.com/2014/04/does-torture-work-evidence-from.html [accessed 20 April
2014] In a new article at
the Journal of Peace Research, I bring to bear micro-level data from
Guatemala to generate a systematic evaluation of how torture affects violence
within the context of an organized insurgency. This is a case in which highly
skilled military personnel tortured with near impunity. Among other tactics,
agents of the Guatemalan military forced the victims to stand hooded for
hours or days, forced them to eat excrement, forced them to stay awake for
days at a time, refused to give them food or water, subjected them to
electric shocks, stripped them naked, burned them with cigarettes, suspended
them from chains, sexually abused them, submerged them in water, cut them and
broke their fingers. Torture in
Guatemala: an alternative NGO report presented to the United Nations Organisation
Mondiale Contre la Torture (World Organization Against Torture) OMCT, 5 May
2006 www.omct.org/urgent-campaigns/urgent-interventions/guatemala/2006/05/d18006/ [accessed 22 Jan
2014] The report
highlights the lack of political will to investigate and punish abuse of
power, acts of torture, sexual violence and extra-judicial killings of
detainees, youth and women Geneva Another trend of
torture by State agents in Guatemala is the sexual violence to which women
held in police custody are subjected. “Women should be given direct access to
a judge and transferred to a detention centre for women if arrested, and a
forensic doctor should be available upon the request of a woman” said Claudia
Paz from ICCPG. Moreover, “rape of women by law enforcement agents has not
been duly recognized as a form of torture in the Guatemalan Criminal Code”
added Mariana Duarte from OMCT. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/GTM/CO/4 (2006) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/guatemala2006.html [accessed 27
February 2013] C. Subjects of concern and recommendations 10. The Committee
reiterates its concern, as already expressed in its consideration of
preceding reports, that the State party has still not brought the definition
of the offence of torture contained in the Criminal Code fully into line with
the Convention (arts. 1 and 4). The State party
should amend, as a matter of priority, the relevant provisions of the
Criminal Code, particularly articles 201 bis and 425, in order to legally
define torture in accordance with article 1 of the Convention, and
criminalize it in accordance with article 4, paragraph 2, of the Convention. 11. The Committee
also reiterates its concern about the existence of laws and practices which
allow the army to be involved in matters that fall within the competence of
the police, such as the prevention and repression of ordinary crime. Moreover, it takes note that the State
party has assigned 3,000 military personnel to support the fight against
ordinary crime, instead of strengthening the police force (art. 2). The State party
should adopt effective measures to strengthen the National Civil Police and
should repeal all laws which allow the army to be involved in activities of
law enforcement or the prevention of ordinary crime, which should be carried
out exclusively by the National Civil Police. Universal
Periodic Review of Guatemala - Human Rights Watch's Submission to the Human
Rights Council Human Rights Watch,
May 5, 2008 www.hrw.org/news/2008/05/04/universal-periodic-review-guatemala [accessed 29 January
2013] The country
continues to face high levels of violence associated with both electoral
politics and common crime. Guatemala’s weak and corrupt law enforcement institutions
have proven incapable of containing the powerful organized crime groups that,
among other things, are believed responsible for continuing attacks on human
rights defenders. Guatemala continues
to be one of the most violent countries in Latin America, and murder rates
are highest in areas associated with drug trafficking and gang activity. In
2008, Guatemala experienced its most violent year in recent history, with
6,292 homicide victims, 11 percent of whom were women. Violence related to
drug trafficking and drug cartels has spilled over the northern border into
Guatemala from Mexico, and fighting between drug gangs has become more common
in Guatemala as traffickers battle over territory. At least three major
clashes left dozens of civilians dead in 2008, including a drug gang shootout
in March in the department of Zacapa which left 11 people dead; a dispute
over a cocaine shipment in Zacapa in November which resulted in 16 victims
being incinerated in a bus; and a violent clash between Mexican and
Guatemalan drug gangs along the border in the department of Huehuetenango
where at least 17 people were reported dead. Meanwhile, the continued
practice of lynching, mutilation, torture, and political
assassinations—carried out by plainclothes security forces, angered mobs,
gangs, and other groups—has shocked the country. The rise in violence has
been exacerbated by the proliferation of arms, continued economic ills, and
weak criminal justice institutions. It is estimated that only 7 percent of
murder cases result in a conviction. Police Violence
Against Street Children Human Rights Watch:
Easy Targets - Violence Against Children Worldwide, September 2001 www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2001/children/5.htm [accessed 19 May
2011] They hit with their
rifles, or with sticks, on our backs and stomachs. And sometimes they
just punch us in the stomach with their hands. They also take our paint
thinner and pour it over our heads. They’ve done that to me five
times. It’s awful, it hurts really bad.
It gets in your eyes and burns. Thousands of
children living in Guatemala’s streets have faced routine beatings, thefts
and sexual assaults at the hands of the National Police and private security
guards. During a 1996 Human Rights Watch investigation, nearly every child we
spoke with told us of habitual assaults and thefts by the police. These
assaults occurred on busy city streets in broad daylight, on quiet streets in
the middle of the night, in alleys and deserted areas, and in police
stations. Often, they were witnessed by passersby or other police officers. A youth who spent
nine years on the street told us: The
police bother us every single day. They hit us and steal our money, our
shoes, our jackets. If you don’t give them what they
want, they’ll beat you up or arrest you . . . .We
can’t say anything, or they’ll hit us harder. Girls on the street
are additionally vulnerable to sexual attacks. Susana F., a sixteen-year-old,
reported that she was raped by two police officers while a third kept watch.
The officers threatened to put her in prison for having marijuana if she made
any noise. “I’m sure this has happened
to many other girls. But usually they won’t say anything about it. . . .Ugly
things happen on the street.” Guatemalan street
children have also been killed in extrajudicial executions. In September
1996, sixteen-year-old Ronald Raúl Ramos was shot
and killed by a drunken Treasury Police officer. More than ten other street children
in Guatemala were murdered that year under suspicious circumstances, yet by
April of the following year, all of the perpetrators were still at large. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=guatemala+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 2 January 1, 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61729.htm [accessed 29 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61729.htm [accessed 4 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – Although the law
prohibits such practices, during the year there were credible reports of
torture, abuse, and other mistreatment by members of the PNC. Complaints
typically related to the use of excessive force during police operations and
arbitrary detention of suspected gang members and others targeted during
extortion schemes. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil Liberties: 4 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/guatemala [accessed 29 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 12 May
2020] Guatemala continues
to be one of the most violent countries in Latin America, and murder rates
are highest in areas associated with drug trafficking and gang activity. In
2008, Guatemala experienced its most violent year in recent history, with
6,292 homicide victims, 11 percent of whom were women. Violence related to
drug trafficking and drug cartels has spilled over the northern border into
Guatemala from Mexico, and fighting between drug gangs has become more common
in Guatemala as traffickers battle over territory. At least three major
clashes left dozens of civilians dead in 2008, including a drug gang shootout
in March in the department of Zacapa which left 11 people dead; a dispute
over a cocaine shipment in Zacapa in November which resulted in 16 victims
being incinerated in a bus; and a violent clash between Mexican and
Guatemalan drug gangs along the border in the department of Huehuetenango
where at least 17 people were reported dead. Meanwhile, the continued
practice of lynching, mutilation, torture, and political
assassinations—carried out by plainclothes security forces, angered mobs,
gangs, and other groups—has shocked the country. The rise in violence has
been exacerbated by the proliferation of arms, continued economic ills, and
weak criminal justice institutions. It is estimated that only 7 percent of
murder cases result in a conviction. All
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webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Guatemala
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