Guatemala Protests Arrest of 3 in Florida Over Passports

Posted on January 18, 2010 by MIA

By JULIA PRESTON

Published: January 18, 2010

The Guatemalan government has issued a public protest after three Guatemalans were arrested this month by immigration agents at a Federal Express office in Florida, when one of the immigrants went to pick up a package containing his newly issued Guatemalan passport.

Suspecting that the passport was fraudulent, Federal Express officials called Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to alert them when the Guatemalans arrived to collect the package, officials of the immigration agency said. Two of the Guatemalans were illegal immigrants who have been deported, and one is in deportation proceedings.

Guatemalan diplomats said that Federal Express and American officials had examined and seized legitimate passports without notifying them and had improperly disrupted their dealings with Guatemalan citizens living in this country. Felipe Alejos, the Guatemalan consul in Miami, said the events appeared to violate basic diplomatic protocols.

“They seized official documents, and they did not let us know,” Mr. Alejos said. “There was coordination between FedEx and ICE to detain people.”

Federal Express officials said they had followed routine company procedures when they contacted immigration authorities after detecting packages that suggested organized document fraud. Officials from the immigration agency, known as ICE, said they arrested the Guatemalans only after two of them tried to flee from the Federal Express office. Both the company and the immigration agency denied that they had collaborated to lure the immigrants to the office.

The arrests started a rumor mill of fears in communities along the Florida coast, where many immigrants, both legal and illegal, have settled.

“When people in the community perceive that FedEx acted as an agent for immigration, it undermines their belief that they can collect their mail and trust in their government,” said John De León, a lawyer for the Guatemalan consulate in Miami.

The now disputed chain of events began in November when Guatemalan consular officials based in Miami held a daylong session in Jupiter, Fla., to help Guatemalans in the area resolve problems with birth certificates, passports and other documents. Dozens of Guatemalans signed up for new or renewed passports, which are useful as a form of identification in this country.

The Guatemalan government prints and distributes passports for its citizens living in the United States through a private company, De La Luz, in Metairie, La. In December, the company sent the new passports in Federal Express packages to the Guatemalans who had applied for them.

At least 30 packages could not be delivered to the addresses listed, said a Federal Express spokeswoman, Allison Sobczak, and the shipper in Louisiana did not respond to telephone calls. FedEx employees opened several packages searching for better address information, she said.

“This was a normal routine for us to open a package and inspect it to try to get a correct shipping address,” Ms. Sobczak said. Since the passports included no paperwork indicating they were official, Federal Express contacted ICE “to make sure the documents were legitimate,” she said.

Damaris Roxana Vasquez, 21, a Guatemalan living in Jupiter, said that on Jan. 6, she and three Guatemalan men drove to a Federal Express office in Riviera Beach to pick up a new passport for one of the men. When they arrived, she said in an interview, Federal Express employees told them to wait because they could not locate the package.

Federal Express employees called ICE agents, who were already on their way to the office, to advise them that customers had come to pick up a suspect package, ICE officials said. When the agents arrived, two of the men tried to flee, said an ICE spokeswoman, Nicole Navas. One escaped; the other two men and Ms. Vasquez were detained, and the men later deported. Ms. Vasquez has been released while her deportation case proceeds. Her 5-year-old son, who was with her, was not detained because he is a United States citizen.

ICE seized the undelivered passports, agency officials said. After an investigation showed they were legitimate, ICE officials returned them to the Guatemalan consulate last week.

“Document fraud poses a severe threat to national security and public safety,” Ms. Navas said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/us/19immig.html?scp=1&sq=Guatemala%20Protests%20Arrest%20of%203%20in%20Florida%20Over%20Passports&st=cse

VOLCAN TEIDE: mensaje para Guatemala

Posted on January 11, 2010 by MIA

NO MÁS VIOLENCIA CONTRA LA MUJER, fue el mensaje que el montañista guatemalteco Christian Rodríguez envió desde la montaña más alta de España en la cima del volcán Teide de 3718 metros. La idea es hacer un llamado de reflexión de esta triste realidad.

La violencia de género tiene que ver con “la violencia que se ejerce hacia las mujeres por el hecho de serlo”, e incluye tanto malos tratos de la pareja, como agresiones físicas o sexuales de extraños, mutilación genital, infanticidios femeninos, etc. La estadística que se muestra en la imagen es únicamente en Guatemala, pero el problema se extiende a nivel mundial.

Los montañistas llevaron la bandera guatemalteca hasta el Volcán Teide, una de las montañas más prominentes del mundo, si se le mide desde el lecho oceánico alcanza la impresionante altitud de los 7,000 metros. Con lo cual, lo hace no solo el punto más alto de España y de cualquier isla atlántica sino también el tercer mayor volcán de La Tierra desde su base.

El día 19 de diciembre el guatemalteco inició el ascenso por la ruta más larga hacia la cumbre, junto con 4 montañistas más: Dos mujeres de nacionalidad española, una austriaca, un italiano, otro español y el mismo guatemalteco Rodríguez. El ascenso requirió mucha concentración por parte del grupo en la ultima parte, los vientos fuertes con rachas de más de 100 km por hora estuvieron presentes en los ultimos metros cerca de la cumbre. La temperatura durante la noche y mañana rondaron los menos 10 grados centigrados. A pesar de lo anterior, tanto el ascenso como el descenso del mismo fueron una agradable experiencia para todas y todos los montañistas ese día.

GUATEMALA 2009:

800 Mujeres asesinadas, una de cada 3 sufre algún tipo de abuso, NO MAS VIOLENCIA CONTRA LA MUJER!!

www.christianrodriguezm.com

Portlander uses plastic bottles to build classrooms, community in Guatemala

Posted on January 6, 2010 by MIA

By Matthew Preusch, The Oregonian

: Laura Kutner is a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala who directed construction of this school made with plastic bottles.

Working as a Peace Corps volunteer, Lincoln High School graduate Laura Kutner (fifth from the right in a black shirt) directed the construction of a school building in Guatemala using discarded plastic bottles. In Guatemala, Laura Kutner noticed, plastic trash was everywhere.

And in the rural Guatemalan community where Kutner was until recently a Peace Corps volunteer, there were classrooms without walls.

Kutner, a 2002 graduate of Portland’s Lincoln High School, saw a solution to both problems. Thanks to her, the village of Granados in central Guatemala now has two new school rooms whose walls are made from discarded plastic soda bottles and other litter.

Kutner, 25, came up with the idea and saw the project through. And in so doing, she learned plenty — too much, really — about plastic and a fair amount about building community.

“First of all, there is so much plastic. Everything is packaged in plastic,” said Kutner, who was in Portland last week during a break from her work in Guatemala, where she remains assigned, but to a new location and job. “I got so sick of plastic.”

Who can blame her? She rallied the agricultural community of 900 people and surrounding mountain villages to collect more than 4,000 used plastic drink bottles from ditches, gutters and trash piles.

Students, volunteers and school staff then stuffed the bottles with plastic bags: potato chip packaging and grocery sacks. As many as 250 were crammed into each bottle using hands and sticks: this to contain plastic trash while adding heft to the bottle structure taking shape.

“We all got blisters from stuffing,” Kutner said.

Stacked side by side and row atop row, bound with chicken wire and coated with a cement-sand mix, these became the building blocks for walls that now enclose two small classrooms for Granados’ elementary school students.

“For me and for the community, seeing these two classrooms standing is truly a dream come true,” Kutner said.

Kutner applied to the Peace Corps while a senior at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she graduated in 2006 with a degree in anthropology and Spanish.

Helping others came naturally. Kutner, whose mother was a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1970s, was active in Lincoln High’s service club and other charitable endeavors.

Her father, Douglas Kutner, a Portland psychologist, remembers driving her as a child to Hat Point on the edge of Hells Canyon in the far northeastern corner of Oregon, the Seven Devils range in the distance.

“She said, ‘It’s really hard to look at all this beauty when you know how much suffering there is in the world,'” he recalled. “She was 9.”

Kutner is now based in San Miguel Dueñas, one of 128 Peace Corps volunteers from the Portland area, which ranks 11th among the nation’s metro areas for producing volunteers. Oregon ranks fifth among states per capita for Peace Corps volunteers.

When Kutner arrived at her posting in Granados in April 2007 to teach life skills to children, a metal frame and roof was all there was to the roughly 1,300-square-foot school annex building. The village government didn’t have the money to finish the project.

The elementary school’s principal told her they needed the space, and could she help find a way to finish the school?

Kutner got the idea to use bottles from a Guatemalan group called Pura Vida, which was using bottle-filled “eco-blocks” for community construction projects.

“A bottle project had never been done with metal before, always out of wood, but I figured why not look into it,” she said.

The project ended up costing about $3,000, Kutner said. It was finished with the help of local businesses that donated materials and labor; the goodwill organization Hug it Forward, who sent five volunteers to Granados; and Peace Corps volunteer Rebecca Wike of Washington, who succeeded Kutner in Granados.

In the fall, the gray walls were painted a vivid orange. Welders were still finishing the windows during the inauguration Oct. 26. This month, students will begin using the classrooms.

“I think one of the biggest things I learned is to not just have faith in yourself, but to have faith in other people,” Kutner said. “The end result of what we were able to accomplish was way greater than I ever imagined.”

While it got new classrooms, the community also got a new awareness of the litter all around it.

Kutner remembers being on a bus and for the first time hearing a mother tell her child not to throw an empty bottle out the window, a common practice. Another resident has begun collecting cans and hauling them into the capital, four hours away, to collect the deposit.

And though she got the project started, it was the local community that saw it through, Kutner said.

“With development work, you have to find a real balance. It has to be something the community really wants or needs, but they also have to be able to do it themselves,” Kutner said. “Otherwise it’s not sustainable.”

Kutner, whose name adorns a wall plaque at a new library in Granados she also helped build, has eight more months in Guatemala with the Peace Corps. After that, she plans to pursue a master’s degree in international studies and environmental management, perhaps at the University of Washington so she can be closer to her family, before continuing with a career abroad.

“I miss my family,” she said. “But I feel like I come alive when I do this kind of work.”

Guatemalan Masculinity and Feminism: A Happy Marriage?

Posted on January 6, 2010 by MIA

Update of PBRC Summer Stipend | Professor Sarah England

Assessing Educational Campaigns against Gender Violence in Guatemala

The primary objective of this project is to observe and analyze educational campaigns carried out by NGOs in Guatemala City targeted at deconstructing cultural ideologies that perpetuate gender inequality and specifically violence against women. My aim is to understand how these organizations conceptualize gender, how they present their material to the intended audience, and to what degree the audience responds to these ideas, especially men. I am also interested in understanding how the members of the organizations themselves have arrived at their own analysis of gender, gender inequality, and feminism. I am especially interested in what has led men to be involved in these campaigns and what strategies they use to get other men to rethink the fundamental premises of patriarchy.

In the summer of 2009 I traveled to Guatemala City with funding from the PBRC summer stipend and began preliminary investigations on the questions listed above. Through the collaboration of the Costa Mesa-based organization Mujeres Iniciando en las Americas (MIA), founded and run by activist Lucia Munoz, I was able to contact several different women’s organizations, observe gender equality workshops designed and carried out by MIA, and interview men and women involved in the campaign for gender equality in different capacities. From this preliminary set of observations and interviews I gained several insights into the way that Guatemalan activists think about gender and gender inequality, and also came up with some new ideas for theoretical and methodological approaches for further investigation of the topic.

The two gender equality workshops that I observed were initiated and carried out by MIA based on a manual designed by the Canadian-based White Ribbon campaign. One of the workshops took place in a primary school in Zona 18, one of the poorest neighborhoods of Guatemala City with high rates of violent crime, and the other took place with university students and activists at the University of San Carlos, the largest public university in Guatemala. During these workshops students were asked to list basic ideologies about the traditional roles of men and women and to question their reality, origins, and validity as models of social comportment. What I realized from observing these workshops is that both the primary school-age students and the university-level students were quickly able to list the stereotypical gender roles and characteristics of men and women that make up what scholars call “the patriarchal bargain” in Latin America-that is the model of gender relations in which men are the heads of household, financial providers, and sources of authority while women are responsible for domestic duties, child rearing, and sexual fidelity. The university students were also quick to recognize the sexual double standard in which men are sexual subjects with a large degree of autonomy over their sexuality and sexual behavior whereas women are meant to be the objects of men’s desire and control. However, upon further discussion it became clear that despite everyone’s ability to recite the model of patriarchal gender relations and roles, the reality of their own lives was much more complex than the model suggests. Children mentioned mothers who work, fathers who do some housework, changing ideas about the ability of girls to get an education and so forth. The university students and activists also questioned the sexual double standard and its role in controlling even women who are students and public figures. Some of the male students also questioned women’s roles in perpetuating patriarchal ideologies in raising their sons and talked about the way that gender ideologies have also limited their ability to act outside of patriarchal norms. I concluded that these workshops are excellent avenues through which to gain an understanding of the models of gender that men and women grow up with and learn through their parents, peers, school, the media, etc. but also to see how their realities are more complicated and how, through various avenues, they are learning to rethink these models. However my preliminary observations suggest that this rethinking has mainly taken place in relation to the gendered division of labor, that is questioning whether women should be able to work, men’s role in the household, and so forth. What I saw less of was questioning the way that the social construction of male and female sexuality plays a large role in limiting women’s spatial mobility and justifying gendered violence.

The second method, interviews with activists, was also very fruitful in beginning to understand the various processes that have led certain men and women to rethink standard patriarchal models of gender and the barriers that they have faced in trying to act outside of those norms. Though the men’s pathways to becoming conscious of gender inequality were various (participation in the revolutionary movement of the 1970s/80s, being raised by single mothers, living with abusive fathers, having to take over domestic duties in the home), one commonality was that all feel that there are still enormous social pressures to enact machismo such that it is very difficult for men to promote and enact a feminist ideology, even within the activist community. This is a topic that I would like to explore in much more depth in future research. What are the models of masculinity that they have been exposed to? How did they develop an “alternative masculinity” and what have been the barriers they have faced in trying to enact that masculinity? Though all of the interviwees clearly articulated a belief that gender inequality is a complex set of social structures and beliefs that disempowers women and make them vulnerable to violence (structural, physical, and symbolic), a few also recognized that gender inequality not only structures power relations between men and women but also between men. Rather than seeing patriarchy as a privilege that attaches to all men, they expressed the idea that patriarchy (in the local form of machismo) not only harms women, but also harms men in that it encourages violence, power struggles between men, abusive relationships, and so forth. This is also an avenue that I would like to explore further as it aligns with much of the recent scholarship on masculinity that questions the degree to which it is a privilege or a liability both for men as individuals and of course for society as a whole.

Based on the insights I have gained from this preliminary research I plan to apply for the Wenner-Gren Post PhD Research Grant, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the American Council of Learned Societies Fellowships, and the Latin American Studies Association “Other Americas Project.” I plan to continue with the two primary methods of observing gender equality workshops and interviewing activists. My primary focus will be on extending feminist theory and methodology to the study of masculinity in Guatemala by 1) recognizing the social construction of gender and sexuality and the ways that these are linked to but not completely congruent with sex (in other words both men and women can be discriminated against for enacting what is perceived to be feminine behavior– being a biological male does not guarantee male privilege) 2) recognizing the way that gender ideologies are always linked to power 3) recognize multiple masculinities, cross-cut by race, class, and generation 4) separating out the models of gender and their actual enactment in people’s lives and 5) trying to understand all of this from the point of view of the subjects themselves, that is from the emic point of view of men and women who both live these ideologies and social structures and are trying to deconstruct them to form a more equal and peaceful society.

—

In August 2009, Professor Sarah England of Soka University worked with MIA on “Guatemalan Masculinity and Feminism: A Happy Marriage? Assessing Educational Campaigns against Gender Violence in Guatemala” funded by Soka University’s Pacific Basin Research Center. The idea behind this project was inspired by MIA’s work with the White Ribbon Campaign in Guatemala City which seeks to talk directly to men about issues of gender inequality and gendered violence.

Through my research on these issues in Latin America I have realized that the majority of work being done in this area, both among activists and among academics, seems to still frame gendered violence as primarily a woman’s issue that is discussed among women about how women can cope with it. However, since men are the main perpetrator’s of gendered violence it is very important that they be a part of the conversation about how to resolve the problem alongside women. But in order to do this it is important to understand how men think about the issue, how they conceptualize gender and gender inequality, the role that their own sense of masculinity plays in the construction of gender, and how they think that educational programs can be designed that will get men to think critically about these ideas of gender.

For this project I attended several workshops designed by MIA in collaboration with local Guatemalan NGOs and educators and interviewing facilitators and participants in order to gain insight into the questions posed above.

MIA is a wonderful example of an organization that has this as its explicit goal and has been very active in creating gender equality workshops among different sectors of the population. I first came to know about MIA in 2008 when Lucia Munoz visited the Soka University campus as part of a mini-conference on violence against women in Latin America. I then traveled with her on the summer 2008 delegation to Guatemala and was overwhelmed by the wealth of information, personal stories, and contact with activists that the delegations provide. It was truly an amazing experience both intellectually and emotionally to meet so many people dedicated to improving women’s lives and hearing the personal stories of suffering but also strength. I immediately recognized that the work of MIA aligned perfectly with the goals and missions of Soka University to create engaged, global citizens and asked Lucia to help me organize a Learning Cluster (4 week intensive course) with students from Soka to travel to Guatemala for two weeks to study more intensively the question of gender violence in the country.

The trip was very successful and the comments from the students were extremely positive, stating that the trip had been a life changing experience, opening up their eyes not only to the Guatemalan reality as a whole, but also cementing their resolve to become politically engaged in issues such as gender equality. I hope that this research project will foster continued collaboration between Soka University and MIA specifically, and between academia and activists more generally to tackle such a pressing social issue as gender violence.

Norma Cruz fue electa Personaje del Año 2009

Posted on January 4, 2010 by MIA

Por Alejandra Álvarez | Prensa Libre

El Consejo de Redacción de este matutino, integrado por los editores de las diferentes secciones, eligió a Norma Angélica Cruz Córdoba como Personaje del Año 2009, por sus logros en la lucha contra la impunidad y los derechos de mujeres y niños.

Después de un profundo análisis y de una lista de personajes destacados en diferentes áreas, que inició en 25 y luego de varias rondas de votación quedó en cinco finalistas —Nineth Montenegro, Carlos Castresana, Ricardo Arjona, monseñor Álvaro Ramazzini y Cruz— esta última fue la ganadora en la votación decisiva.

Méritos

Durante este año, la Fundación Sobrevivientes atendió más de 16 mil 500 casos de violencia y abusos en contra de mujeres. Además, unos 450 expedientes llevados a los tribunales fueron resueltos en los últimos meses por mediación de su oficina legal, que bajo la dirección de Norma Cruz ha brindado acompañamiento desde el 2004 a miles de féminas en todo el país.

Esa labor ha hecho que la activista, quien fue propuesta en el 2005 para recibir el Premio Nobel de la Paz, sea acreedora de diferentes reconocimientos en el ámbito nacional e internacional.

El Premio Nacional de Derechos Humanos Padre Manolo Maqueira —2007—; el cambio de la rosa de la paz, por su lucha contra la violencia hacia las mujeres —2008—, y ese mismo año, el galardón otorgado por el Club de las 25 —mujeres profesionales de España—, forman parte de la lista de galardones.

En el 2009, Cruz recibió el Premio para Mujeres con Coraje, otorgado por la secretaria de Estado de EE. UU., Hillary Clinton, y la primera dama de esa nación, Michelle Obama.

“Fue honrada por sus persistentes esfuerzos por poner fin a la cultura de impunidad, del asesinato y otras formas de violencia contra las mujeres en Guatemala”, expresó Clinton al entregarle el merecimiento.

“Pese al gran riesgo para su seguridad personal, Cruz ha alzado su voz y ha sido extraordinariamente valiente”, afirmó la jefa de la diplomacia de EE. UU. durante la ceremonia, que tuvo lugar en la sala Benjamín Franklin, del Departamento de Estado, seguida de un coctel en la sala Thomas Jefferson.

La defensora de los derechos de las mujeres, quien se emocionó —según confiesa— cuando recibió el premio de manos de Clinton, fue honrada junto a otras siete activistas procedentes de Afganistán, Iraq, Malasia, Níger, Rusia, Uzbekistán y Yemen; en esa ocasión fue la única mujer latinoamericana.

En noviembre último, el diario El País de España la incluyó en la lista de los cien personajes destacados en el mundo.

En carne propia

Lo que motivó a Cruz a ayudar de manera directa a mujeres víctimas de violencia y abusos fue la lucha legal que emprendió para encontrar justicia en el caso de su hija Claudia María, quien fue víctima de violencia sexual de parte de la pareja sentimental de la activista.

Aunque se logró una sentencia condenatoria en el 2002, lo difícil y desgastante del proceso le dejó secuelas difíciles de borrar, confiesa Cruz.

Fue así como, en el 2003, Sobrevivientes comenzó a funcionar como asociación, y actualmente es una fundación.

Sus orígenes

Cruz nació en la Ciudad de Guatemala, en 1962. Su padre era zapatero y su madre trabajaba en casas, como cocinera.

Se crió en el seno de una familia relacionada con el movimiento revolucionario. Recuerda que en la década de 1960 uno de sus tíos participó en grupos insurgentes, durante la época de Augusto Turcios Lima y Marco Antonio Yon Sosa.

“Eso marcó mucho a mi familia, porque sufrimos persecución… las fuerzas de seguridad entraban en la casa, de madrugada, y nos sacaban de la cama”, cuenta.

Otro acontecimiento que marcó la niñez de Cruz cuando tenía 6 años de edad fue la pérdida de su padre, quien murió como consecuencia de un cáncer terminal. Entonces su madre la dejó a ella y a sus dos hermanas bajo el cuidado de su familia paterna.

“Crecimos sin mamá y sin papá, y nuestros tíos nos criaron”, afirma.

Estos acontecimientos propiciaron que Cruz buscara participación dentro de las actividades de la iglesia Católica, y fue así como desde los 13 años comenzó su voluntariado, en Campur, Alta Verapaz, durante las vacaciones escolares. Vivió de cerca los procesos de la teoría de la liberación, en una coyuntura convulsionada por el conflicto armado interno.

“Yo crecí en la zona 1. Mis parroquias eran Santa Marta y Santa Cecilia, con los padres salesianos y la congregación Esclavas del Sagrado Corazón… ellos me marcaron mucho”, refiere.

Durante sus años de estudios secundarios, a finales de la década de 1970, en el Instituto María Luisa Samayoa Lanuza, se convirtió en una de las fundadoras de la asociación de estudiantes de ese plantel; la primera organización formal en que fue dirigente.

“Eso fue cuando secuestraron a Robin García y a Leonel Caballeros, por lo que había una efervescencia en el estudiantado”, relata.

Cuando terminó sus estudios básicos, Cruz decidió dedicarse a la vida religiosa y se incorporó al convento de la Congregación de las Esclavas del Corazón de Jesús; sin embargo, el asesinato de uno de sus tíos y el incendio de la Embajada de España, en 1980, motivaron que se sintiera atraída por el movimiento revolucionario, por lo que se incorporó al Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres.

En ese proceso de cambio, la activista conoció a Miguel Ángel Hernández Solá, con quien se casó y procreó dos hijos, pero el primero, José David, murió a los 5 meses de edad.

Después de esa pérdida, a Cruz le diagnosticaron cáncer, por lo que estuvo en tratamiento médico durante varios meses, en el Hospital Roosevelt.

Durante ese tiempo su esposo se fue al exilio a Nicaragua, y dos meses después, pese a su enfermedad, Cruz decidió marcharse con él.

En Nicaragua, la activista desarrolló diferentes actividades para poder sobrevivir. “Corté grama, trabajé como costurera, entre otras cosas”, asegura. En esos años nació su segunda hija, Claudia María, pero también se separó de su esposo.

Sola, con su hija, decidió regresar a Guatemala en 1987 y se incorporó a la oficina de servicios múltiples de la Conferencia Religiosa de Guatemala.

Fue así como, desde ese entonces, Cruz inició una participación más activa en organizaciones con enfoque social: en 1991 dirigió la Asociación para la Educación y el Desarrollo, que apoyaba a comunidades de desplazados por la guerra interna; entre 1994 y el 2004 fue asesora de la Unidad de Asentamientos de Guatemala y del Frente de Pobladores de Guatemala.

En esos años también fundó la Casa de Servicios en Derechos Humanos, Agrarios y Laborales, dirigida a la búsqueda de resolución de conflictos.

Trabajo en diferentes áreas

Entre las acciones efectuadas por la Fundación Sobrevivientes el año recién pasado se encuentran las denuncias presentadas en contra de supuestos responsables de tráfico de personas y adopciones irregulares.

Esa entidad calcula que en el país existen más de 500 abogados involucrados en este tipo de ilícitos, pero la cantidad puede ser mayor.

Del 15 al 24 de julio del 2009, el equipo de Sobrevivientes, junto con voluntarios internacionales, participó en una huelga de hambre frente al edificio del Organismo Judicial.

“Fue una medida extrema tomada para sensibilizar a las autoridades en el tema del tráfico de niñas y niños … hay madres que sufren el robo de sus hijos para fines de adopción irregular; ellas piden que sean anulados esos procesos”, señala Cruz.

Entre la labor humanitaria que desarrolla Sobrevivientes están la administración de un refugio para las víctimas de diferentes casos de abuso, uno de los pocos que funcionan en el país, y su lucha por proteger a las madres que han sido víctimas del robo de sus hijos.

De acuerdo con Cruz, la creciente cantidad de asesinatos de mujeres en Guatemala se debe a la pobreza y el incremento del narcotráfico.

Investigaciones efectuadas y análisis presentados por la Fundación concluyen en que los pandilleros matan a las mujeres de las familias de las pandillas rivales, con frecuencia como rito de iniciación, sin mucho temor a represalias legales porque estos crímenes no se denuncian y se investigan con poca frecuencia.

Sobrevivientes ha brindado apoyo a víctimas de esos abusos, ya que dentro del sistema de justicia nacional menos del 3 por ciento de los responsables son procesados.

Ante ese escenario, la Fundación Sobrevivientes y otros grupos sociales que trabajan en defensa de los derechos humanos apoyaron la instalación de la Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala.

Uno de los principales retos del equipo de la entidad es hacer conciencia en las autoridades para que se dé la atención adecuada a los procesos que se llevan en los tribunales de justicia .

“Nuestro principal desafío es no darnos por vencidos y seguir adelante en contra de la impunidad y buscando justicia a favor de las mujeres víctimas de abusos y violencia en este país”, expone Cruz.

http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2010/enero/03/363513.html

Festejan en el hogar de Norma Cruz

Posted on January 3, 2010 by MIA

Por Claudia Acuña

Claudia Hernández Cruz abraza a su madre, Norma Cruz, para felicitarla por haber sido reconocida como Personaje del Año 2009 de Prensa Libre.

Con sonrisas, abrazos, felicitaciones por teléfono, mensajes de texto y visitas comenzó el día ayer Norma Cruz, defensora de los derechos de las mujeres y de los niños y reconocida como Personaje del Año 2009 de Prensa Libre.

Desde temprano, tras enterarse del reconocimiento que le hiciera Prensa Libre, Cruz recibió muestras de cariño y admiración por el trabajo que realiza desde la Fundación Sobrevivientes, organización en la que lucha para terminar con la impunidad y la corrupción, en defensa de mujeres y niños víctimas de la violencia.

Al abrir un ejemplar de la edición de ayer de este periódico, Cruz expresó: “Este es un buen comienzo de año”.

Amigos, familiares, compañeros de trabajo y defensores de derechos humanos se comunicaron por teléfono con la activista. Mientras desayunaba, en compañía de su hijo Alejandro, el celular no dejó de sonar.

Atendió la comunicación de Mirna Ponce y Miguel Ángel Sandoval. También leyó los mensajes de Marco Antonio Canteo y Enrique Godoy.

Más tarde la llamaron Helen Mack; Justo Solórzano, de Unicef; y Lucía Muñoz, de la Organización Mía, en EE. UU., entre otras personalidades.

Al otro lado del auricular se escuchaba la euforia de quienes la felicitaban, y por medio de la pantalla del teléfono se leían los mensajes de alegría.

Uno de los momentos más emotivos de la mañana fue cuando su hija Claudia llegó de visita.

Entre lágrimas y sonrisas, la joven abrazó a su madre.

“Es mi mamá; siempre está conmigo. Siempre la he visto luchar, desde que era pequeña. Aunque tenemos desencuentros, sabe que tiene mi apoyo”, expresó.

Mack se congratuló con la distinción a Cruz. “Me parece excelente; lo tiene muy merecido”, expresó.

http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2010/enero/04/366212.html

Philadelphia Faces Rising Toll of Domestic Violence

Posted on December 30, 2009 by MIA

By IAN URBINA

Responding to a sharp increase in homicides stemming from domestic violence, the Philadelphia Police Department announced plans this week to change how officers handle domestic abuse cases.

While Philadelphia’s overall homicide rate has dropped about 9 percent and all violent crime in the city is down compared with this time last year, there have been 35 domestic homicides since January — a 67 percent increase from 2008. The police say two additional killings are still being investigated and are likely to be added to the tally.

“It’s something we have to confront because domestic violence homicide is a crime where you know who the perpetrator is and there are often warning signs that the crime is coming,” said Patricia Giorgio-Fox, the deputy policy commissioner.

She added that 21 of the 35 domestic homicide victims had made a total of 178 calls to the police, and some of the callers had restraining orders against the individuals suspected or convicted of killing them.

The new police protocol will involve better data so that officers know when they answer a call if there have been previous reports of domestic violence from the address and whether a restraining order has been obtained.

The increase in domestic violence in Philadelphia is mirrored nationally, and experts say it is linked, in part, to the recession. In fact, data indicate that domestic violence had been falling in the 15 years before the recession took hold last year.

In May, the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation released a study indicating that 75 percent of the nation’s domestic violence shelters have reported an increase in women seeking help since September 2008. The report also found that 73 percent of these shelters attributed this rise to financial issues.

Moreover, the increase has come as services for domestic violence victims have been cut.

“Domestic violence is up, and while the poor economy that helps drive the violence is still not rebounded, states are drastically slashing funding for domestic violence services,” said Sheryl Cates, chief executive of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, a federally financed emergency hot line.

This year, California cut at least $2 million from the state budget that goes toward financing 94 domestic violence shelters and centers. California accounts for 13 percent of emergency calls, the highest of any state, according to the national hot line.

Legal aid financing in West Virginia has been cut this year by 62 percent, reducing services to help protect victims of violence, according to the National Organization for Women.

In Illinois, the legislature reduced financing for domestic violence programs by 75 percent, and scores of domestic violence shelters, sexual assault and other social service programs have been forced to cut staff, reduce hours and trim other services, the organization said.

In Philadelphia, the new efforts come on the heels of several highly publicized cases involving repeat offenders, including Willie L. Scott, who the police say shot and killed his former girlfriend in February in front of the couple’s 4-year-old daughter. The police had responded to at least 10 calls for help from the house since the start of 2008.

Federal data from the National Crime Victimization Survey indicates that domestic violence remained relatively flat from 2007 to 2008, but no numbers are available for this year.

In 2008, about 552,000 crimes were committed against women by their partners, compared with about 588,000 in 2007. The rate of such violence against women fell by about 53 percent between 1993 and 2008, according to a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In recent years, states have experimented with different methods of dealing with repeat offenders.

At least a dozen states have begun using GPS technology to try to keep offenders away from their current or former partners, according to the federal Electronic Monitoring Resource Center in Denver. Those states allow judges to order people to wear monitors that send a warning to the police and the victim when the individual enters an “intrusion zone” — a circle drawn around the victim’s home or workplace or her child’s school or day care center.

Commissioner Giorgio-Fox said the new regulations would take effect early next year. The policy will require police districts to keep their own detailed databases on domestic calls, indicating the nature of the call, whether a restraining order is connected to the address and whether the incident involves a repeat offender.

Dispatchers will be required to provide that data when an officer responds to a call. The department will also begin working more closely with city agencies and nonprofit organizations that offer counseling and shelters for domestic violence victims so that people with more training than the responding officers can arrive in emergency cases and try to persuade the victim to leave the premises, she said.

“All too often, officers arrive, hear from both sides and then we have little ability to convince the victim to leave,” Commissioner Giorgio-Fox said. “The next time we get the call, it’s often too late. So our officers need to be able to judge these situations better and earlier.”

Barclay Walsh contributed research. From the New York Times online edition.

December 2009

Posted on December 15, 2009 by MIA

Hola everyone,

I am writing to send you a report on our recent trip to my Guatelinda this past November and wish everyone happy holidays too.

We traveled to Guatelinda last month without a delegation. The economy is hitting hard, i got tons of calls of students interested but no money. They were all asking for scholarship. Sadly, I had to accept we would not take a delegation this November. Just as I am accepting we would not have a trip, I get an invitation from Guatemala’s 1st lady to attend the UN campaign launch in Guatemala. We were asked to participate in one of the workshops and of course I accepted to sadly find out that the people from the United Nations had already planned their own agenda and the people from 1st lady were not able to make it happen. I had everything ready for the workshop and just one day before was told, thank you, but no thank you. It turned out to be that the people from the 1st lady jumped the gun and invited MIA without consulting with the UN people who already had their workshops programmed.

During our week there we used our time wisely and followed up with the Police Accademy, USAC, and the department of education. As you know, in Guatemala people are fired overnight without explanation and this is what happened with the Police Academy. We had accomplished getting in early this year and then found out that the director who enabled us to get in (a woman) was fired and when we ran to the head of Police who also approved of our work, who also was fired. This set us back to have to start all over again.

Early this year we were able to get in with the help of the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala, but this time, so far, we are on our own. Luckily we made strong ties with different people in the Police Academy and with the old Director of Police and other people in different positions. All that goodwill is thanks to the workshop we did, many of the participants were in different positions and are willing to speak up for us if questioned about our trainings. The old director is today in the Vice Ministerio de Gobernacion asked us on this trip to coordinate with the Women Affairs coordinator to schedule an appointment with the new director and that she would back us up with a letter signed by her. We are aiming for late January, early February.

Taking advantage that we will have a trip early next year, we have taken the decision to start the paper work to have a satellite in Guatemala which we hope will allow us to get funds from the U.S. and the 1st lady. The people from the 1st lady asked us to file our paper work and that that is the only way they can help. They explained to us that there are 2 ways to get funds: one is becoming a nonprofit and another is to take advantage that we have a non profit in the US and we would only have to file for the same status in Guate, as a satellite.

We rushed to find an attorney and found out really quick that the attorneys are charging us by what we are wearing. I decided to back off and do my searching thru family and friends and find an attorney we can afford.

In Guatemala you need an attorney for this paperwork. It is not the same like in the U.S. where we did our paperwork ourselves. As we were doing the running around, Chris agreed with my conclusion that the only way we can make this happen is by me staying in Guate for a long period of time. This is something I had been talking about and explaining to him, but he had not undertand till this visit where he was with me in meetings, conferences, transactions and simply visiting.

While visiting a family that we helped here in California (true transnational work) the family invited us for dinner to thank us for the help we gave their daughter. Their daughter is back in Guate with her 2 daughters safe and sound from domestic violence. We had a big role in helping her go back home to Guate and the family has become a BIG ally of MIA in Guate. Through this family we will be talking to a company who may is interested in funding our workshops. Again, they want to speak to us and us only. I wanted to delegate one of our strong volunteers for this meeting, but they will wait for my visit early next year.

Also we made a new contact with a congresswoman who will coordinate for MIA to speak to all congresswomen and make them aware of our workshops to help lobby for us to get funds. So we visited the chairperson for education in the Green House and she wants us to start delivering workshop early next year. Plus USAC wants me to be present for the kick off of the next semester.

I was bummed all this time that we had not been able to take a delegation, but with all these visits, I felt better and I learned that Sarah at Soka University will be leading a delegation next month, I feel very happy to know that our work has led others to want to bring groups to Guatemala!

Marina Wood, who some of you probably do not think knows any Spanish, was down in Guate for 10 weeks leading 5 different sites in the Hombres Contra Feminicidio campaign. She was a great representative of MIA as were her co facilitators, two of MIA’s star men. Marina has also been blogging about her experience as she learned a lot about living in a “developing” country, doing prevention education, and greatly improving her Spanish. She is back in the US now, but deserves a big pat on the back for all the work she did in Guate as well as for getting accepted into her dream school, Claremont Graduate University.

The government (first Lady) say they are able to give us money for our program, but they won’t do that until we have a program in place. SO the question is, what comes first, the chicken (program) or the egg (money)? The answer is the chicken. We need some egg money to get things going to the point where the government will be able to get us money for the program. So we are working on the sources for private funding. As always, if you have ideas for donor/investors in peace, please send them our way.

Best!

Lucia Muñoz

Chiqui Ramírez: El tiempo de siglos en el tiempo

Posted on December 14, 2009 by MIA

“Lo cierto es que la madre Tierra es un ente vivo, que ha sufrido cambios”

Chiqui Ramírez: El tiempo de siglos en el tiempo

Por Delia Quiñónez | Diario de Centro América

El pasado jueves 10 de diciembre, Sophos acogió la presentación y lanzamiento de la novela La llave, de Chiqui Ramírez, quien radica actualmente en el Canadá, dedicada a su vocación de artista de la plástica.

Hace algunos años estuvo en Guatemala para presentar su trabajo testimonial La guerra de los 36 años, vista con ojos de mujer de izquierda, en la que aborda temas vinculados a su experiencia política.

La llave aporta el conocimiento y la creatividad literaria de quien durante muchos años se ha dedicado al estudio de los testimonios de la cultura maya y su cosmovisión, de cara a las predicciones que hoy en día circulan referentes al año 2012.

Conversamos con Chiqui Ramírez acerca de los contenidos de su libro y les presentamos aquí algunas apreciaciones que la autora expresa en torno a temas históricos y culturales de gran actualidad.

¿Por qué La llave, una novela, después de tu libro testimonial La guerra de los 36 años, vista con ojos de mujer de izquierda?

El libro surge a partir de media página que mi hijo Ricardo me mostró sobre un tema que se le había ocurrido para escribir. A mí me gustó y le pregunté si me dejaba trabajarla. Así que de media página resultaron 240.

La llave plantea el tema de las profecías mayas. ¿Estaba en la idea original?

No. Pero ya sabés que cuando alguien escribe deja caer experiencias, relatos, historias que escuchaste no sabés cuándo, ideas, ideales, frustraciones… Como quien dice, el papel aguanta. Así se fueron llenando los entre renglones de esa primera idea.

A propósito de las profecías mayas, ¿por qué es un tema tan recurrente en este momento?

El tema de las profecías mayas para el año 2012 está dando la vuelta al mundo, atribuyéndole a estas siete profecías en las que, según dicen, se va a terminar el mundo. Pero si les preguntás a los mayas contadores del tiempo respecto a ellas, posiblemente se van a reír de nuestros temores. El Tata Apolinario Chile Pixtun, que viaja dando conferencias como muchos otros contadores del tiempo maya, dice estar cansado de la misma pregunta.

El Tata Marco Antonio Flores Solórzano me dijo: Nana, ¡los mayas eran científicos! Como quien dice, quién se la va a creer, si alguien que maneja la astronomía y la matemática no puede estar en eso.

La llave ¿tiene relación con estas profecías?

Recordemos que existen los libros de Chilam Balam, que de acuerdo con el diccionario de Motul, “tomaron su nombre del más famoso de los Chilames que existieron poco antes de la llegada de los europeos”. Chilam Balam vivió en Maní en la época de Mochan Xiu. Balam es un nombre de familia, pero significa jaguar o brujo en el sentido figurado. La palabra significa “él, que es boca”; él, que interpretaba los libros y la voluntad de Dios en sus diferentes manifestaciones.

Los historiadores ubican la fundación del pueblo de Maní a mediados del siglo XV, después de la destrucción de la famosa ciudad maya de Mayapán, donde Tutul Xiu había establecido la corte de su poderoso reino. Predijo el advenimiento de una nueva religión, y de ahí su fama.

¿En qué contexto se da esta predicción?

Fray Diego de Landa llegó a Yucatán en 1549 e instauró juicio inquisitorio contra los mayas. Tras el interrogatorio y tortura realizó un gran auto de fe en Maní el 12 de julio de 1562, en el que hizo quemar unos 5,000 ídolos, códices y objetos sagrados. Ya en 1558 había realizado una dura expedición punitiva en Chichén Itzá y arrojado al Cenote Sagrado un valioso número de objetos sagrados tratando de desacreditar este lugar como sitio de veneración y peregrinación de la religión maya. Se le reconocieron más de 6,330 muertes de indígenas mayas entre ajusticiamientos y torturas. Su excesivo celo y crueldad provocó la indignación de sus colegas y fue acusado ante el rey de España y el Consejo de Indias por crear temor en la población e irritar a los indios y colonos.

¿Entonces?

La oralidad conservó la memoria de Chilam Balam, y posiblemente, tras conocer el uso del alfabeto latino, varios mayas decidieron escribir sobre su religión, historia, registros cronológicos con base en la cuenta corta, su espiritualidad, textos médicos, el uso calendárico, almanaques mayas, incluyendo predicciones, astrología, astronomía, textos literarios, novelas españolas, misceláneas de textos no clasificados.

El doctor Agustín de Echano, canónigo de la catedral de Mérida, dejó publicado en 1758 que “la experiencia de manejar tan incesantemente a los indios en cerca de 12 años que les serví me enseñó que el motivo de estar muchos apegados a sus antigüedades era porque siendo los naturales muy curiosos, y aplicándose a saber leer, lo que estos logran, cuanto papel tienen a mano tanto leen: y no habiendo entre ellos más tratados en su idioma que los que sus antepasados escribieron cuya materia es solo de sus hechicerías, encantos y curaciones con muchos abusos y ensalmos”.

Era normal, pues, que los intelectuales mayas tuvieran la inquietud de escribir, especialmente si el acceso al nuevo (para ellos) alfabeto les permitía escribir más fácilmente.

Los libros de Chilam Balam fueron escritos en lenguas mayas, copiados y recopiados en papel español y caracteres latinos, escondidos, consultados y distribuidos en la clandestinidad durante cientos de años, hasta que algunos de ellos fueron traducidos al castellano. Las copias existentes no son las originales del siglo XVI, sino son copias de copias muy posteriores, sufriendo alteraciones, agregados y omisiones, como puede esperarse.

De manera que las profecías que se encuentran en los libros de Chilam Balam predicen lo que iba a ocurrir durante la dominación europea. Ya que fueron escritos poco después de la derrota de Mayapán. Chilam Balam profetizó la llegada de una nueva religión que traería el sufrimiento, los atropellos, la pérdida de los valores morales y espirituales mayas.

Es decir que profetizaron el sufrimiento del pueblo maya a lo largo de la colonia española, de los gobiernos liberales, los gobiernos militares, incluso en la época de la Revolución de octubre del 44, rematando ese sufrimiento con las masacres (ahora confirmadas las órdenes de genocidio) del general Ríos Montt y la represión que vemos todavía por la lucha antiminera de los pueblos originarios.

¿Una mención sobre el sufrimiento maya?

En el Chilam Balam, Ah Kin, cantor de Cabalchén Maní escribió (pág. 129) “… Muy pesada es la carga que soportarán los Ixcuch uum idzinil. Los hermanos menores que soportarán la carga de la tierra; aplacadas, dominadas, sometidas estarán sus voluntades; muerto el corazón de la flor de mayo, de los disputadores, de los deslenguados, de los ofrecedores de mujeres, flor de perversidades, de deshonestos desvaríos, los del poder de dos días, los que ponen deshonestidad en los tronos, los desvergonzados de la flor de mayo, los de abominables amores, los de poder de dos días, los bancos de dos días, los de jícaras de dos días, los lascivos del día, los lascivos de la noche, los Maax monos del mundo, los que tuercen la garganta, los que parpadean los ojos, los que tuercen la boca a los señores de la tierra. ¡Oh padre! Los que carecen de verdad en sus palabras, los extranjeros del pueblo, los que dicen que son verdaderamente respetables, los hijos del hombre de las Uuc Tocoynaob, Siete casas desiertas. Los hijos de las mujeres de las Uuc Tocoynaob, siete-casas-desiertas, ¡oh padre!”

¿Que dicen las profecías “comerciales”?

Los merolicos comerciantes en todo mundo, especialmente colombianos, han hecho películas sobre las siete profecías en las que supuestamente el ser humano, el 21 de diciembre del 2012, cuando la tierra se detenga, alcanzará la conexión intergaláctica. (Por supuesto que serán pocos los escogidos).

O sea que hay especulación barata en este tema del fin del mundo en el 2012, y quien tenga la curiosidad de leer los libros del Chilam Balam no va a encontrar ninguna referencia “profética maya” sobre el fin del mundo.

En tu novela La llave, ¿te sirve de base información contenida en las tradiciones y profecías mayas?

Por supuesto. Tengo puntos de referencia. Por ejemplo, según las tradiciones y profecías mayas, existieron cuatro eras cósmicas: Agua, Aire, Fuego y Tierra. Nosotros estamos entrando en la quinta era del movimiento. Cada era dura 5,200 años del calendario maya y termina con inmensos desastres naturales. Nuestra cuarta era tendría que acabar con grandes catástrofes en el año 2012 del calendario gregoriano.

La primera profecía dice que a partir de 1999 nos quedan 13 años para cambiar de conciencia porque inicia la era de los grandes desastres. La segunda habla de grandes cambios sociales que alterarán nuestras comunicaciones y relaciones. La tercera profecía habla del aumento de temperatura del planeta. La cuarta, del derretimiento de los polos. La quinta dice que los sistemas de gobierno basados en el miedo caerán y el hombre se encontrará en una etapa de desorganización de la que eventualmente saldrá victorioso. La sexta profecía menciona un cometa que se acercará peligrosamente a nuestro planeta. Y la séptima menciona que, al amanecer del 22 de diciembre del 2012, la luz emitida del centro de la galaxia sincronizará a todos los seres vivos y les permitirá transformarse para bien y la humanidad será una.

¿O sea que hay, posiblemente, un horizonte de cambio positivo?

Lo cierto es que la madre Tierra es un ente vivo que ha sufrido cambios. Los hombres han modificado la corteza terrestre. El descongelamiento de los polos no ha pasado una sola vez. Las catástrofes ambientales aceleradas por la mano del ser humano las estamos viendo. El egoísmo y la falta de compasión los vivimos a diario. ¿Qué más podemos esperar?

En todo caso, los fenómenos naturales arrasan con todos: si el agua está envenenada, no va a ser solo la de los bebederos de los pobres.

http://dca.gob.gt:85/archivo/091214/cultura.html

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