Thursday, November 24, 2005

::: Carta Enviada a Bush el Dia de Gracias - Letter Sent to Bush on Thanksgiving Day :::

Dear President Bush,

We, Guatemalans and friends of the Guatemalan people, address ourselves to you in order to ask you to provide a positive response to the petition the Guatemalan Government has made, with the support of its civil society. Considering the death and damage caused by Hurricane Stan last October, Guatemala is asking for Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for Guatemalans working in the United States without a migratory visa.

In conformity with your frequently expressed view that compassion is one of the distinctive features of the Republican Party, and stressing the humanitarian concerns that support the request of TPS for Guatemala, as well as recognizing the tradition of solidarity of the United States of America towards afflicted peoples, we earnestly ask you to authorize TPS for Guatemalans as a particular present on Thanksgiving Day.

Sincerely,

Coalition of Guatemalan Immigrants in the United States (CONGUATE),
Guatemala Peace and Development Network (GPDN)


...

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Clues to Atrocities in Guatemala

November 21, 2005
Mildewed Police Files May Hold Clues to Atrocities in Guatemala
By GINGER THOMPSON, The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/21/international/americas/21guatemala.html?emc=eta1&pagewanted=print

GUATEMALA CITY, Nov. 20 - The reams and reams of mildewed police documents, tied in messy bundles and stacked from floor to ceiling, look on first sight like a giant trash heap. But human rights investigators are calling it a treasure hidden in plain sight.

In Guatemala, a nation still groping for the whole truth about decades of state-sponsored kidnapping and killing, the documents promise a trove of new evidence for the victims, and perhaps the last best hope for some degree of justice.

Last summer, authorities from the Guatemalan human rights ombudsman's office, searching a munitions depot here, discovered what appear to be all the files of the National Police, an agency so inextricably linked to human rights abuses during this country's 36-year civil conflict that it was disbanded as part of the peace accords signed in 1996.

At that time, President Álvaro Arzú's government, struggling to usher this country through an uncertain transition from war to peace, denied to a truth commission that police files existed. It now seems clear, human rights investigators say, that Mr. Arzú's government, as well as those that followed, knew about the files all along.

In the months since the files were discovered, archivists kept them closed to the public and much of the news media because of concerns that, given the depot's many open, unfinished windows and doorways, the files could be pilfered or destroyed. In addition, the archivists said they needed time simply to do a preliminary examination to get a sense of what was in the files.

Following repeated requests, the ombudsman's office agreed to allow The New York Times to visit the files last week, after a rudimentary security system had been installed and archivists had begun taking samples of documents from the files.

Walking into some of the chambers is like staring down a tidal wave. Documents bundled as thick as bibles stand more than 10 feet tall in bat-infested rooms as dank and dark as caves.

There are buckets in every corner that attendants, dressed in rubber gloves and gas masks to protect against the fumes, have been using to catch leaks from the roof.

Everything seems to be there: from traffic tickets, driver's license applications and personnel files, to spy logs and interrogation records. There are hundreds of rolls of film and videos, along with snapshots of unidentified bodies, detainees and informants. Some of the files seem to have gotten slightly more careful treatment and were tossed into file cabinets marked "disappeared," "assassins" and "special cases."

There are transcripts of radio communications and stacks of arrest records listing "Communist" as the reason for arrest.

Sergio Morales, the head of the ombudsman's office, has previously told Guatemalan reporters that the archive also contains lists of children kidnapped from suspected guerrillas, along with the names of the families who agreed to take them in.

What remains unclear, investigators said, was why officials in Guatemala's prior governments - particularly the police - did not destroy the files, even though they appear to hold evidence of egregious abuses. Now that the archive has been found, almost 10 years after the end of the fighting that left at least 200,000 people dead, a new government, struggling to consolidate a fledgling peace, is still grappling with how to proceed.

"This presents a serious challenge for the government because there are going to be a lot of powerful names coming out of the files, and the justice system is very weak," Frank LaRue, director of the Presidential Commission on Human Rights, said in an interview. "But the government remains committed to opening the archive, and prosecuting people responsible for crimes."

Later he toned down his statement, saying, "I am not sure everyone in the government would agree with that."

It is not the first batch of government documents uncovered since the end of the war. Kate Doyle, director of the Guatemala Project at the National Security Archive, a nonprofit group based in Washington, pointed out that last year the government quietly opened the files of the former presidential intelligence agency, which was also accused of systematic human rights abuses and ordered disbanded. And in 1999, an activities log for a secret military unit responsible for kidnapping and killing government opponents was smuggled out of the military's files.

But the intelligence agency files had been ransacked before human rights investigators could get to them. The National Police files - mildewy and messy, but still intact - promise the most complete accounting of the government's campaign against people suspected of being leftists, a campaign initiated with money and advice from a succession of United States administrations worried about the spread of Communism.

As a precondition for opening the files to viewing by The Times last week, the lead investigator for the ombudsman's office, Gustavo Meoño, asked that specific details from documents describing extrajudicial kidnappings and killings, including names of victims and police officers, not be published.

"We have to act very carefully with this archive," Mr. Meoño said. "We do not want to unduly raise the expectations of the victims. And, for our safety, and for the safety of the files, we don't want to unduly frighten the people who are identified as perpetrators."

The ombudsman's office said it inadvertently found the archive in the munitions depot, not far from the center of the capital during a safety inspection prompted by complaints from neighbors that explosives were being improperly stored at the site. The neighbors did not know the half of it.

The files, in various stages of decay, date back more than a century and contain enough documents to stretch the length of 130 football fields.

Ms. Doyle said it is the largest discovery of secret government documents in Latin America. Michael McClintock, a Guatemala expert at Human Rights First, a New York-based nonprofit group, called the archive "the mother lode" during his visit here last week.

Mr. Meoño said there were files that referred to well-known cases, including the 1990 assassination of Myrna Mack, an anthropologist. He said a team of Belgian lawyers investigating the 1980 assassination of Walter Voordeckers, a Belgian priest, and the 1982 disappearance of Serge Berten, another Belgian citizen, found files on those cases during a visit to Guatemala in September, and had the government subpoena the former chief of the national police, Germán Chupina, for the first time since the end of the war.

"I show you these," Mr. Meoño said, referring to documents from the archives, "to make clear to you that we have great hopes that this archive is going to clear up mysteries that have tormented this country for decades."

That seemed to be clear to the directors of archival projects around the world, including those of Iraq, Cambodia, and Serbia, who also visited the police files here last week. The question that ran through many of their minds here, they said, was the same one that ran through their minds when they first examined damning files kept by governments led by dictators like Saddam Hussein and organizations like the Khmer Rouge: Why didn't the government destroy the files when it had the chance?

But Hassan Mneimneh, of the Iraq Memory Foundation, was not surprised that the files had been left alone. "Ultimately these files are the institutional memory of the bureaucracy," he said. "To expect a bureaucracy to destroy its files is to expect it to commit suicide."

Heriberto Cifuentes, a Guatemalan historian who was among the first outsiders to lay eyes on the files, said the fact that the government did not destroy them reflected a simple fact of Guatemalan life.

"Impunity reigns in Guatemala," he said. "So whether there are documents or not, people responsible for crimes do not expect to pay for them. They have always enjoyed blanket immunity."

...

Sunday, November 20, 2005

- TPS FOR GUATEMALA BY THANKSGIVING : English Version -

IN CASE YOU ARE JOINING THE CAMPAIGN “TPS FOR GUATEMALA BY THANKSGIVING” HEREBY PRESENTED, WE ASK YOU TO PLEASE SEND, BEFORE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2005 YOUR NAME AND CITY OF RESIDENCE TO THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL ADDRESS: tpsguatemala@agmausa.org. WE ALSO ASK YOU TO CONVEY THIS MESSAGE TO ALL PEOPLE WHO MAY BE SUPPORTIVE OF OUR CAUSE. MANY THANKS.



FRIENDS OF THE GUATEMALAN PEOPLE:



We, Guatemalan organizations in the United States and all organizations affiliated with the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), address ourselves to you, in order to ask you to urgently associate yourselves with the e-mail letter that we are conveying to President Bush. In that letter we are calling on the U.S. Government to grant, based on the Immigration Law of 1990, Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to Guatemalan workers without a migratory visa in the United States. TPS would allow Guatemalans to stay and work in the United States and send much needed remittances home. You can associate yourself to this effort by providing your name as an endorser and your city of residence.



Death and damage caused by Hurricane Stan in Guatemala last October –thousands of dead, missing and injured persons; tens of thousands of displaced people and people in shelters; one-third of the national road infrastructure destroyed; and 30 per cent of all cultivated land ruined—make that country fully qualified for TPS, taking into account that such status applies to nationals of countries that are enduring an environmental disaster.



Soon after the disaster the Government of Guatemala, both unofficially and officially, requested that the U.S. Government grant TPS for Guatemalan nationals. The undersigned organizations and tens of thousands of Guatemalans and friends of Guatemala have made a similar request. Important figures in the United States, including senators and members of Congress, have also made appeals. So far, no response has come from President Bush, but we believe that with your support to our e-mail letter you can help obtain this measure of protection for Guatemalans in the United States.



We believe this is the right moment to increase our efforts in favor of TPS for Guatemalans. According to the UN World Food Program, Guatemala risks having more than 250,000 persons fall into a famine crisis by mid-December. We indeed need emergency help, but more importantly, we need new conditions for Guatemalans working in the United States to allow them to significantly increase their contributions to the country through their constant flow of remittances.



Sincerely,



Coalition of Guatemalan Immigrants in the United States, CONGUATE

Guatemala Peace and Development Network (GPDN)

National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC)





LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH:



Dear President Bush,



We, Guatemalans and friends of the Guatemalan people, address ourselves to you in order to ask you to provide a positive response to the petition the Guatemalan Government has made, with the support of its civil society. Considering the death and damage caused by Hurricane Stan last October, Guatemala is asking for Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for Guatemalans working in the United States without a migratory visa.



In conformity with your frequently expressed view that compassion is one of the distinctive features of the Republican Party, and stressing the humanitarian concerns that support the request of TPS for Guatemala, as well as recognizing the tradition of solidarity of the United States of America towards afflicted peoples, we earnestly ask you to authorize TPS for Guatemalans as a particular present on Thanksgiving Day.



Sincerely,



Coalition of Guatemalan Immigrants in the United States (CONGUATE),

Guatemala Peace and Development Network (GPDN)



MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS OF THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN COMMUNITIES (NALACC):

Agencia Alpha, Boston, MA

America para Todos, Houston, TX

America International, Pasedena, TX

Asociacion Guatemalteca Americana (AGA), Miami, FL

Asociacion de Guatemaltecos Unidos de Lynn, Lynn, MA

Asociacion Hondureña de Houston, Houston, TX

Asociacion de Pueblos del Rincón, Chicago, IL

Asociacion Salvadoreña Americana, Sugarland, TX

Asociacion Tepeyac de New York, New York, NY

ASOSAL, Los Angeles, CA

Brazilian Immigrant Center, Allston, MA

CARECEN-LA, Los Angeles, CA

Casa Guanajuato, Chicago, IL

CEIBA: Chapines for Equality in the Bay Area, Oakland, CA

Centro Guatemalteco Tecun Uman, New York, NY

Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan, Jamaica, NY

Centro Presente, Cambridge, MA

Centro Romero, Chicago, IL

Chehuayo Grande, Chicago, IL

Club Francisco Villa, Chicago, IL

Club Morelia de Illinois, Chicago, IL

Club Taji Ciudad Hidalgo, Chicago, IL

CODEDE, Cincinnati, OH

Comité Centroamericano de Houston, Channelview, TX

Comité Guatemalteco Justicia y Paz, Cincinnati, OH

Comunidad Garifuna Guatemalteca (CONAFROGUA), Bronx, NY

CRECEN, Houston, TX

Dominican Development Center, Jamaica, FL

Durango Unido, Chicago, IL

Federacion de Clubes Michoacanos en Illinois, Chicago, IL

Federacion de Chihuahuenses, Chicago, IL

Federacion de Guerrerenses de Chicago, Chicago, IL

Federacion de Hidalguenses en Illinois, Chicago, IL

Federacion de Oaxaqueños del Medio Oeste (FOMO), Racine, WI

Federacion Jalisciences, Cicero, IL

Federacion de Zacatecas del Sur de California, Los Angeles, CA

Federacion Zacatecana, Chicago, IL

Frente Binacional Michoacano (FREBIMICH), Chicago, IL

Fundacion Salvadoreña de Florida, Fr. Lauderdale, FL

Garifuna Heritage Center for the Arts and Culture, Bronx, NY

Grupo Quetzal, Guatemaltecos y Amigos de Guate del Norte de California, CA

GUIA: Guatemala Unity Information Agency, Miami, FL

Hispanic Coalition, Miami, FL

Hondureños contra el SIDA, Bronx, NY

Hermandad Mexicana, Panorama City, CA

Honduran and International Parade Committee, Bronx, NY

Human Solidarity Organization, Mineola, NY

Instituto del Progreso Latino, Chicago, IL

La Voz de los de Abajo, Chicago, IL

Latinos Progresando, Chicago, IL

Latinos United, Chicago, IL

Libertas Forum on Colombian-American Issues, Montgomery Village, MD

Little Village Community Development Corporation, Chicago, IL

Mujeres Latinas en Accion, Chicago, IL

ONECA (Organización Negra Centroamericana), Bronx, NY

Proyecto de Trabajadores Latino Americanos, NY

Proyecto Hondureño de Massachussetts, Chelsea, MA

Raiz de Nuestros Ancestros, Bronx, NY

San Antonio Guaracha, Chicago, IL

SF-BayLACC, Oakland, CA



INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE SIGNATURES FOLLOW MUST BE EMAILED TO: tpsguatemala@agmausa.org


...

Friday, November 18, 2005

MESA NACIONAL PARA LAS MIGRACIONES EN GUATEMALA

PRONUNCIAMIENTO PÚBLICO DE LA MESA NACIONAL PARA LAS MIGRACIONES EN GUATEMALA –MENAMIG-



LAS ORGANIZACIONES MIEMBRO DE MENAMIG, A RAÍZ DE LA SITUACIÓN DE EMERGENCIA Y CALAMIDAD EN GUATEMALA PROVOCADA POR LA TORMENTA STAN Y LA NECESARIA IMPLEMENTACIÓN DEL TPS (ESTATUS DE PROTECCIÓN TEMPORAL) PARA LA PROTECCIÓN DE GUATEMALTECOS Y GUATEMALTECAS RADICADAS EN ESTADOS UNIDOS.



ANTE EL GOBIERNO DE GUATEMALA, EL GOBIERNO DE ESTADOS UNIDOS Y A LA OPINIÓN PÚBLICA NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL



MANIFESTAMOS:



* Ante la actual situación de emergencia y calamidad que enfrentan más de 2 millones de guatemaltecos y guatemaltecas empobrecidas a raíz del desastre natural provocado por la Tormenta Stan, y que vino a evidenciar una vez más el nivel de pobreza y desprotección que vive la mayoría de la población en el país, consideramos necesaria la gestión gubernamental ya iniciada y su correspondiente seguimiento, para que se obtenga el TPS para los guatemaltecos y guatemaltecas radicadas en Estados Unidos.



* En tal sentido, nos sumamos al respaldo de las demandas de todas las organizaciones de guatemaltecos y guatemaltecas inmigrantes radicadas en los diferentes Estados de la Unión Americana, para que se otorgue por parte del gobierno de Estados Unidos el Estatus de Protección Temporal –TPS-, que beneficiaría a miles de migrantes en dicho país; por lo que es importante aclarar que dicho Estatus proporciona la protección y acceso tanto a los derechos laborales como los derechos sociales de los beneficiarios que hasta la fecha les han sido negados.



* Asimismo, es necesario puntualizar en que la economía nacional de Guatemala, tanto a nivel macro económico como familiar (alrededor de 2 millones de familias), está siendo sostenida gracias al esfuerzo y trabajo mal remunerado de los miles de guatemaltecos y guatemaltecas que se mantienen en una situación de irregularidad migratoria en Estados Unidos, excluidos de sus derechos tanto en ese país de destino, como en su propio país Guatemala, al no ser respaldados y protegidos por el gobierno dentro de una política nacional e internacional que verdaderamente vele por la protección de sus derechos elementales.



* Por otro lado, consideramos necesario denunciar que aproximadamente 150 mil guatemaltecos y guatemaltecas sometieron peticiones de asilo político en Estados Unidos durante el conflicto armado interno en Guatemala, siendo estas solicitudes procesadas hasta hace pocas semanas por la Secretaría de Seguridad, siendo en su mayoría denegado dicho asilo, por lo que se les ha pedido que salgan de ese país. Aproximadamente 25 mil guatemaltecos y guatemaltecas se han negado a regresar a Guatemala y están siendo perseguidos actualmente por el FBI para ser deportados, sin que el gobierno de Guatemala tome cartas sobre este delicado asunto, para que paren las deportaciones, sobre todo en estos momentos de calamidad y emergencia que enfrentan miles de familias guatemaltecas de los diferentes Departamentos afectados.



* Nos parece contradictorio que mientras el actual gobierno guatemalteco por un lado, organiza una serie de relaciones y reuniones en estos días, con connacionales radicados en Estados Unidos aglutinados en las Cámaras de Comercio proponiéndoles favorecerlos con todo tipo de facilidades para sus inversiones en el país y en su discurso, el reconocimiento, respaldo y apoyo al aporte de los y las migrantes guatemaltecas al país; por el otro lado, se mantenga en una actitud alineada con las decisiones y posturas del Presidente Bush con relación a las políticas y medidas migratorias de endurecimiento y persecución a los y las migrantes.



POR LO TANTO DEMANDAMOS:



· Una beligerante gestión diplomática de seguimiento por parte del Gobierno de Guatemala, para lograr la aprobación del Estatuto de Protección Temporal –TPS- a favor de las y los migrantes guatemaltecos en Estados Unidos; así como la gestión eficaz para que paren las deportaciones de guatemaltecos y guatemaltecas desde Estados Unidos, a corto, mediano y largo plazo mientras se logra restablecer el país en lo económico y social ante el estado de calamidad en que ha quedado sumido a raíz de la tormenta Stan.



· Realizar una gestión gubernamental de seguimiento para el cabildeo, conjuntamente con las organizaciones de migrantes guatemaltecos en Estados Unidos, ante el Senado y Congresistas de Estados Unidos, para el logro de las demandas arriba enunciadas.



· Reconocer públicamente el importante e imprescindible aporte y esfuerzo que las diversas Organizaciones de migrantes guatemaltecos y guatemaltecas en Estados Unidos están realizando para aportar a las familias damnificadas en los diferentes departamentos del país.



· Al Presidente George Bush como gobernante de Estados Unidos, la exigencia de aprobar el TPS a favor de las y los guatemaltecos, en correspondencia con el apoyo ofrecido a Guatemala para la reconstrucción del país y de los damnificados por la tormenta Stan.



· Asimismo, le exigimos parar toda política migratoria de persecución, racista y xenofóbica, emprendida en contra de las y los migrantes radicados en su país, quienes ofertan su mano de obra para el sostenimiento de su sistema económico y productivo en el área agrícola, comercial y de servicios, con el agravante de laborar aún percibiendo salarios más bajos del salario mínimo y que a pesar de esta situación, son además, fuente importante de ingresos para el sostenimiento de sus familiares en Guatemala.



· A la comunidad nacional, Estadounidense e internacional en general, solicitarles todo su apoyo a las gestiones y demandas de la comunidad de guatemaltecas y guatemaltecos en Estados Unidos, exigiendo al gobierno de Estados Unidos la pronta aprobación del Estatuto de Protección Temporal –TPS- y que se frene esta persecución en contra de miles de guatemaltecos y guatemaltecas para su deportación.



· Aprovechamos a felicitar y respaldar la iniciativa que el Señor Procurador de los Derechos Humanos de Guatemala, Doctor Sergio Morales ha impulsado en respaldo a las demandas de las y los guatemaltecos inmigrantes en Estados Unidos, iniciando próximamente una gira en Estados Unidos para gestionar ante altas autoridades estadounidenses, la aprobación del TPS.





MESA NACIONAL PARA LAS MIGRACIONES EN GUATEMALA

MENAMIG



Guatemala, 17 de noviembre de 2005

Thursday, November 17, 2005

::: Campana por el TPS :::

SI USTED SE SUMA A LA CAMPAÑA “TPS PARA GUATEMALA PARA EL DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIAS” QUE ACA LE PRESENTAMOS, LE PEDIMOS FAVOR DE ENVIAR, ANTES DEL MARTES 22 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2005, SU NOMBRE Y CIUDAD DE RESIDENCIA A LA DIRECCION SIGUIENTE: tpsguatemala@agmausa.org. IGUALMENTE, LE PEDIMOS TRASLADAR ESTE MENSAJE A TODAS LAS PERSONAS QUE SE PUEDAN SOLIDARIZAR CON NUESTRA CAUSA. MUCHAS GRACIAS.


AMIGAS Y AMIGOS DEL PUEBLO DE GUATEMALA:

De manera atenta, las organizaciones guatemaltecas en los Estados Unidos y todas las organizaciones afiliadas a la NALACC, nos dirigimos a Uds. para pedirles que, de manera urgente, se sumen a la carta electronica que estamos dirigiendo al Presidente Bush para solicitarle que, con base en la Ley de Inmigracion de 1990, conceda el Estatus de Proteccion Temporal (TPS) a los guatemaltecos que trabajan en los Estados Unidos sin visa migratoria.

Los estragos provocados por el huracan Stan en el pais -- miles de muertos, desaparecidos y lesionados; decenas de miles de desplazados y en albergues; una tercera parte de la infraestructura vial destruida; y el 30% de la tierra productiva inhabilitada-- hacen que Guatemala califique para el TPS, ya que este se otorga a los nacionales de paises en donde se haya producido un desastre ambiental.

El Gobierno de Guatemala ha solicitado ya al Gobierno de los Estados Unidos, formal e informalmente, que se otorgue el TPS. De igual manera nos hemos pronunciado las organizaciones firmantes y decenas de miles de guatemaltecos y amigos del pueblo de Guatemala. Tambien lo han hecho personalidades de los Estados Unidos, incluidos senadores y congresistas. Al no haber respuesta todavia del Presidente Bush, creemos que con su apoyo a la carta electronica, Uds. pueden ayudarnos a conseguir esta medida de proteccion a los guatemaltecos en los Estados Unidos.

Atentamente,

CONGUATE
RED POR LA PAZ Y EL DESARROLLO DE GUATEMALA (RPDG)
ALIANZA NACIONAL DE COMUNIDADES LATINO AMERICANAS Y CARIBEÑAS (NALACC)



CARTA AL PRESIDENTE BUSH:

Sr. Presidente Bush,

Los abajo firmantes, amigos y amigas del pueblo de Guatemala, de manera atenta nos dirigimos a Ud. para solicitarle que de una respuesta positiva a la peticion del Gobierno de Guatemala, apoyado por todo el Estado y la sociedad de dicha nacion, de que, debido a los estragos del huracan Stan en octubre pasado, se conceda el Estatus de Proteccion Temporal (TPS) a los guatemaltecos sin visa migratoria en los Estados Unidos.

En virtud de su afirmacion en numerosas oportunidades de que la compasion es un rasgo distintivo de su Partido Republicano, y haciendo enfasis en las razones humanitarias que respaldan la solicitud del TPS, asi como con conocimiento de la tradicion solidaria de los Estados Unidos, le solicitamos que su autorizacion del TPS a los guatemaltecos sea un beneficio propio del Dia de Accion de Gracias.

Atentamente,

CONGUATE
RED POR LA PAZ Y EL DESARROLLO DE GUATEMALA (RPDG)
ORGANIZACIONES DE LA ALIANZA NACIONAL DE COMUNIDADES LATINOAMERICANAS Y CARIBEÑAS (NALACC):

Agencia Alpha, Boston, MA
America para Todos, Houston, TX
America International, Pasedena, TX
Asociacion Guatemalteca Americana (AGA), Miami, FL
Asociacion de Guatemaltecos Unidos de Lynn, Lynn, MA
Asociacion Hondureña de Houston, Houston, TX
Asociacion de Pueblos del Rincón, Chicago, IL
Asociacion Salvadoreña Americana, Sugarland, TX
Asociacion Tepeyac de New York, New York, NY
ASOSAL, Los Angeles, CA
Brazilian Immigrant Center, Allston, MA
CARECEN-LA, Los Angeles, CA
Casa Guanajuato, Chicago, IL
CEIBA: Chapines for Equality in the Bay Area, Oakland, CA
Centro Guatemalteco Tecun Uman, New York, NY
Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan, Jamaica, NY
Centro Presente, Cambridge, MA
Centro Romero, Chicago, IL
Chehuayo Grande, Chicago, IL
Club Francisco Villa, Chicago, IL
Club Morelia de Illinois, Chicago, IL
Club Taji Ciudad Hidalgo, Chicago, IL
CODEDE, Cincinnati, OH
Comité Centroamericano de Houston, Channelview, TX
Comité Guatemalteco Justicia y Paz, Cincinnati, OH
Comunidad Garifuna Guatemalteca (CONAFROGUA), Bronx, NY
CRECEN, Houston, TX
Dominican Development Center, Jamaica, FL
Durango Unido, Chicago, IL
Federacion de Clubes Michoacanos en Illinois, Chicago, IL
Federacion de Chihuahuenses, Chicago, IL
Federacion de Guerrerenses de Chicago, Chicago, IL
Federacion de Hidalguenses en Illinois, Chicago, IL
Federacion de Oaxaqueños del Medio Oeste (FOMO), Racine, WI
Federacion Jalisciences, Cicero, IL
Federacion de Zacatecas del Sur de California, Los Angeles, CA
Federacion Zacatecana, Chicago, IL
Frente Binacional Michoacano (FREBIMICH), Chicago, IL
Fundacion Salvadoreña de Florida, Fr. Lauderdale, FL
Garifuna Heritage Center for the Arts and Culture, Bronx, NY
Grupo Quetzal, Guatemaltecos y Amigos de Guate del Norte de California, CA
GUIA: Guatemala Unity Information Agency, Miami, FL
Hispanic Coalition, Miami, FL
Hondureños contra el SIDA, Bronx, NY
Hermandad Mexicana, Panorama City, CA
Honduran and International Parade Committee, Bronx, NY
Human Solidarity Organization, Mineola, NY
Instituto del Progreso Latino, Chicago, IL
La Voz de los de Abajo, Chicago, IL
Latinos Progresando, Chicago, IL
Latinos United, Chicago, IL
Libertas Forum on Colombian-American Issues, Montgomery Village, MD
Little Village Community Development Corporation, Chicago, IL
Mujeres Latinas en Accion, Chicago, IL
ONECA (Organización Negra Centroamericana), Bronx, NY
Proyecto de Trabajadores Latino Americanos, NY
Proyecto Hondureño de Massachussetts, Chelsea, MA
Raiz de Nuestros Ancestros, Bronx, NY
San Antonio Guaracha, Chicago, IL
SF-BayLACC, Oakland, CA


FIRMAS INDIVIDUALES Y DE COLECTIVOS PUEDEN SER ENVIADAS A: tpsguatemala@agmausa.org


...

Sunday, November 13, 2005

--- Letter Sent to President Bush Regarding the TPS and Hurricane Stan ---

October 15, 2005


Mr. George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
Washington D.C.


Dear President Bush:

We, Guatemalans and friends of Guatemala in the United States, address ourselves to you in order to ask you to positively respond to the request for solidarity made by the Guatemalan Government on behalf of the Guatemalan people. This request is being made after the terrible impact of hurricane Stan and sustained torrential rains, which have ravaged regions of Central America and Mexico during the past days. Specifically, we ask that TPS be granted to Guatemalans working in the United States.

While expressing our gratitude for the material and economic support your Government has already provided to Guatemala, we take this opportunity to stress the fact that, taking into account the magnitude of the tragedy, more resources will be urgently needed, particularly for assisting all people affected --a total of 3.5 million persons in the rural areas and close to 200,000 displaced persons. We also need to initiate the slow and painful process of recovering from the tragedy, which includes searching for the bodies of people who died and for missing people (more than 1,000 all together), as well as taking care of the thousands of displaced persons, some of them in temporary shelters. We clearly understand that today Guatemala is not alone in suffering great hardships because of natural disasters. Large parts of Central America and Mexico were also affected, and we know of larger calamities that have taken place this year, such as the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in southern U.S. and the recent devastating earthquake in Pakistan. However, taking into account the extremely difficult conditions of our brothers and sisters in Guatemala, we call on your country for assistance.

The most concrete way of supporting Guatemala, in addition to the emergency relief aid as a real priority, is protecting undocumented Guatemalans who are working very hard in the United States with the purpose of aiding their families. They bear the grave responsibility of maintaining assistance to their relatives in these moments of grief, as well as helping the reconstruction process. For this reason, and considering the precedent of the favorable decision of the United States Government to grant “temporary protective status” (TPS) to citizens of El Salvador and Honduras after national tragedies in both countries during the 1990’s, we request that you authorize expanding the TPS to Guatemalans and instruct the Secretary for Homeland Security to immediately prepare the necessary conditions for its implementation. This would be the best possible aid to the Guatemalan people in the months to come, and a real gesture of solidarity and compassion.

We understand that an official request has already been made by President Oscar Berger and his Government, as well as by sectors of civil society in Guatemala. In the forthcoming weeks we will be seeking the support of thousands of people in the United States and in other countries. We hope that you will give the most positive response to this appeal.

Sincerely,

NAME AND SIGNATURES OF GUATEMALANS AND FRIENDS OF GUATEMALA:



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Monday, November 07, 2005

Report on Guatemala and Hurricane Stan

Nov. 3, 2005 - Via Email

Report on Guatemala and Hurricane Stan:

Dear Friends,

I have just returned from a weeklong trip to Guatemala to evaluate the destruction done by hurricane Stan, especially in areas the Everardo Foundation has long supported. Unfortunately, the worst of the damage occurred in the southwestern areas where our partner organizations are located. The San Marcos area has suffered heavily, but our friends in Panabaj,( the Mayan Association "Nueva Sembrador"), lost nearly one third of their neighbors to massive land slides. Although the total number of casualties nation- wide was far lower that that of the Tsunami or the quake in Pakistan, it left countless campesinos without homes or any way to survive. Already suffering from malnutrition and poor health care, they are now sleeping in churches and temporary shelters. In many areas, government officials have simply handed prescriptions to the sick and told them to "go buy their medicines".

During the first few days there, I traveled from Guatemala City to Xela and on to San Marcos in search of my family there. Normally the bus ride to Xela takes four hours, but even the main highways were so damaged that the trip took seven hours instead. I went with friends to see the damage, and large sections of the roadways had simply disappeared, replaced by newly formed ravines. Between San Marcos and the Mexican border, the situation was even worse. The entire area of El Rodeo had simply vanished, and many main roads were still inaccessible. Large areas were covered with enormous boulders, as if half the mountainside had come raining down….more or less what has in fact happened. The Church people in one town were mourning a teenaged boy who had run through the falling stones with a smaller brother, shielding the child with his own body. As he urged the little one to keep running, his own voice became weaker and weaker. Finally the pair toppled over under the shelter of a tree. The child lived, the older brother died of terrible head injuries.

Our partners at the MTC or farmworker movement office, had been working ceaselessly to keep soup kitchens open, find church floors and emergency care for survivors throughout the region. We left them with funds for two machines to build bricks and cinderblocks with. They will work collectively in different areas to help rebuild houses for the displaced.

Miraculously, my own relatives survived, even though one household was located on the banks of a large river. The mother and her children fled to higher land, but their home remains intact. I have to admit I gave a large sigh of relief to see my young nephew, Ismael, quite alive and well and harassing his baby sister. He still looks enough like Everardo to give me quite a start each time we meet.

Panabaj broke my heart. My friend Juan Tacaxoy is one of the last surviving catechistas of father Stan Rother, the American priest who was assassinated by the death squads in Santiago Atitlan in the early 1980s. Forced to choose between death, the mountains, or exile in the US, Juan decided to join the URNG forces despite his very strong religious convictions. Promising to return someday and once again serve his hometown, he spent the next 20 years in the mountains. He kept his word. After the Peace Accords were signed he went home, and went straight to work. Shortly after his return, he was diagnosed with an advanced case of Parkinsons. This did not stop him from organizing a coop in Panabaj, and within a few short years he had created something extraordinary. With our help he built 75 homes for widows with small children, obtained equipment for processing coffee, purchased a small tract of rich land, and cultivated a high quality crop. He also carried out educational programs and a highly successful voter registration campaign. He had a truly golden touch and we were only too glad to support any of his new ideas. Despite his illness he refused a salary.

All of this came to an end during Hurricane Stan. As the winds shrieked through Panabaj, a terrifying rain began. He watched the water rising higher and higher outside his small home and began lashing wood together in the hopes of getting his aging wife and baby granddaughter out to safety. He had little hope of rescue for himself, as even walking had grown difficult. As he worked he heard a child screaming and ran to the window . The child was not running, but rather, was being dragged away in a flow of filthy water and thick mud. Juan could not reach him, but believes he was later rescued. Many of the villagers began to run through the night and the raging hurricane to the center of Santiago Atitlan to the same church where they had taken refuge during the worst days of the army attacks. Others could not flee, or feared to do so. In the middle of the night an enormous avalanche of mud and rock from the surrounding volcanoes rushed down and buried most of the village. Somehow it missed Juan’s home, though not by much. When I visited with them, the enormous slab of earth still covers a huge area….with bits of fence-posts and rooftops sticking out, and forlorn huts standing about the periphery.

The digging had gone on for two weeks, but only the dead were recovered. The army offered to help dig, but were turned away by the villagers. They remembered only too well the many years of terror and torture inflicted by the army on their town. It was only after a massacre there in the late 1980s that with the help of the international community, the soldiers were driven out of town for once and for all. There was no way the villagers would allow a return visit. They did receive international help, however, and great strides were being made. Unfortunately, the mud remains very unstable, and officials called off the dig to prevent further disaster.

Most of the members of our coop survived somehow, though many lost their homes. Two families were wiped out. More than 1500 neighbors were killed in the tiny neighborhood. I met with them at the half buried coop they had so lovingly tended, and we spoke back and forth in Spanish and Tzutuil. They could not stop crying. All had worked frantically to fig out their friends, but found only the dead. Children were found clinging to fences and doorposts. A pregnant woman lay dead in her bed, the mid-wife fallen across her legs. The woman had been in labor.

As for the coop itself, the animals were all killed. The materials they had just purchased for building a natural drying terrace had washed away. The processing equipment had been dug out but was very badly damaged by the mud and sand. The entire garden was simply gone. The fields of beautiful coffee plants had been battered and half buried. The members had cleaned the plants and are working with an agronomist, but apparently the large amount of sand in the mud has damaged the land. Much of the crop will die, and it takes three years for a new plant to yield. It will be a few years for the once rich strip of collective land to recover…and some of it never will.

As I arrived, Juan stumbled out of the temporary shack. He was having difficulty walking and looked exhausted and ill. We talked about the losses and what needed to be done. I asked about the 75 homes for the widows he had built long ago with almost no funding. He bowed his head and said there was not one left. I began to ask if any of the women had survived, remembering the fragile women and how happy they had once been to have homes. He closed his eyes and wept.

We left some funding from the Everardo Foundation. The Tzutuiles are already back to work at their coop, fiercely determined to survive yet again. I left with a promise to find further funding to help get them back on their feet, and returned to the US, as always, both moved and amazed by the strength and grace of these people.

Abrazos, Jennifer Harbury

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