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Guatemala: Human Rights and the Myrna Mack Case (2003)

Chapter: Appendix E: Statement by the Myrna Mack Foundation

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Statement by the Myrna Mack Foundation." National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. 2003. Guatemala: Human Rights and the Myrna Mack Case. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10691.
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Page 43
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Statement by the Myrna Mack Foundation." National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. 2003. Guatemala: Human Rights and the Myrna Mack Case. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10691.
×
Page 44
Suggested Citation:"Appendix E: Statement by the Myrna Mack Foundation." National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. 2003. Guatemala: Human Rights and the Myrna Mack Case. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10691.
×
Page 45

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Appendix E STATEMENT BY MYRNA MACK FOUNDATION MYRNA MACK TRIAL October 4, 2002 The Conviction of Colonel Juan VaTencia Osor~o Defines the His- toncal Magnitude of this Tnal The sentence handed down yesterday by the Tercero Tnbunal de Sentencia in the tnal against Tree military of ficers accused of hav- ing planned and ordered the assassination of my sister, the anthro- polog~st Myrna Mack, constitutes a histoncal event which reflects the existence of advances, although minimal and fragile, In the administration of justice in Guatemala. am satisfied with the thirty-year prison sentence given to Colonel Juan Valencia Osono, because he was clearly proven to be the au- thor of an institutional cnme, a special intelligence operation, which culminated in the murder of my sister. am not satisfied with the acquittal of General Edgar Godoy Gaitar~ and Colonel Juan Guillenno Oliva Carrera, for we pre- sented sufficient evidence to confirm their participation in the planning of this institutional cnme. We are going to analyze the ruling In order to determine Me judicial actions to follow. That is to say, we are working on a special appeal. 43

44 HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE MACK CASE Aside Tom the acquittal of Godoy and Oliva, the conviction of Colonel Valencia and the fact that a trial was held from the third of September to the third of October, reaffirms my conviction that is possible to see justice done in Guatemala, even when this involves twelve or more years of continuous smuggle. The histoncal magnitude of this guilty verdict goes beyond the conviction or acquittal of the accused. Fortunately for all Guate- malans, it represents judicial proof of the ternble human suffenug caused by the National Security Doctnne, political countennsur- gency, the concept of the internal enemy, and He perversion of the intelligence agencies. From this trial, ~ gain, In the first place, the vindication of the memory and dignity of M yma. The court e stablished the institu- tional character of the cnme, the political nature of the crime, that the motive for her murder was related to both her scientific work with the displaced in the zones of greatest conflict, and the link between her research and the claims of the Communities of Popu- lation in Resistance (CPR). ~ . . . - The court gave probatory value to testimonies, experts and another type of evidence that establishes the former. The court also gave validity to the thesis that my sister was executed because she was considered an internal enemy, and a threat to the state, according to the profile defined by the National Security Doctrine. The court proved there was a surveillance operation that cuhninated in her assassination, an operation which involved human and material resources onginat~ng In the Estado Mayor Presidencial (EMP). In the same manner they established that the Department of Presiden- tial Secunty was the G-2 of the EMP, and that the now convicted Valencia Osorio, also was involved in postal espionage. In the second place, through this teal, we have uncovered the cnminal practices promoted by the State. The tnal also revealed i~Tefiutable evidence of the State's involvement in cases of geno- cide, massacres, extrajudicial executions, torture, forced disappear

APPENDIX E 45 ances, persecutions, expulsion arid exile, and many other fonns of repression that turned us into a country of victims. am certain the victims and families feel represented in the achievements obtained and in s ome w ay feel vindicated, for this trial not only judged those responsible for killing Myrna. It also passed judgment on criminal behavior of the State and some of its institutions. It passed judgment on the National Security Doctrine fostered by the United States, and its application In Gua- temala. Among its most relevant components: the concept of the internal e nemy, c ountennsurgency t actics, t he e xploitation o f t he intelligence services, and the extreme inhumane character that de- fined the internal conflicts and military regimes which for decades existed in nearly all of Latin America. ~ want to denounce the malicious attitude of the Army of ficials and the people who defended the innocence of the accused, for they sought to convert the floor of the Supreme Court into a new center of conflict. ~ respect the feeling of the families of the accused, of their friends and colleagues, but ~ was appalled by their proclivities for violence. They tried to provoke with insults and minor physical aggression, perhaps waiting for similar behavior on our part. T con- veyed my concerns to the Ministry of Interior and to the Secretary de Asbestos Ad~ninistrativos y de Seguridad de la Presidencia. ~ want to Hank and to acknowledge the security measures provided by the Ministry of Interior through the National Civilian Police since August 21 In compliance web ache provisional measures or- dered by He ~ter-Amencar~ Human Rights Court. ~ also want to thank the Secretary de Asur~tos Administrativos y de Seguridad de la Presidencia for the additional security measures Hey provided us yesterday. Helen Mach Guatemala, October 4, 2002 $

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Two members of the Committee on Human Rights (CHR), NAS member Mary Jane West-Eberhard and NAS/NAE member Morton Panish, undertook a mission to Guatemala to observe the trial of two high-level Guatemalan military officials who were charged with ordering the murder of Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack. She was stabbed to death in 1990, two days after a report for which she was principal researcher, "Assistance and Control: Policies Toward Internally Displaced Populations in Guatemala," was published by the Georgetown University Press. Ms. Mack had been doing research on and writing about the unjust treatment of the internally displaced people in Guatemala. Thirteen years after Ms. Mack's murder—after the case had gone through dozens of courts and countless delays—a general and colonel in the Guatemalan military intelligence apparatus were brought to trial, and one was convicted. This marked the first time in Guatemalan history that a high-level military official had been brought to justice for atrocities he committed during Guatemala's 30-year civil war. This report summarizes the one-month trial proceedings.

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