Guatemala Human Rights and the Myrna Mack Case (2003) / Chapter Skim
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Report of the 2002 Mission
Report of the 2002 Mission
Pages 7-20
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From page 7... ...
The team for the prosecution consisted of Helen Mack, her two lawyers, two lawyers from the Public Ministry (which is headed by the Attorney General and is the agency through which civil crimes are brought to trial) , and, on occasion as needed, an expert on military affairs to aid in questioning witnesses.
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From page 8... ...
Ms. Arenas argued that she believes the anny killed Myrna Mack because of her research on refilgees and the internally displaced populations, which was considered a threat to the interests of the state.
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From page 9... ...
me crime involved a pattern of activity commonly associated win Me EMP; and (3) the murder was motivated by the EMP's participation In the military objective of countennsurgency, especially involving internally displaced persons the populations Myoma scorched earth policy directed at the indigenous population.
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From page 10... ...
Additionally, they presented experts on the structure of the Guatemalan military and its chain of command, endeavonng to establish that the EMP could have participated in counterinsurgency and intelligence activities, in keeping with broad military objectives beyond presidential security (their putative official function)
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From page 11... ...
There were several other witnesses of particular interest. A fonner newspaper vendor, Virg~lio Rodriguez Santana, who regularly sold newspapers near the home of the Mack family, said that he observed Myrna Mack being followed by her murderer.
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From page 12... ...
Lemus, Mr. Beteta confessed that he received a direct order to kill Myrna Mack from one of the defendants, Colonel Valencia Osono, with the implicit knowledge of another defendant, General Godoy Pagan.
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From page 13... ...
The court reviewed a report, Institutional Politics Towards the Internally Displaced in Guatemala, for which Myrna Mack was pnncipal researcher, which was published In English just two days before her murder, as well as excerpts Tom the report of the Recovery of the Histonc
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From page 14... ...
Colonel Juan Valencia Osorio was sentenced to 30 years in prison for planning and ordenng the 1990 murder of Myrna Mack. General Edgar Augusto Godoy Ga~tan axle Colonel Juan Guillermo Oliva were acquitted on the grounds Hat there was insufficient evidence that they had been directly involved In order~ng the murder.
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From page 15... ...
According to the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, threats and intimidation, particularly of witnesses and staff members of the Myrna Mack Foundation, have continued dunng the appeals process. Another significant development with regard to the Mack case took place in mid-February 2003, when the Inter-American Court of Human Rights began hearing the Mack case.5 Just before the government of Guatemala was to appear before the InterAmencan Court, it wrote to the court that it accepted international responsibility for having failed to provide prompt and due justice in the case.
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From page 16... ...
Edelberto Torres Rivas, Guatemala advisor of the United Nations Development Program, He Guatemalan institutions that In the past have provided a measure of security to threatened scholars have been weakened by internal divisions arid new pnonties. Following the completion of the truth commission report arid the assassination of Bishop Gerardi, the Catholic Church, although still a leading defender of human nights, turned increasingly to pastoral missions.
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From page 17... ...
The general political picture is of a growing power vacuum in Guatemala, with the potential sources of political leadership— including traditional political parties, the Catholic Church, indigenous and campesino groups, labor unions, those representing business interests, and even the military internally divided or weak. Nevertheless, the military is still, as in the past, the dominant controll~ng force.
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From page 18... ...
Meanwhile, the EMP has not been eliminated, despite a stipulation for its elimination in the peace accords.6 This is the unit to which the convicted murderer of Myma Mack, Noel de Jesus Beteta Alvarez, was attached and whose former leaders were tried as intellectual authors of the Myma Mack murder. The cIandestine groups now operating in Guatemala are similar in the way they fimction and who they target to the EMP during the · .
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From page 19... ...
As a result, in the weeks prior to the trial, Helen Mack and Clara Arenas found it necessary to leave the country for brief periods (2-4 weeks) for security reasons, and, dunng the third week of the trial (on September IS, 2002)
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From page 20... ...
20 HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE MACK CASK AVANCSO scientists explained to the Cow representatives that they wish to emphasize their role as professional researchers whose work has application in improving the well-being of the Guatemalan people. They stressed that such research is distinct Tom human rights activism.
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