by JEFF ABBOTT
Campesino movement leader David Pascual addresses crowd PHOTO/Jeff Abbott
On February 22, a criminal court in Guatemala City allowed proceedings to begin in a legal case against Daniel Pascual, the leader of the Campesino Unity Committee (CUC), which could greatly affect the freedom of speech in Guatemala.
“These charges are a perversion of the interpretation of the law, and a violation and attack on the freedom of speech,” said Daniel Pascual. “ This is a precedent that is dangerous for the defenders of human rights in Guatemala.”
The case against Pascual has potential ramifications for other leaders of human rights organizations across Guatemala, and threats their ability to express their opinions in the national and international media.
“Following this case, are they going to prosecute people for what they say and what they think?“ said Pascual. “This is dangerous for our democracy and the peace in Guatemala.”
In 2013, supporters of a controversial San Gabriel cement factory attacked Pascual and several other human rights defenders during a visit to communities resisting the construction of the cement factory in San Juan Sacatepéquez. Following the attack, Pascual had associated the attackers with the nationally syndicated newspaper columns by Ricardo Mendez Ruiz, a former military officer and the founder of rightwing Foundation Against Terrorism. Mendez Ruiz argued that the statement amounted to libel and slander, and opened up a legal case against the campesino leader.
Pascual has appealed the charges in the Guatemalan Constitutional Court, and in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington DC, and tried to get the case thrown out. But despite these efforts, the case has been permitted to advance.
Support for Pascual has come from across Guatemala’s diverse social movements, including from the Social and Popular Assembly, an association of 72 organizations that emerged during the 2015 protests against corruption in Guatemala, as well as leftist political parties such as WINAQ and The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), and indigenous leaders. This has been supported through a campaign on social media in solidarity with the embattled leader.
Attempts to Silence Investigations into Atrocities
Human rights organizations have not been Mendez Ruiz’s only targets.
On multiple occasions, Mendez Ruiz has gone on national television and openly sought to discredit the human rights organizations, which Mendez Ruiz has referred to as “the Mafia of human rights.”
But the Foundation Against Terrorism has also sought to derail those investigating the crimes committed by the military during Guatemala’s 36-year-long war. This has put the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG), and its director Fredy Peccerelli, into the cross hairs of the foundation, which they have accused as a terrorist organization, and worked to silence the organization from speaking out.
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