Express Condemnation Over Murder of Guatemalan Conservationists
3/6/00
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Emergency Action: Guatemala murders
Source: New England Biolabs Foundation, www.nebf.org
via Global Response, http://www.globalresponse.org
Status: Copyright 2000, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: March 6, 2000
Byline: Martine Kellett
Dear Members of Global Response's Quick Response Network:
Our friends at New England Biolabs Foundation are circulating this
Emergency Action, which was issued by Guatemalan environmental
organizations following the murders of two environmental activists
last week. Please send letters to the addresses given below.
Thanks.
URGENT CALL TO ALL OF OUR FRIENDS AROUND THE GLOBE, FOR SOLIDARITY
In response to the vile and cowardly assassination of two brave
conservationists, Erwin Aroldo Ochoa Lopez and Julio Armando Vasquez
Ramirez, which occurred this Tuesday, February 29th, in Puerto
Barrios, Guatemala, the environmental community of Guatemala requests
your immediate support in:
- expressing your condemnation for the assassination of two
exceptional conservationists who risked their lives for the
collective good, trying to save Guatemala's natural resources;
- demanding an investigation by the Guatemalan authorities and that
the guilty parties be brought to justice, such that the actions do
not go unpunished;
- insisting that the Guatemalan government follow through on its
campaign promise to guarantee the personal security of citizens.
These bloody incidents of violence and intolerance should not be
repeated in this country, which considers itself a democracy.
Both of these conservation colleagues worked for the National
Protected Areas Council (CONAP), which is similar to a National Park
Service. Erwin Ochoa was the Legal Advisor to CONAP, and was in
charge of investigating more than 40 cases of environmental crimes
perpetrated against protected areas and natural resources in the
Atlantic Zone of Guatemala. Julio Vasquez was the Administrative
Assistant for CONAP in this region.
During its recent electoral campaign, the new Guatemalan
administration promised to provide safety for Guatemalan citizens.
The administration should keep this promise, by showing that it is
acting against crime, violence and impunity. Nevertheless, these
bloody events show that pressure on the country's natural and
cultural resources is increasing, and those who take action to defend
these resources find themselves more and more vulnerable to threats
and attacks by looters.
Guatemalan society strongly condemns the murder of these two young
people who fought for a better world for future generations.
PLEASE help us to express to the Guatemalan government the
international community's condemnation of these horrendous acts and
demand that they not go unpunished!!
Please send faxes to the following people:
Lic. Alfonso Portillo
President of the Republic of Guatemala Tel/Fax: +(502) 221-4419
Lic. Adolfo Gonzalez Rodas
Attorney General of the Republic of Guatemala Fax: +(502) 221-2718
Lic. Guillermo Ruiz Wong
Minister of the Interior, Republic of Guatemala Fax: +(502)362-0239
General Efrain Rios Montt
President, Guatemalan National Congress Tel/Fax: +(502)232-1260 to
69, x504
Ms. Patricia Quinto
Governor, Department of Izabal
Tel/Fax +(502)948-7666