27 October 2009 | Special reports | Human rights
More Terror
Indigenous lawyer murdered in Guatemala. Crimes against communities continue
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As if it were “our daily crime”, in Guatemala, murders, harassment and repression against activists involved in the indigenous and peasant movement take place with horrifying regularity.
On October 23rd, the National Coordination of Waqib Kej Maya Community carried out a press conference to describe the real atmosphere of terror suffered in far-away regions of the country caused by the unpunished actions of military and paramilitary forces.
Flavio Otzin, father of the lawyer murdered on October 18th, was interviewed by Real World Radio, and he talked about the struggles carried out by his son Fausto.
Mario Minera, member of the Coordination of Human Rights Organizations, talked about this political murder. “An intellectual has been murdered, a professional who focused all his strengths for the indigenous peoples, especially the Mayan. Fausto was working on a system to facilitate the legal recognition of the rights of the Maya people”, said Minera, to whom this murder has all the features of an “out-of-court execution” or a “message to threaten”.
The Human Rights activist demanded Guatemalan authorities to investigate this case, together with other recent political murders which were carried out with the same modus operandi.
