[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 21, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1041-E1042]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECENT COURT DECISIONS IN GUATEMALA SERIOUSLY UNDERMINE HUMAN RIGHTS

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                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 21, 2003

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I was deeply disturbed to learn that an 
appeals court in

[[Page E1042]]

Guatemala decided last week to overturn the conviction of Colonel Juan 
Valencia Osorio, the man convicted by a lower court of being the 
``intellectual author'' of the murder of Myrna Mack, a well-known 
Guatemalan anthropologist. Before her murder on September 11, 1990, 
Myrna Mack had been conducting research on the massive displacement and 
destruction of rural indigenous communities which resulted from the 
Guatemalan military's counterinsurgency tactics and ``scorched earth'' 
policies that they employed during that country's 36-year-old civil 
war.
  The appellate court also upheld the acquittals of General Augosto 
Godoy Gaitan and Colonel Juan Guillermo Oliva Carrera, who were accused 
of having masterminded, along with Colonel Valencia, the assassination 
of Myrna Mack. Thus, as a result of the appellate court's decision, the 
intellectual authors of Myrna Mack's murder remain at large thirteen 
years after the killing, and justice continues to be denied to her 
family and friends.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a matter of special concern because of the fact 
that the officers who were just acquitted were members of the 
Presidential Security Guard (Estado Mayor Presidencial--EMP), a unit 
originally created to provide security for Guatemala's president, vice-
president, and their respective families. Since its establishment, 
however, the EMP has been repeatedly implicated in some of Guatemala's 
most high-profile human rights abuses, including the 1998 murder of 
Bishop Juan Gerardi. It is important to note that General Godoy and 
Colonels Oliva and Valencia served as high-ranking officials in the EMP 
at the time of Bishop Gerardi's assassination.
  It is my sincere hope, Mr. Speaker, that Guatemalan authorities will 
vigorously pursue justice in Myrna Mack's case, wherever it may lead, 
and I applaud key U.S. officials for continuing to urge strongly that 
the Guatemalan government strengthen the rule of law in that country 
and strip high-ranking military officers of the impunity that they 
apparently now enjoy.

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