Committee on Human Rights of Scientists of the New York Academy of Sciences

Human Rights

June 18, 2003

Lic. Alfonso Portillo Cabrera
Presidente de la Republica de Guatemala
6a. Avenida A 4-41, Zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala
GUATEMALA

Dear President:

I am writing about my concern for the increase in threats, intimidation, and attacks against anthropologists working with the Fundaci�n de Antropolog�a Forense de Guatemala (FAFG) and their family members. FAFG has been working to exhume and identify bodies from massacre sites throughout Guatemala. In early 2002, several FAFG employees as well as forensic anthropologists working with the Centro de Antropolog�a Forense y Ciencias Aplicada (CAFCA) were the subject of numerous attacks believed to be perpetrated by individuals who had ties to the military during Guatemala's 35-year civil war.

These recent attacks happened over the last two months. On April 28, 2003, two unidentified men robbed Omar Bertoni Giron de Leon, an employee at FAFG. The men demanded his cell phone and threatened to kill him if he did not give it to them. Bertoni reported that the robbers asked him if he worked at FAFG. Similar thefts of cell phones occurred last year against other FAFG and CAFCA employees. The individuals whose numbers were stored on the cell phones began receiving threatening phone calls.

On April 29, 2003, Fredy Peccerelli, FAFG Director, reported to authorities that shots were fired at his house. No one was injured. Investigating police also discovered bullet holes in his neighbor's house. Earlier that month, his home was burglarized and his passport and several FAFG documents were stolen. On that same day, April 3, his sister and mother noticed two unidentified men watching the family house. When one of the family members confronted the men, they stated that they were members of the police and were investigating another house in the area. However, neither man produced official documentation and sped off after the Peccerelli family called the police.

In two separate incidents, Bianka Peccerelli Monterroso, Fredy Peccerelli's sister, was harassed by unidentified men. On one occasion, her car was followed by two men in an unmarked car. They pulled up next to her car and drawing a gun, threatened to kill her if she did not pull over. She managed to drive away from the men without being harmed. On another occasion, three men followed her into a restaurant near her university and began threatening her and her friends. On of the men displayed the gun that he was carrying. Bianka was not physically harmed in either incident and filed reports with the police, the public prosecutor's office, and the UN mission to Guatemala. Investigations on the attacks have not resulted in any positive identification of the men involved.

Since 1992, FAFG has carried out 191 exhumations of more than 2,000 victims of the Guatemalan military's counter-insurgency campaign. FAFG is a non-governmental organization that functions in the absence of any official government exhumation program. Exhumations have played a critical role in providing forensic investigation teams with evidence to scientifically document massacres perpetrated by the Guatemalan military.

We are calling on the authorities to guarantee the safety of FAFG employees and their families. Furthermore, we urge the government to carry out an immediate and impartial investigation into the recent attacks against Fredy Peccerelli, Omar Bertoni Giron de Leon, and Bianka Irina Peccerelli Monterroso, and to bring those responsible to justice. Finally, we ask that the governemtn fulfill recommendations of the Comisi�n de Esclarecimiento Hist�rica (CEH), which recommended creating a government-run exhumation project.

I respectfully await your response to this matter of great importance to our committee and to the international scientific community.

The New York Academy of Sciences is an independent, nonprofit, global membership organization committed to advancing science, technology, and society worldwide. Established in 1817, the Academy is the oldest scientific organization in New York, and the third oldest in the nation. It is an international organization with nearly 25,000 members in more than 150 countries.

Sincerely,

Joseph L. Birman, Chairman, Committee on Human Rights of Scientists

March 25, 2002

Minister of the Interior
Eduardo Arevalo Lacs
Ministro de Gobernacion
Ministerio de Gobernacion
61 Avenida 4-64, Zona 4
Ciudad de Guatemala
GUATEMALA

Dear Minister:

I am writing to express the deep concern of the New York Academy of Sciences' Committee on Human Rights for the safety of forensic scientists: Mariana Valdizon; Fernando Moscoso; Fredy Peccerelli, Director of FAFG (Fundacion de Antropologia Forense de Guatemala); Frederico Reyes; Leonel Paiz Francisco de Leon; Jose Samuel Suasnavar; Guillermo Meza; Claudia Rivera; Raul Garcia; Miguel Morales. Five of these eleven people received death threats on February 21, and the others received anonymous telephone death threats against themselves and their families on March 7. Miguel Morales was held up at gunpoint on March 6 by a man who demanded his mobile telephone. This may be how the anonymous caller obtained the other scientists'numbers. Their phone lines appear to have been tapped. Police protection was requested on their behalf by CALDH (Centre of Forensic Anthropology and Applied Sciences) on March 6, and as we understand the 24-hour protection is now in place for which we are very grateful. However, we remain gravely concerned for their safety, given past incidents where people, also under police protection, have suffered renewed attacks. We are calling on the authorities to order an immediate investigation of the reported threats and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Sincerely,

Joseph L. Birman
Chairman, Committee on Human Rights of Scientists