Whoah. Amazing piece in this week's New Yorker about political murder in Guatemala. I mean, my own attachment to Guatemala (and to the CICIG) notwithstanding, it's just a stunning story. In "A Murder Foretold," David Grann recounts the unfolding investigation into who killed Rodrigo Rosenberg, a Guatemalan lawyer who left behind a video accusing the government of his murder before being shot to death in 2009. I couldn't put it down, and as soon as I finished, I ran into the next room and chucked the magazine at Steve (who was diligently working to finish an assignment for his masters class) and demanded that he read it right away. He tried to ignore me and keep working, but stirred as I was by the content of the piece, I just had to ask: "Honey, if you were president of the United States, and for some reason, there was a law in the United States that said that your spouse could never run for president, and your term was about to end, and you had done some really good things as president, and you knew that the only one who could continue your leadership of the country was me, your wife, and I really wanted to be president . . . would you divorce me?"
I know what you're thinking. Good question. And this is exactly the question that has been facing President Alvaro Colom and his wife, Sandra de Colom, of Guatemala. So they're getting a divorce. You think that's crazy? You should read the rest of the piece. I won't give away the twists and turns in the investigation of one of the most outlandish murders in the history of political murder, but I will say this: The murder gets solved. And it's the CICIG that solves it.
The CICIG (la Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala - The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala) is a brainchild of the U.N. It's an independent investigative entity in a country that is so permeated by corruption that drug traffickers operate freely with the aid of former (and current) military and police. Guatemala's murder rate is the third highest in the world, and 97% of murders go unsolved. The purpose of the CICIG is to bring justice to bear on those responsible (the powerful elite) and to begin to restore rule of law, safety, and stability.
The CICIG almost didn't exist. In the summer of 2007, I had just finished a week of research on the murder of women in Guatemala with the Guatemala Human Rights Commission. Afterwards, Steve joined me, and we spent two weeks traveling the country, puzzling over Guatemalan politics (the country was in the midst of a heated and violent election campaign), and reading the newspapers every day to follow the fate of the CICIG in the Guatemalan Congress. Things looked pretty grim for the CICIG at that point. Why would politicians approve the creation of a body designed solely to investigate them for corruption? News commentators in Guatemala were skeptical, and so was I. After hearing from the parents of young women who had been tortured and murdered, after speaking with human rights activists, government officials, and indigenous midwives, I was convinced that the CICIG was crucial to ending impunity and improving lives in Guatemala. But I was far from convinced that the government, dominated by many of the same people who perpetrated the atrocities of the thirty-year civil war, would grant the CICIG the authority to operate in the country.
Then, on July 31st, the day before the Guatemalan Congress was scheduled to vote on the CICIG, the New York Times published an editorial about Guatemala entitled "Only the Criminals Are Safe." This turned the tide. The gaze of the American media must have felt pretty heavy on some of those Guatemalan politicians, because the next morning, Steve and I woke up to an incredible headline. The CICIG had passed! I remember feeling a surprising mixture of hope and relief. I felt hopeful that this signified a change in the direction of Guatemalan politics. I was relieved to have a sign that American involvement (awareness, media attention, international pressure) could have a positive impact on other parts of the world. (I had been starting to think that the US left only disaster and destruction in its path.)
So, the passage of the CICIG really inspired me. I wrote about in an article for Upside Down World, spoke about it at local schools and events, and visited my representatives regarding our country's involvement. Now, almost five years later, despite increases in violence, narcotrafficking, and poverty in Guatemala, the CICIG still gives me a reason to be hopeful about Guatemala's future.
In the past few years, the international press has suggested that Guatemala might be considered "a failed state." And in the New Yorker piece, David Grann addresses the critical importance of the Rosenberg case by quoting The Economist's response in 2007: "Whether or not Mr. Rosenberg's killers are brought to justice will show whether or not Guatemala is indeed a failed state." Thanks to the CICIG, the killers have been brought to justice. ¡Viva la CICIG!
No comments:
Post a Comment