April 3, 2009
GUATEMALA: KIDNAPPING AND TORTURE OF WIFE OF HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSPERSON
Rights Action forwards this information from Human Rights First.  The situation of repression and impunity (for the powerful economic and military sectors) continues unabated in Guatemala.  Rights Action funds community based human rights organizations throughout Guatemala, and is involved with numerous political and legal struggles to put an end to repression and seek justice for victims of repression.
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DEMAND INVESTIGATION INTO KIDNAPPING OF GLADYS MONTERROSO
Click Here to Take Action: http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/Gladys
On March 25, Gladys Monterroso was kidnapped while eating breakfast in a restaurant in Guatemala City and held for 13 hours. Just one day earlier her husband, the Human Rights Ombudsman, released a groundbreaking report, The Right to Know.  The “Right to Know” report documented evidence in the recently discovered police archives linking officials to human rights violations during the 1960-1996 civil war.
Monterroso is Secretary General of a well-known political party, as well as a prominent lawyer, and university professor. She is recognized for her dedication to the advancement of human rights, truth, and justice in Guatemala.
While detained she was reportedly burned with cigarettes, beaten, and subject to both sexual and psychological abuse. The kidnappers demanded no ransom or other compensation and released Monterroso later the same day.
This violent attack against Monterroso, reminiscent of tactics used during Guatemala's 36-year civil war, may have been intended to obstruct the search for justice for mass atrocities committed during that war.
Click here to learn more about mass atrocities in Guatemala: http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/defenders/hrd_guatemala/hrd_jpc.aspx
More info: Andrew Hudson, HudsonA@HumanRightsFirst.org, http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/defenders/hr_defenders.asp
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FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT Indigenous and community-based organizations in Guatemala that are working to end injustice and impunity, contact: info@rightsaction.org, www.rightsaction.org
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