 Son of Prominent Human Rights Defender Assassinated: CGRS Launches Justice For Pepe ~ Justice For Guatemala Campaign
On Friday, August 17, 2007, 28 year-old José Emanuel “Pepe” Méndez Dardón was assassinated in Guatemala City—he was shot multiple times at close range as he was leaving his job at La Aurora International Airport. Pepe, the married father of seven year-old twins, was the son of Amílcar Méndez, who has been internationally recognized for his human rights work.
Just prior to Pepe’s murder, he and Amílcar were involved in denouncing election-related violence, which had been on the rise in the run-up to Guatemala’s September 9 elections.
CGRS Director Karen Musalo, a long-time friend of the Méndez family, decried the cold-blooded murder of Pepe Méndez. “Far too many heroic defenders of human rights in Guatemala have become victims of political violence, and those accountable have gone free. We demand that the government of Guatemala put an end to this impunity.”
In Guatemala, impunity is widespread and most violent crimes are never investigated or prosecuted. Many of those responsible for committing some of the worst human rights violations during Guatemala’s 36-year civil conflict - in which more than 200,000 were killed, and tens of thousands disappeared - have yet to be brought to justice, and there has been a proliferation of clandestine armed groups, many of which include former human rights violators. Recently, the Guatemalan Congress voted to approve an international commission that would investigate and assist in prosecuting these clandestine groups that are frequently responsible for attacks against human rights activists.
In 1988, Amílcar Méndez founded CERJ (The Council of Ethnic Communities Runujel Junam), which promotes and defends the rights of Guatemala’s indigenous communities, and he served as a member of the Guatemalan Congress from 1996 to 2000. In recognition of his courage and dedication to human rights, Amílcar Méndez received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the Mitterand Human Rights Award, and CERJ was recognized with the Carter-Menil Award for Human Rights.
Amilcar Méndez has survived numerous death threats and the bombing of his home, spending several periods of exile in the U.S. Pepe Méndez had also received a number of death threats, which were reported to Guatemala’s Human Rights Prosecutor.
In 2003, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) had ordered the Guatemalan government to undertake measures to protect Amílcar Méndez, after determining that he faced “grave and imminent risk of harm.” In response to this order, the government provided him with physical accompaniment. However, similar protection was not extended to other members of his immediate family, including Pepe.
At Amílcar’s request, CGRS’s Refugee and Human Rights Clinic filed a petition to the IACHR requesting that protective measures be extended to the rest of the Méndez family as they undertake the dangerous task of demanding a full investigation into Pepe’s murder and an end to impunity in Guatemala. The request was granted and the IACHR recently ordered the Guatemalan government to provide the protection requested. “We were so pleased to learn of the Commission’s swift decision to extend precautionary measures to the rest of the family,” said CGRS Staff Attorney Lisa Frydman. “This was an important step forward in insuring their safety and security as they continue to seek justice for Pepe.”
While critical facts surrounding Pepe Méndez’s assassination are still emerging, a large network of concerned individuals and organizations is demanding a full investigation. To this end, the international community is calling on the Guatemalan government to coordinate the assistance of the FBI in the investigation, and to include Guatemala’s Human Rights Ombudsman in all phases of the investigation in order to insure greater transparency and accountability.
To find out how you can help demand Justice for Pepe ~ Justice for Guatemala, please visit CGRS’s website: http://cgrs.uchastings.edu/campaigns/ |
