please sing this petition about the massacre in Guatemala:
International Condemnation of Killings in Totonicapán, Guatemala
To the Government of Guatemala and the United Nations
On October 4, 2012, K’iche’ Maya communities carried out a peaceful protest organized by the Alcaldía Indígena, the Indigenous authority of the 48 Cantones of Totonicapán, in the Alaska, Xecanchavox and Cuatro Caminos regions of the highlands in Guatemala. The protesters demanded:
1. That the state work to scale back the most recent hikes in electric energy costs;
2. That the government approach national education reform integrally;
3. That the government stop and reverse the trend toward militarization of civil society, present in the currently proposed constitutional reforms.
During the demonstration, Guatemalan Military and National Police forces appeared at the protest and shot indiscriminately at the demonstrators. The result of this aggression by the Guatemalan state was 8 deaths and over 35 wounded people.
Considering the painful memory of genocide in the country’s recent history, and the fact that today’s government is led by military officers who participated in the war, it is extremely worrisome that acts of state violence continue to take place in Guatemala. It is even more worrisome that these acts are directed against indigenous peoples who seek to exercise their legitimate rights to political voice and peaceful protest.
The signatories below:
1. Vigorously repudiate any perpetuation of state violence against the indigenous peoples of Guatemala;
2. Reject declarations made by the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Defense, the Foreign Minister, and the President of the Republic of Guatemala that blame the indigenous communities themselves for the violence inflicted against them;
3. Support the right to collective political voice of the K’iche’ People of the 48 Cantones of Totonicapán and their municipal authorities;
4. Extend our most sincere condolences to the families of the victims:
a. Rafael Batz
b. Santos Nicolás Menchú
c. Jesús Baltazar Caxaj Puac
d. Francisco Ordóñez
e. Arturo Félix Zapón Yax
And to those who are yet to be identified
5. Express our solidarity with the more than 35 wounded protesters, among whom there are women, children and elderly people.
Additionally, we stand in full support of the demands presented by the Board of Directors of the Alcaldía Indígena of the 48 Cantones of Totonicapán in their October 5, 2012 press conference:
1. To the Interior Ministry: To uphold its constitutional mandate of investigating, persecuting, and accusing whoever participated in the bloodbath, especially if they acted in the name of the state—both its intellectual and material authors, who following a line of command, obeyed and acted in a cowardly manner toward the application of repressive policies against the civilian population;
2. To the Guatemalan Judicial Organism: To prevent the manipulation of the justice system, which would in turn endanger judicial independence; to duly and severely punish those responsible, and; to reject any and all influence peddling, given that we are faced today with a bloodbath that was executed by state security agents;
3. To the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Organization of American States, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, and the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission, their immediate and effective investigation of the human rights violations committed against non-violent indigenous protesters.
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