Stop Femicide!

Taking testimony from survivors of human rights abuses is critical work for delegations. This photo journal begins with Maria Eugenia Solis (pictured above) she is an attorney and a founding member of La Cuerda, the only feminist publication by women and for women in Guatemala. Seated next to Solis is Amanda Martin who served as translator. Martin is the director of the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission based in Washington, DC. Solis explained to the delegates the history of Guatemala in relation to the root causes of violence against women. She also discussed the structures failure to adequately address women’s issues as well as lack of rule of law. In addition to highlighting the root causes of violence against women, Solis also highlighted positive strides women have made in speaking out for their rights. This list of accomplishments includes Guatemalan women being present at the UN International World Conference for Women, women participating in the 1996 Peace Accord process, and grassroots women’s movements within indigenous communities. The explanation of history as well as present accomplishments foreshadowed what we would learn in the days to come.

Jennifer Harbury and friends Nora and Marco (Nino) Antonio joined us for dinner in the evening. Harbury is a civil rights and immigration lawyer who met her husband, Evardo, while she was gathering testimony from Compañeros during the civil armed conflict. Evardo was a Comandanté in the indigenous resistance movement. Evardo was disappeared in 1992 during the armed conflict. Harbury made efforts in finding her husband, including going on hunger strike in front of the national palace (pictured below) in the central plaza in Guatemala City. On the final day of Harbury's hunger strike, just before she was about to go into shock, Harbury was given information that her husband was dead and had been tortured for three years before his murder. Since then Harbury has spent her time seeking justice in the death of her husband. She is now working to bring her husbands case to trial in the international courts.

Nora and Marco Antonio, friends of Harbury, spoke to the group about their experience as Compañeros  in the indigenous resistance movement. Nora and Marco described to the group the training the Compañeros received before going to the front of the conflict. The Compañeros received political training using the popular education model, a model of education developed by Paulo Freiré who believed that everyone is an expert on their own experience and we can learn from one another based on each persons own experience. During the conflict Compañeros learned equality, how to read and political ideals. Equality was an important aspect of the training as women were fighting along side the men. Women were able to move up in ranks as well. Nora explained how difficult it was navigating the mountainous terrain with the gear they had to carry and at times the men would laugh at her saying she could not make it to the front because she could not even walk. Nora learned to walk in the mountains and made it to the front line. Nora was severely injured during the war when a grenade went off injuring her skull and paralyzing her right side. Nora told us about her injury and had she not mentioned it I would not have known as her vibrant personality and personal strength overshadow any physical injuries.

During the delegation we also had the opportunity to visit the organization Fundación Sobrevivientes (Survivors Foundation) started by Norma Cruz (pictured above sitting next to Raine Johnson who is the Sexual Assault Prevention Coordinator at the Laurel Center in Winchester, Virginia. Cruz is the recipient of the 2009 Woman of Courage Award made by the US Department of State on behalf of President Obama. Cruz started Survivors Foundation in response to the rape of her daughter. Cruz thought that if this was happening in her own home that other women are probably experiencing the same thing all over Guatemala. The Survivor’s Foundation offers psychological, medical and legal services to women who are victims of violence. The organization works to put cases through the court system and has had 100% success in the cases they have accompanied through the courts. This is quite an accomplishment in a justice system where only 2% of cases of violence against women are prosecuted. One of the cases Cruz discussed with us was the case of a young woman whose face was cut off with a machete by her husband, in front of their young son. The case went through the courts and the husband was prosecuted. The young girl received sponsorship in order to go through reconstructive surgery on her face. She underwent 30 surgeries before deciding that she had had enough and did not want to continue with the surgeries. She now lives with her parents in Guatemala.

Pictured next to Cruz are Raine Johnson; Laurie Persh, a Social Worker with Refugee and Immigration Services in Northern Virginia; Mary Coenan, a retired Social Worker; Maribel Ramos who learned about the delegation through the lobbying efforts of the 2009 delegates, and Lara Guiterez who is married to a man from Guatemala and has had a general interest in Guatemala since studying in college.

We also traveled to Quetzaltenango where we met Willy Barreno founder of DESEGUA (Economic Development for Sustainable Guatemala). Willy migrated to the United States in the 1990’s for political and economic reasons. Barreno explained that when he moved to the states he changed his weapons for knives and peelers. Barreno has dedicated his life to the struggle for human rights, in Guatemala he was part of the revolutionary student movement, in the states Willy joined Somos un Pueblo Unido/ We are a United People, an immigrant movement in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Bareno was in the states for 12 years before returning home to Guatemala. Upon returning to Guatemala he began a documentary project to record the testimony of the immigrant experience, from this work DESEGUA was developed. The delegates were able to visit the newly opened DESEGUA café which helps reintegrate Guatemalans who have been deported or voluntarily returned to Guatemala. Here Willy shared his story as well as some delicious fair trade shade grown coffee grown by his friends in a near by San Martin Sacatepequez.  

After lunch at DESEGUA we traveled to San Martin Sacatepequez where we met Juanita Lopez, a Mam Mayan woman. Lopez was forced into marriage at the age of 13, by the age of 18 Juanita had three children. She is now 28, she divorced her husband when she was 18.  Juanita is a true community organizer, she organized the women of her village to raise money for a communal washing sink for the village. Juanita's and the other women’s efforts were a success and they were able to purchase a wash basin for the community. At the wash basin is where women began to talk. Women began to talk about starting other projects, about self esteem, about their rights as women. From this talk arose an organic gardening project which raises money for the women who participate. The coffee DESEGUA sells is grown by these women. Crammed into a small house Juanita shared her story with us by sharing a documentary she made with the help of Willy which tells of her forced marriage, as well as shows an intimate conversation between her and her father. In the documentary Juanita’s father apologizes for forcing her to marry and not seeing the potential Juanita has. This was the first time that the women in the village had seen the video. Gazing upon the faces of the women in the room I could see tears in each woman’s eyes as they listened to the apology Juanita’s father gave her. After the video, Juanita’s father introduced himself to everyone; it was incredible to see that change is happening and can happen and that these women are blazing the way for a women’s rights movement. Juanita shared with us that she hopes to obtain her degree in social work someday, I must say, she is already a social worker.

In contrast to the grassroots organizing of Juanita and the other Mam women is the government sectors of SEPREM and CONAPREVI. CONAPREVI stands for the National Coordinator for Domestic Violence and Violence against women and it was founded in 2000. CONAPREVI has a strategic plan that began in 2004 and is projected to be complete by 2014 that involves investigating, analyzing and studying violence against women so there may be prevention, education and training around the issue. Studies have focused on reporting of violence against women and on coordination of organizations. The women at CONAPREVI also discussed the goal of having a CAIMU which will provide wrap around services to women in all 22 municipalities in Guatemala.

That evening we visited Casa De Artesana where we met Sandra Moran. Moran is a member of Sector de Mujeres, a woman’s group of women from all walks of life. We had an intimate meeting with Sandra over dinner. She asked that we ask her questions about what we would like to know. She told us about her work in prisons with incarcerated women. She described the mission was “to live a life without violence, through art, through sports.” San Arté means heal yourself. Artésana teaches women who are incarcerated how to reintegrate back into society and how to maintain links with their children. There are two programs through Artésana, one is for women who are incarcerated and one is to prevent women from being incarcerated. Sandra stated there are 600 women incarcerated in the country and the majority are from Guatemala, some are from South America and other Central American countries. These women may have been involved in drug trafficking, theft, extortion and homicide. The majority of women imprisoned for extortion did not know that they were a part of the extortion scheme and Sandra hopes to organize a radio campaign to eradicate this issue. Something shocking we learned was that often when women are incarcerated their children are taken to orphanages where they are at risk for illegal adoption.

Sandra also discussed the lesbian movement in Guatemala. A lesbian collective began to form in 1995 called Mujeres Somos, which means “We are Women.” In 1997 the group became openly organized and legalized. Today Mujeres Somos is five collectives that meet to openly discuss the rights of lesbians, indigenous, disabled, and sex workers. Sandra stated these things are difficult to discuss because discrimination laws are not recognized.

Our final day of the delegation was a day trip to Xalapa where we met with Xinca women of AMISMAXAJ. It was an honor to meet these women and be welcomed into their village. In order for outsiders to be allowed into a Xinca community the person bringing the visitor into the community has to get permission from the Xinca governing members. With these women we performed a healing practice that involved lighting candles on a bed of flowers and plants that come from the mountain, the women link healing with being in tune with the earth around them. Each candle lit represented something different. After we shared in this experience we shared a meal together. This group is very progressive for Guatemala because the husband of Lorena, who is the leader of AMISMAXAJ, cooked the entire meal for us and did the clean up. He supports his wife and the work the women do and he hopes to run for leader of the community in the near future. If he wins it could mean many changes for the entire community. Changes that would make women equal in the community and help recognize women’s rights.

Lorena placing cream on a special kind of tortilla that takes two days to make. It is made of corn and tastes sweet. Next to the dish of tortillas is home grown and home brewed coffee.

We were also able to share photos of our lives with the Xinca women. It was a great way to connect with each other despite language barriers.

  Sharing a meal together.

AMISMAXAJ

Above is a group picture of the delegates in the National Palace. The statue is a miniature of the statue to commemorate the signing of the Peace Accords.

About the Author:

Catherine Faulkner is an MSW student at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). She serves as Vice President of the student group La Milpa: Interest Group of the Americas (2010-2011) which works to bring awareness of social justice issues in Central America to the VCU campus. Catherine is interested in international social work and social justice. Since returning from the 2010 delegation she has lobbied for the International Violence Against Women Act and participated in coordinating and planning human rights events on the VCU campus to include a forum on Haiti's disaster of 2010 and hosting of Sandra Moran, Guatemalan feminist and activist.

 Weaving of the Mam Mayan women.

Lake Atitlan

Temple at Tikal

 A mural painted in the National Palace that depicts the Spanish conquest.

 A mural that artfully depicts the beautiful colors and landscape of Guatemala.

High in the mountains looking down on a village.

 Guatemala's rainy season last from about mid-may to early October.

Coffee and banana's, two of Guatemala's main crops.