Urge Guatemalan Authorities

Urge Guatemalan Authorities to Investigate the Kidnapping and Torture of Guatemalan Lawyer Gladys Monterroso

Gladys Monterroso lawyer, University Professor, and Secretary General of the Encuentro por Guatemala party, and wife of Sergio Morales, Human Rights Ombudsman was kidnapped March 25, 7am-8pm. After 13 hours she was turned over without ransom and later found to have burns from cigarettes in different bodily areas.

This occurred the morning after Mr. Morales released the first ever report to connect Guatemalan National Police to the atrocities of the 1960-1996 war. It provided evidence linking police members to death squads and led to the first detainment of police officers in over 47,000 cases of forced disappearances.

Action supported by: GHRCUSA (Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA) UDEFEGUA (Unit for the Defense of Human Rights Defenders of Guatemala), CALDH (Academic Legal Center for Human Rights), CIIDH (International Center for Research on Human Rights), GAM (Mutual Support Group), SEDEM (Association for the Study and Promotion of Democratic Security), IECCEG (Institute for Comparative Studies and Criminal Sciences in Guatemala) and ODHAG (Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala)