ALERT! Guatemalan Leaders Disappear on Eve of Ramiro Choc Anniversary

Today is the third anniversary of Ramiro Choc's arrest.

The prominent Guatemalan indigenous leader was detained on February 14, 2008 on bogus charges of kidnapping, land theft, and aggravated robbery. The reason? Among many other things, Ramiro helped to found Encuentro Campesino, a peasant movement that has been agitating for indigenous rights against wealthy land owners and the Guatemalan state.

Today marks the day when Ramiro is finally eligible for parole. But what was supposed to be a day of thoughtful fasting and hopeful petitioning for Ramiro's release will now be spent in a desperate search to locate three other Encuentro Campesino leaders that have disappeared.

Alberto Poc and two other peasant leaders, friends of Ramiro's, went missing two nights ago near Livingston, Guatemala.

They were last seen traveling by canoe around 6:00pm, but they never arrived at their destination. A preliminary search yesterday turned up their canoe covered in blood. No bodies were found.

"The hope is that they are still alive, but many fear they are dead or currently being tortured," Palmer Legare, director of the Guatemala Solidarity Project and member of the search party, told Change.org.

This is not the first instance of targeted violence against community activists in the area, and it is a fair assumption that these community leaders are suffering at the hands of the state given the history of the area. Three years ago, Ramiro Choc was arrested because of his involvement with Encuentro Campesino. One month later, on March 15, 2008, another of the organization's leaders, Mario Caal Bolom, was tortured and murdered by police in the same area.

Now more than ever, it is essential that we support the grassroots struggle against the human rights abuses taking place in Guatemala. Sign the petition urging the Guatemalan government to release Ramiro Choc.

If you are healthy and able, join Guatemala Solidarity Project in a hunger fast in solidarity with Ramiro. Change.org has been in communication with Palmer Legare, the organizer behind the fast.

"[It] is part of a diversity of actions organized at an international level to pressure for Ramiro’s freedom," he said. "Fasting is directly linked to Ramiro’s struggle.  The majority of q’eqchi’ children do not get enough nutrition and are in danger of starvation. There land is stolen and used to sell unnecessary luxuries to people with more money than them.  Fasting in solidarity with Ramiro is a way of exposing and rejecting this system."

Mr. Legere will be taking part in a commission from the US to search for Alberto Poc and his companions and to document evidence of  their disappearance. Change.org will continue reporting as the story unfolds, so check back in for updates on the Human Rights news page.

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