Category: Uncategorized

NEWS FLASH AND UPDATE

From The GUATEMALA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION/USA

Summer greetings! In the last couple of months, a lot has happened regarding Guatemala that you should be aware of. Please read below to find out more about our recent delegation to Guatemala, how you can help stem violence against women in Guatemala, the passage of the CICIG, upcoming Guatemalan elections, and much more. As always, for more up-to-date information on Guatemala, please visit GHRC’s website at www.ghrc-usa.org.

GHRC’s Delegation to Guatemala: In the end of July we completed a very successful eight-day, fact-finding delegation to Guatemala to learn more about the increasing violence against women, particularly the brutal killings of women and girls, and to pressure the Guatemalan government to do a better job in investigating, prosecuting, and preventing these crimes. Nine of us, from all over the US and from a variety of disciplines, heard the aching stories of parents who lost their daughters. We listened to their struggle for justice. We met with women’s organizations and women’s leaders that accompany survivors of gender-based abuse. We even met with Guatemalan authorities responsible for the investigations and prosecutions of the killings of women and other gender-based crimes. Their callous attitude of blaming the victim and asking for our understanding that changes “don’t happen over night”, despite 3,200 women murdered in seven years and fewer than twenty convictions, made us even more resolute in the need for increased international pressure. Please be on the look out for GHRC’s full “2007 Delegation Reflection” coming soon.

How You Can Help Stem Violence Against Women in Guatemala: Time and again during our recent fact-finding delegation, we heard pleas for continued international solidarity and pressure. To bolster that support, we are asking you to contact your Senators today and encourage them to cosponsor Senate Resolution 178. S.Res.178 offers condolences to the victims’ families, but also urges Guatemalan authorities to do a better job of investigating, prosecuting, and preventing these crimes. It really is easy and will only take you seven minutes.

Just click here to read the full Urgent Action and follow the sample phone call. Our goal is to get more than 25 Senators cosponsoring the Resolution. So far, only six have agreed to endorse the legislation. Please call your Senators today and ask them to take a stand for Guatemalan women.

Guatemalan Congress Approves the CICIG: Amidst international pressure from local and international human rights organizations like GHRC, the US government, the European Union, and the United Nations, the Guatemalan Congress approved the implementation of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) on August 1. The UN-led Commission will have an initial two-year life span and will attempt to determine the nature, structure and modus operandi of clandestine groups and organized crime rings, as well as dismantle their supporting structures, bring their participants to justice, and prevent future attacks on human rights defenders and the society at large. These criminal structures have undermined the rule of law for far too long in Guatemala. We salute Guatemalan lawmakers for approving the initiative; nevertheless, we remain cautiously optimistic and vigilant of its implementation. We will continue to monitor the CICIG and make sure that it does not result in an empty, bureaucratic entity, but rather truly fulfills the mission it was designed to accomplish. HYPERLINK “http://www.ghrc-usa.org/Resources/2007/CICIGPassed.htm” Click here to read more about the passage of the CICIG.

Guatemala ‘on brink of ruin’ after 40 murdered

By Philip Sherwell in Guatemala City, Sunday Telegraph

Last Updated: 1:42am BST 26/08/2007

 

 

 

Hector Montenegro took a break from election campaigning in Guatemala last
week – to bury his murdered teenage daughter. Her killers had pulled
out her fingernails, tied her hands behind her back, slit her throat,
then stuffed the corpse into the boot of a taxi with two other victims
of similarly brutal attacks.

  • In pictures: Guatemala’s election violence
    •   Guatemalan congressional candidate Hector Montenegro holds a picture of his murdered daughterwguat126a.jpg
     

    The distraught congressional candidate for the leading party was in no
    doubt that 15-year-old Marta Cristina was the latest victim of a
    particularly violent election campaign, even by the standards of a
    country that endured a bloody 36-year civil war.

    “I am sure that her killing was politically motivated,” said Mr Montenegro, 71, a veteran activist for the poor and elderly. “I am used
    to the threatening phone calls, the insults, the people calling me a
    communist. But what sort of animal could do this to a teenage girl?”

    Forty candidates or senior party officials have already been murdered during
    the campaign – a grim tally that does not include supporters or
    relatives such as Mr Montenegro’s daughter. With two weeks to go before
    the September 9 poll, the death toll makes this the bloodiest election
    in the country’s history, as drug lords, crime gangs and political
    rivals seek to buy power, settle scores and intimidate enemies….
     

    How to Earn $1 Million by Not Watching TV

    How to Earn $1 Million by Not Watching TV

    URL: http://www.thestreet.com/newsanalysis/opinion/10367373.html

    A recent study found that it would take $1 million for someone to be willing to give up TV for the rest of their lives.

    Guess what? If you decided to give up TV and invested the money
    you saved, you would get that $1 million — and probably a lot more.
    People rarely consider the cost of watching TV, and when they
    do, they usually focus on the cost of their monthly cable bill. The
    truth is that there are a wide variety of costs associated directly and
    indirectly with having a TV. Here are some areas where your TV drains your finances:

    TV: The cost of your TV can range anywhere from a few
    hundred dollars to several thousand if you decide to go for the newer
    plasma flat screen TVs. Take this cost and multiply it by several
    times, since you will likely own far more than one TV during your
    lifetime.
    Entertainment cabinet system: Most people don’t consider
    this cost when purchasing a TV, but you need a stand or entertainment
    cabinet on which to display your TV and other components of your
    entertainment system. This will cost anywhere from a few hundred
    dollars on up, depending on how fancy you decide to go. You can also
    assume that you will replace this at least once during your lifetime. Cable: Once they have a TV, most people aren’t
    satisfied watching only the free basic channels. Most will subscribe to
    a cable or satellite package that will cost them anywhere from $20 a
    month for bare-bones cable channels to well over $100 a month.
    Pay-per-view: There are an increasing number of special
    pay-per-view sporting and entertainment events now found on TV. You
    might spend nothing to over $100 a month on these, depending on your
    viewing habits.
    Movies: In addition to cable, most people are going to
    want to watch movies. That means either purchasing the DVDs or renting
    them from a service such as NetFlix and paying a monthly fee.
    DVD/DVR: In order to watch the movies that you rent, you
    are going to need a decent DVD player. This will cost at least a few
    hundred dollars. And again, you’ll likely replace this a minimum of
    several times over your lifetime as technologies change and better
    quality devices are created. You also may buy recording devices or DVRs
    like Tivo and related accessories to catch all of your favorite shows.
    Gaming system: If you are into video games, you will
    purchase a gaming system to use. These can cost anywhere from a couple
    hundred dollars on up. You will also likely buy a number of these over
    your lifetime as the systems improve.
    Games: If you purchase a gaming system, you will also
    need to purchase or rent games to play on that system. This can get
    quite costly, as most people want a variety of different games to play.
    It can easily run more than $100 a month if you purchase multiple
    games. Energy: You will need to pay for the electricity to
    run the TV and other related electronics. This will vary greatly,
    depending on the type of TV you have and how much energy costs where
    you live, but it will likely be a minimum of $10 a month and possibly
    much more.
    Commercials: A huge hidden cost of TV that people never
    consider are all the commercials they watch. The commercials are there
    to get you to buy products — and they are effective. Economist Juliet
    Schor estimated that for every hour of TV a person watches each week,
    he or she will increase his or her annual spending by about $200,
    according to a 1999 article in the Spokane, Wash., Spokesman-Review.
    In 2005, Nielsen Media Research reported that the average person
    watched approximately 4.5 hours of TV a day, or 31.5 hours a week. At
    $200 in extra spending for each hour watched, that means that the
    average person spends an extra $6,300 a year due to TV commercials that
    they wouldn’t have spent if they didn’t watch TV.
    Opportunity costs: Another cost often overlooked when
    considering the price of watching TV is the opportunities forfeited
    when you choose viewing over something else. You could start a
    business, take on a part-time job or take care of your garden so you
    don’t have to pay someone else to do it. Assuming that your time is
    worth at least the minimum wage of $5.85 per hour, your opportunity
    cost is $737 a month if you view the average amount of TV. So what does this all add up to? Say you’re 25 years old and
    you initially spend $2,000 for your TV, DVD player, entertainment
    cabinet and gaming system after getting your first job. Add in monthly
    costs of $100 for cable, $10 for electricity use, $20 for renting
    movies, $25 for buying games and $20 for an occasional pay-per-view
    event, and you’re looking at $175 a month. Add in another $525 a month
    extra you spend due to the influence of commercials if you are the
    average person, and you are costing yourself $700 a month watching TV.
    If you instead invested this money and received a return of 8%
    compounded annually over 45 years until you’re 70 years old, you would
    have more than $3.7 million in your account. That is actually a conservative number, as additional upgrades
    in equipment were not included. Not to mention potential repair costs.
    It’s also more than likely that many of the services will rise in price
    over time and new TV-related services will be introduced. And the
    calculation does not even take into account the potential additional
    opportunity cost, which could be a significant amount of money.
    Your actual lifetime TV costs will vary from the above
    assumptions depending on how you watch TV and what services you use.
    You can make an estimate of your total costs for watching TV by
    plugging the relevant numbers into a basic compounding calculator.
    While it’s probably unrealistic that you will give up your TV
    entirely, the above numbers should make you consider how much money
    your TV-watching habits are costing you. Even some small changes could
    have a huge benefit on your overall finances.

    National Conference for Media Reform

    Visit the National Conference for Media Reform if you are concerned about the state of our media and committed to working for change. This energizing weekend presents ideas and strategies for winning the fight for better media and connects you with thousands of media reformers from across the nation.

    You can listen to the plenary sessions at: http://www.freepress.net/conference/=video07

    You can visit the Conference Blog at: http://www.freepress.net/conference/blog/