GUATEMALA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM ORGANIZATION OFFICESLatinamerica Press: ArticleThursday, May 26, 2005


GUATEMALA
Attacks continue

Noticias Aliadas. May 26, 2005


Unknown perpetrators leveled the offices of eight social and human rights organizations in Guatemala on May 8 and May 11, bringing this year’s total number of attacks against activists and organizations to 65.

"In most incidents, valuable information was stolen while other items of value were left behind, a clear indication of the political motive behind these break-ins," said a statement of Amnesty International, headquartered in London.

On May 8, intruders broke into the headquarters of the National Coordinating Body of Campesino Organizations (CNOC), stealing 15 computers that contained important information about the organization and its members.

Three days later, unknown suspects broke into the offices of Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice and Against Forgetting and Silence (HIJOS), for the second time this year, carrying out two computers containing valuable information about the organization. Other organizations suffered from raids as well including members of the Popular Union, Peasant and Indigenous Movement, which has led protests against the free trade agreement with the United States.

"The attacks against social and human rights organizations are becoming a dangerous phenomenon that happens in plain view of the authorities and with complete impunity," said AI. They added that the wave of break-ins "leaves uncovered a campaign organized by clandestine groups to obtain intelligence about the work of human rights defenders and social activists that acts against some political interests."

AI has demanded the Guatemalan government to investigate the crimes and bring those responsible to justice