christic@labrea.Stanford.EDU (06/12/91)
/* Written 8:46 pm Jun 10, 1991 by nicanetny in cdp:carnet.alerts */
/* ---------- "Gen. Gramajo Slapped with Lawsuit" ---------- */
Center for Constitutional Rights
666 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10012
212-614-6464
News Release June 6, 1991
Retired Guatemalan General, Graduating From Harvard,
Sued for Massive Human Rights Abuses
The Center for Constitutional Rights, a non-profit human
rights organization based in New York, filed this morning
[6/6/91] a multi-million dollar lawsuit against retired General
Hector Gramajo for acts of murder, torture, disappearance and
forced exile carried out under his orders against Guatemalan
civilians. The plaintiffs in this lawsuit include eight
Guatemalan Indians from Huehuetenango, Guatemala, all of whom now
live in the United States. Also suing is a Guatemalan civilian
whose father was disappeared in 1989 as part of a cover-up of the
Army's responsibility for the El Aguacate massacre. The
defendant Hector Gramajo has been studying as a Mason fellow at
Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge,
Massachusetts and is graduating today [June 6].
In March 1982, Gramajo was appointed Army Vice Chief of
Staff. In that capacity Gramajo designed a program of massive
violence to eliminate all opposition to the government.
Gramajo's plan involved massacres of entire villages; murders of
selected individuals both in the cities and the countryside;
brutal torture, and the forcing into exile of the rural
population.
Gramajo was in charge of implementing this program in the
western highlands of Guatemala, which included the villages where
eight of the plaintiffs resided. He carried out the program with
unbelievable ruthlessness, causing the murder, torture and
disappearance of thousands. Describing this period, defendant
Gramajo recently said: "you needn't kill everyone to complete the
job... We instituted Civil Affairs (in 1982) which provides
development for 70 percent of the population while we kill 30
percent."
Plaintiffs and their families were among the 30 percent.
Examples of the atrocities carried out upon plaintiffs in 1982
include:
--Teresa Xuncax's husband was summarily executed. On July 18,
1982 soldiers invaded her house, seized her husband, stripped
him, tied his hands behind his back, covered his head with a
hood, kicked and hit him. The soldiers marched him through the
village naked along with other captives and murdered him that
night.
--On July 6, 1982 soldiers seized Juan Diego-Francisco, tied
him to a pole along with seven other men, including three
cousins. For 14 hours the soldiers took turns of about 15
minutes torturing him; kicking, punching and beating him with
their boots, fists, guns and knives. He was released, but four
men including his two cousins were executed.
--Plaintiff Juan Doe, who is suing anonymously, saw his father
tortured and burned alive. Soldiers burned him with hot irons,
stuck needles under his fingernails and toes, made him walk over
broken glass, cut pieces of flesh from his chest, arms and back,
shot him and threw him into a burning pit where he died 5 or 10
minutes later.
This lawsuit is filed pursuant to the "Alien Tort Claims
Act" which allows a non-citizen of the United States to file a
civil action for a tort committed in violation of international
law. Summary executions, torture and disappearances are
universally recognized as an egregious violation of international
law. A torturer is an international outlaw. He can be brought
to justice wherever found. This lawsuit seeks to bring Hector
Gramajo to justice in the United States for his brutal violations
of the fundamental tenets of international law.
Michael Ratner, one of the attorneys in the case, said: "It
is an obscenity that a man with so much blood dripping from his
hands should have been admitted to this country and given a
fellowship to the Kennedy School. We hope this lawsuit exposes
Gramajo for who he is: not a scholar and not a Presidential
aspirant, but an international outlaw responsible for the deaths
and suffering of thousands."
Beth Stephens, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, added: "This
case should serve as a warning to Hector Gramajo and others like
him around the world. The unspeakable crimes which they have
committed will be charged against them one day. The United
States will not provide a safe haven for murderers and
torturers."
It is our hope that this lawsuit will be a step toward
vindicating those who have so brutally suffered and a warning for
the future that such conduct will be punished.
-30-
This press release was posted by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network
of Greater New York on June 10, 1991. For more information on