Investigate Death Threats Against Norma Cruz

In recent years Guatemalan human rights organizations have been reporting attacks and threats against human rights defenders, trade unionists and grassroots political and social activists. Most of of the people affected do not get a suitable response from local authorities and governments and the culprits are rarely apprehended.

Since May 2009, Norma Cruz, who is the founder and current spokesperson for Fundacion Sobrevivientes, has received dozens of death threats relating to her organization’s involvement in the legal assistance of a rape victim. Fundacion Sobrevivientes, founded in 1996, is an ONG that focuses on supporting women at risk situations, as well as providing shelter, psychological support, and legal concealing. During 2009, more than 110 victims were given assisted by Fundacion Sobrevivientes.

One suspect was arrested charged with making two of the death threats sent in 2009. He has since been released on bail.

However, Guatemalan Law Enforcement and other Judicial Entities haven’t reported any progress in the investigation into the remaining death threats against Norma Cruz, her relatives or members of the Fundación Sobrevivientes. Although the state has provided protection to the victims, violence against women, including rape and killings, is a widespread human rights concern in Guatemala and the authorities have failed to provide an effective response. According to official data, 717 women were killed in 2009 compared to 687 in the previous year. Students, professionals, domestic employees, unskilled workers, members or former members of street youth gangs and sex workers have been targeted.

The suffering of the relatives of murdered women is compounded by the knowledge that they will almost certainly never have access to truth and justice. In the vast majority of the cases, prosecutors fail to carry out thorough investigations and some of them have tended simply to blame the victim. The high level of impunity does not deter the assailants as they can continue to commit these crimes in the almost complete certainty that they will not be held to account.

The Fundación Sobrevivientes, originally a women's support center, opened on July 3, 1996. Nowadays, Norma Cruz and her team provide a wide range of services to women who suffer acts of violence. They run a crisis shelter that can accommodate up to 20 women, adolescents and children. Over the course of 2009 around 110 of them stayed at the shelter. They also offer legal support for those who are brave enough to take action through the courts, to bring those responsible to justice.