Guatemala: fear for safety of Congress member

Congress member Nineth Montenegro has received a death threat, 
which appears to be linked to her work investigating corruption 
among high-ranking military officers.

Nineth Montenegro is the Chair of the Congressional Commission on 
Human Rights. She has been investigating government spending from 
2000 to 2004, and has discovered that over a billion quetzals 
(US$133 million) has been embezzled from the budgets of the 
Ministry of Defence and two other military institutions.

On August 23 she filed a complaint with the Public Ministry, 
which prosecutes criminal cases, accusing senior military 
officers of embezzlement and corruption, including Colonel Raul 
Cerna, the former Financial Head of the Estado Mayor Presidencial 
(EMP), Presidential High Command. On November 22, a man 
approached a member of the human rights organisation where Nineth 
Montenegro's husband works, and told him, "algo grande en contra 
de Nineth o su familia iba a ocurrir antes de fin de aqo", 
"something big will happen to Nineth or her family before the end 
of the year".

Colonel Raul Cerna had not been seen since April 2004. His body 
was found recently: according to the press he had been poisoned, 
and died on April 12. The public prosecutor's office began an 
investigation, but stopped it without giving any reason. The 
authorities identified and buried the colonel's body, but gave 
his family no information on his death. The Minister of Defence 
claimed that the colonel had simply deserted. In the complaint 
filed with the Public Ministry, Colonel Raul Cerna was accused of 
involvement in the embezzlement of 250 million quetzals (US$33 
million) from the EMP budget. It is feared that he was killed to 
prevent him implicating others.

Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:

* calling on the authorities to provide meaningful protection to 
Nineth Montenegro and her family;

* calling for a prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigation 
into the death threat received by Nineth Montenegro on November 
22, with the results made public and those responsible brought to 
justice;

* asking the authorities to carry out a full, prompt and 
impartial investigation into the killing of Colonel Raul Cerna, 
to publish the results and bring those responsible to justice;

* urging the authorities to secure the creation of an effective 
independent mechanism to investigate and prosecute illegal groups 
operating in Guatemala.

APPEALS TO:

President of the Republic of Guatemala
Licenciado Oscar Berger Perdomo
Casa Presidencial, 6 a. Avenida, 4-18 zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala
Guatemala
Fax: 0011 502 2221 4423 / 2239-0090

Salutation: Excelentisimo Sr. Presidente/Dear President Berger
Attorney General
Fiscal General de la Republica y jefe del Ministerio Publico
Juan Luis Florido
8a. Avenida 10-67, Zona 1
Antiguo Edificio del Banco de los Trabajadores,
udad de Guatemala
Guatemala
Fax: 0011 502 2251 2218

COPIES TO:
Mutual Support Group
Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo
8a. Calle 3-11 Zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala
Guatemala
Fax: 0011 502 2220 0606