>Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 13:35:01 -0500 >From: "LAVINA VELASCO" <LVELASCO@jhuccp.org> >To: <oviraptor4@aol.com>, <fiasco@bellatlantic.net>, <cdadamo@charm.net>, > <JESS_GAITHER.parti@ecunet.org>, <baltimoreaction@erols.com>, > <p2@home.com>, <alisa_simon@hotmail.com>, <dbors@hotmail.com>, > <erin_marek@hotmail.com>, <joshcollen@hotmail.com>, > "DANA WECKESSER" <dweckesser@jhuccp.org>, <MAGUILAR@jhuccp.org>, > <nescamilla@jhuccp.org>, <pchiarito@jhuccp.org>, ><ppope@jhuccp.org>, > <RAINSLIE@jhuccp.org>, <WSABA@jhuccp.org>, <lgaither@jnlk.com>, > <albiebie@juno.com>, <apmanzanares@mail.aacc.cc.md.us>, > <BerrigaF@newschool.edu>, <cincotigres@yahoo.com> >Subject: Urgent Action Needed >X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by fellspt.charm.net id NAA06385 > >From: Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA >Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 11:31:26 -0500 > >URGENT! PLEASE SEND THIS LETTER OUT TO ALL OF YOUR MEMBERSHIP AND EMAIL LISTS TODAY! THERE IS VERY LITTLE TIME BUT IT IS CRITICAL TO RESPOND TO THE CIA BACKSLIDE. > >CONTACT PHONES : 202-529-6599 or 512-751-5852 > >MARCH 23, 2000! HELP US HOLD THE LINE ON CIA > >HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES: COMMEMORATIVE MASS FOR ALL CIA VICTIMS > >NATIONAL CALL IN DAY TO THE WHITE HOUSE > >Dear Friends, >I am sure you have all been reading about the March 23 career >achievement award that the CIA is going to present to Terry Ward. >Ward was fired for misconduct in the wake of Senator Torricelli's >1995 disclosures about the murders of both Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, >(Comandante Everardo) and Michael Devine by Guatemalan military >officials on CIA payroll. The disclosures sparked public furor about >the CIA use of known human rights violators as paid informants, as >well as the agency's failure to properly keep Congress informed of >human rights realities in Guatemala and other countries. The CIA , in >turn, claimed that it was the victim of rogue "operators", and >promised internal investigations and sweeping reforms. Mr. Ward and >others were fired in a show of sincerity. Now Mr. Ward is being given >the highest honors the agency can bestow. Once again the CIA lives >down to our expectations. > >Mr. Ward himself has a rather frightening history. He started his >career in Laos in the 1960s, then managed to work in Argentina, the >Dominican Republic, Peru and Honduras, as well as other regions of >extreme repression. He became head of the Latin America division by >the early 1990s, as human rights violations continued at horrifying >levels throughout Central America. > >As we all know, the CIA failure to control its "assets" and keep >Congress fully informed of ongoing human rights abuses, had deadly >effect. In Guatemala alone, the United Nations Truth Commission found >that the military had committed genocide against the Mayans, and bore >responsibility for 93% of the violations which occurred, including >200,000 murders and 660 massacres. The US was also found complicit, >for the violent 1954 coup, for its continuation of military aid and >training despite the clear evidence of atrocities, and for its close >collaboration with the intellectual authors of the repression. > >Everardo's case is grimly typical of the fruits of CIA covert >actions. The CIA knew within a week of his capture that he was alive, >and in the hands of our own "assets". His life could have been saved, >had these assets been disciplined, or if the truth had been revealed >to Congress. Instead, he was tortured for over a year, drugged >repeatedly, held in a full body cast and either thrown from a >helicopter or dismembered. It is hard to think that he was one of >200,000, especially when those 200,000 include such cases as the >torture of Sister Dianna Ortiz, the 17 disappeared family members of >Eva Morales, and the missing children of Adrianna Portillo Bartow. >Meanwhile, the same and worse happened in Chile, Salvador, Argentina, >Honduras, Bolivia, and so many other countries where our government >chose to intervene. The recent disclosures in the Pinochet case have >been grim reminders. > >Now our government wishes to send over a billion dollars in military >aid to "save" Colombia, despite that army's abysmal human rights >record. If we add to this equation a green light for the CIA to >return to business as usual, including collaboration and support with >torturers and assassins, we will get tragic results indeed. I find >this award to be not just a message but a very real and very chilling >threat to all that the human rights community has achieved in the >last few years. We are in the year 2000 now. It is not the time to be >moving backwards. > >We were not supposed to find out about this award, but we did. There >is very little time to organize, and the CIA assumes we will have to >let them get away with this with little fuss. We must prove them >wrong. Lives depend on it. > >WHAT TO DO AND WHEN? > >THURSDAY MARCH 23 NOON -2 pm IN FRONT OF THE CIA BUILDING, LANGLEY VIRGINIA > >JOIN US FOR A COMMEMORATION TO HONOR ALL CIA VICTIMS > >THURSDAY MARCH 23 ALL DAY > >NATIONAL CALL IN DAY TO THE WHITE HOUSE > >Please join us in front of the CIA building in Langley, Virginia for >a mass for all victims of the CIA sponsored repression throughout >Latin America. We will also hold a one hour of silence in honor of >all of these people. Please bring all of your symbols of our past >human rights efforts; crosses with the names of massacre victims, >posters bearing pictures of the dead, banners, photos of Romero or >Gerardi , White Bandanas from the Mothers of the Plaza De Mayo, and >other materials appropriate for a dignified commemoration. We know >that this is very short notice, but most of us still have the >materials we have used throughout all these years. These have become, >in their own right, easily recognized symbols of the battle for human >rights. Bring these. If you have extras, please bring these to share >with others. > >IMPORTANT : PLEASE BRING FLOWERS whether nosegays, bouquets or >funeral wreathes. Flowers should be our unifying symbol. > >HOW TO GET THERE : > >The CIA is out of town but not far. If you travel north on George >Washington parkway you will come to an exit with a sign reading #123, >Chain Bridge Road, McLean". Take this ext and turn to your right. >Within a few minutes you will see a sign reading "McLean Welcomes >You", and then immediately a sign for the CIA, which is on your >right. DO NOT ENTER THE CIA DRIVEWAY!!!! It is off limits to us. Just >legally park in any place you can find on the main road. We will hold >the mass and vigil in the median strip in front of the guard post . >Join us there, and bring your friends with you. > >We will try to organize as many carpools as possible. If you have no >way to get to the CIA building, call the Guatemala Human Rights >Commission at 202-529-6599 for the names and numbers of people who >may be able to give you a ride. We will also be looking into possible >methods of public transportation. > >IF YOU HAVE A CAR AND COULD SHARE RIDES WITH OTHERS PLEASE CALL US >AND LET US KNOW ! 202-529-6599! THANKS! > >IF YOU HAVE EXTRA FLOWERS , BANNERS, CROSSES AND OTHER SYMBOLS PLEASE >BRING THESE TO SHARE WITH OTHERS. > >NON- VIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: > >We are considering having a limited number of volunteers (ten total) >carry funeral wreathes bearing the names of key nations...Chile, >Honduras, Guatemala, Salvador.... past the guardpost and a few steps >down the driveway, then lay the wreath down and say "presente". This >would constitute a misdemeanor under both state and federal law. We >wish to keep this very dignified and somber, as befitting a memorial >to the dead, and would therefore ask that civil disobedience be >limited to this special homage. > >IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING. PLEASE CALL AND GIVE US YOUR >NAME SO THAT WE CAN CONNECT YOU AT ONCE WITH OUR LEGAL ADVISORS. CALL >JENNIFER HARBURY AT 512-751-5852 > >NATIONAL CALL- IN DAY : MARCH 23, ALL DAY > >We realize that many of you will not be able to reach Washington >DC...especially on such short notice. But we need your help as well. >Please call the White House, 202-456-1111 on Thursday March 23, and >demand that President Clinton take action on this matter. Demand that >steps be taken to assure that our hard won human rights gains will be >protected ; ask that this award be publically censured and suggest >that CIA funding be curbed in light of this obvious backsliding. This >would also be a good time to press for the full declassification of >all CIA files on human rights abuses anywhere in Latin America. > >If you have time to make more calls, ask for action from our US Reps >in the Intelligence Committees : The switchboard number is >202-224-3121. > >House : Key leaders are Porter Goss, Julian Dixon and Nancy Pelosi. > >Senate : The Chair is Richard Shelby (R) and the Vice chair is Robert >Kerrey, (D). > >THANKS TO EVERYONE I LOOK FORWARDS TO SEEING YOU THERE. JENNIFER H. > >