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Last Friday there was an offshore earthquake on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala with a magnitude of 5.8. This was followed by another one yesterday registered at 6.8 on the Richter magnitude scale. There was some damage to homes on the Pacific Coast, but to date no casualties have been reported.
Guatemala has a long history of earthquakes. Back in 1773 the city of La Antigua was almost completely destroyed by a huge earthquake. It was rebuilt and today is a city so beautiful that it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979.
Back in 1976, a strong earthquake hit Guatemala and Honduras. Over 22,000 people were killed in the quake, 80,000 injured and 1.5 million made homeless.
Less earth shattering but none the less crucial to parents adopting from Guatemala, PGN is limping along. Susana Luarca from ADA reports that so far this year only 24% of adoption cases have been approved, whereas last year it was 96%. There is little reason or logic to this; by law, PGN is supposed to give an opinion within three days of receiving a file. However, it often takes months before the file is returned to the notary/lawyer for corrections to be made. Sometimes these corrections are legitimate; often they are completely bogus and an attempt to slow the adoption process down for no good reason.
Recently a woman by the name of Josefina Arellano took the position of director of the section of PGN that handles abandoned children. She has been using this position to speak out against adoption instead of clearing up paper work so these children can finally have a family, something every child deserves. According to Susana, convictions have been brought against Arellano and other PGN officials and the Judge has instructed the District Attorney to look into the accusations.
Meanwhile, NISGUA, an organization devoted to Working for Justice in Guatemala, has demanded that the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission take a stand on femicide in Guatemala. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution (#100)asking the Guatemalan government to take effective measures to stop the senseless murdering of women and girls. The U.S. senate is considering a similar resolution.
You can help by contacting your senators and asking them to cosponsor resolution #178 that supports the end of killing of women in Guatemala. According to NISGUA, you can call this number to be connected to your Senators’ offices: 202-224-3121; or you can find their contact information at the government website.
This report by Amnesty International is enough to send chills down anyone’s spine:
“Since 2001 over 2,200 women and girls have been murdered in Guatemala and the rate of murders is on the increase.(4) Between 1 January 2006 and 5 May according to police statistics 229 women and girls were killed. (5) Many of the murders have been characterized by exceptional brutality, with many victims subjected to sexual violence, mutilation and dismemberment.(6) Despite considerable national and international concern – including two visits and subsequent recommendations by the United Nations and Inter-American Commission special reports on Women – women and girls continue to be murdered with impunity in Guatemala. (7) As of June 2006, of the over six hundred cases of women reported murdered in 2005, to Amnesty International’s knowledge, only two convictions had taken place.”
As parents of Guatemalan born children we should be concerned about this senseless and horrible violence. Let’s make a small difference and contact our senators today.
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That is just so overwhelmingly horrible!
amen to that.
This is just so disturbing on so many levels…..