Rights advocates, Guatemala face off on kidnapping allegation Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - GHRC Miami Herald - Saturday, June 16, 2001 Rights advocates, Guatemala face off on kidnapping allegation An Amnesty International researcher was found bound and gagged. BY MEGAN FELDMAN Special to The Herald GUATEMALA CITY -- The alleged attempted kidnapping of an Amnesty International researcher on a fact-finding mission to Guatemala ignited a bitter debate between government officials and human rights advocates Friday.While the London-based human rights organization, as well as local activists, say the attack was a political reprisal in the midst of increasing intimidation of human rights workers, justice personnel and journalists, the interior minister declared that the incident "never happened. KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS The researcher's colleagues and hotel security personnel told police that Barbara Bocek was struck on the head and knocked unconscious by an unidentified assailant when she opened the door to her hotel room at 11:50 p.m. last Monday. Her coworkers, worried about her whereabouts after going to her room and finding her gone, notified hotel employees.At 12:30 a.m., according the the report, she was found lying in a heap in a stairwell, hands and feet tied and mouth taped shut.The incident was not made public until Thursday, after Bocek had left the country. According to spokesmen for the organization, the attack was an attempted kidnapping, thwarted by the requirement of a code to open the hotel exit door near the stairs where Bocek was found.Late Friday, after several days of refusing to comment on the incident, the U.S. Embassy issued a statement urging the government to investigate. "The embassy believes that a serious incident did take place, and we urge the Guatemalan authorities to conduct a full and impartial investigation," said the statement. "[Ambassador] Prudence Bushnell has expressed concern about violent attacks against human rights activists, justice workers and journalists in the last few months. WORKER'S ACTIVITIES Bocek's visit to Guatemala coincided with two powerful blows to the system of official impunity long criticized by Amnesty International and other human rights groups.She attended the launching of a genocide case by Maya Indians against Gen. Efran Ros Montt, military dictator from 1982 to 1983 and current congressional president.In addition, she was present the next day when three military officers were sentenced to 30 years in prison for the 1998 murder of Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi. The bishop had helped to prepare a report attributing most of the Guatemalan civil war's atrocities to government troops.However, Interior Minister Byron Barrientos claimed that Bocek and her colleagues fabricated the incident.He offered reporters his assurance that "it never happened. ALLEGATION DISMISSED "We have investigated, and it seems very suspicious that in a half hour, she did not take the tape off her mouth and shout for help -- and that they knew to look for her in the stairwell," the minister told The Herald.Human rights activists challenged his comments.Carmen Aida Ibarra, political analyst for the Myrna Mack Foundation, a local human rights group, said, "This is a new facet of the systemic attack against people who work in defense of human rights, and Barrientos' comments are worrisome because his job is to secure public security." 2001 The Miami Herald and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-06.16.01-21:56:47-19027