This Friday - Rally - Rios Montt

Dear NISGUA friends,

As many of you know, Amnesty International's Program for International
Justice and Accountability has been working for a few months now on
supporting the legal efforts to hold Rios Montt et al responsible for
genocide, particularly the case being pursued in Spain.

This Friday, April 20, people in Denver, Chicago, Houston, and New York City
are planning rallies outside Guatemalan consulates. Below is a press release
from Amnesty International followed by the times and locations of the
rallies. More info from Amnesty International is at:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/international_justice/

In Solidarity,
Andrew de Sousa, NISGUA

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Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212/633-4150
Monday, April 16, 2007

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISTS SET FOR U.S. RALLIES ON APRIL 20 TO PRESS
CASE AGAINST RIOS MONTT IN GUATEMALA

(New York) - In 18 cities across the United States on Friday, April 20,
Amnesty International USA activists will hold rallies and other protests to
press the Guatemalan government to bring former General Efraín Ríos Montt to
trial on genocide, torture and other human rights abuses or extradite him to
Spain to face the charges.

Thousands of activists are expected to turn out for rallies outside
Guatemala's consulates in Miami, Chicago, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, San
Francisco and New York City. Delegations of AIUSA leaders and volunteers
will meet officially with Guatemalan diplomats at the embassy in Washington,
D.C., and at the consulate in New York City to press their call for action
in the Rios Montt case.

The National Day of Action for Guatemala is part of an international
campaign to bring Ríos Montt and his co-defendants to justice. The campaign
emerged in support of the efforts of a group of survivors from Guatemala,
led by Nobel laureate and current presidential candidate Rigoberta Menchú,
to file a suit against Ríos Montt in Spain.

In July 2006, Spain's National Court issued international warrants for the
arrest of Ríos Montt and several other former senior officials, charging
them with genocide, torture, terrorism and illegal detention.

According to Vienna Colucci, Director of AIUSA's Program for International
Justice and Accountability, "As Guatemala's courts review Spain's request
for Ríos Montt's extradition, the complainants, lawyers, judges, witnesses
and local human rights organizations involved in bringing the suit are
coming under mounting pressure and intimidation. The U.S. rallies are aimed
at demonstrating that the world is watching what is unfolding in Guatemala."

>From 1982 to 1983, Ríos Montt headed the Guatemalan military government,
which carried out a scorched earth campaign of murders, torture and other
human rights abuses that were the most extensive in Guatemala's 36-year
internal armed conflict. Ríos Montt remains a powerful force in Guatemalan
politics today. In January, he announced his plan to run for Congress,
asserting that a Congressional seat would provide him with parliamentary
immunity from prosecution.

Film screenings, talks and discussions by Guatemalan survivors and other
events will take place in Milwaukee and Stevens Point, WI; Detroit; St.
Louis; Albuquerque, NM; Portland, OR; Seattle; Minneapolis; Oklahoma City;
and Lexington, KY.

WHO: Hundreds of activists and supporters of Amnesty International USA
WHAT: National Day of Action for Guatemala, demanding legal action in the
case of former Gen. Ríos Montt
WHERE: Rallies and other protests at seven Guatemalan consulates and the
embassy in Washington, DC
WHEN: Friday, April 20, 2007

# # #


Houston: meeting w/ consulate at 9.30am; rally 9.30-10.30am at 3013 Fountain
View Dr
Chicago: meeting w/ consulate at 12pm; rally at 11.30am at 203 N. Wabash
Avenue
Denver: meeting w/ consulate at 4pm; rally at 12pm at 820 16th Street
NYC: rally at consulate, 1,000 expected (part of the Get On The Bus effort -
www.gotb.org )

Consulate meetings (no rallies) are being planned in Washington DC, Miami,
San Francisco, Los Angeles.