International Peacemaking and Human Rights Programs - Guatemala

Guatemala

The Carter Center's efforts to help build healthier lives in Guatemala have made the Center a trusted resource for the nation as it struggles to preserve human rights and hold free and fair elections.

Building Hope

The recent history of Guatemala is fraught with the effects of a 36-year civil war that ended in 1996. During the conflict, 200,000 people were murdered or disappeared. The Carter Center has viewed Guatemala's human rights record with great concern and welcomed the nation's invitation to observe the 2003 presidential elections. The Center also assists Guatemalans in their fight against the suffering caused by river blindness. Together, Guatemala and The Carter Center are building hope for a stronger, healthier, more peaceful nation.

Fighting Disease

Regional Eradication of River Blindness in the Americas

Bordered by the ocean on two sides, Guatemala's hot and humid coastal plains are among the areas most severely affected by a painful and debilitating disease known as river blindness, or onchocerciasis.

River blindness is caused by the bites of small black flies, not much bigger than gnats, which breed only in rapidly flowing streams with high oxygen content. When a fly bites, millions of microscopic worm larvae are released into the body, causing incessant, debilitating itching. When the worms enter the eyes, they can cause damage to sight sometimes so severe it leads to permanent blindness.

It is estimated that people in endemic areas are bitten thousands of times each year, thus everyone in an endemic community can harbor the disease. A small child may be bitten more than 50 times a day. Around the world, onchocerciasis has an enormous economic impact, preventing people from working, harvesting crops, receiving an education, or taking care of children.

In coffee-producing countries like Guatemala, contracting onchocerciasis may be considered an occupational hazard - often the fast-flowing streams where the black flies breed are located near where workers harvest coffee.

While onchocerciasis is still a concern for Latin America, the threat of permanent blindness has significantly diminished, provided treatment and health education efforts continue in the region. In Guatemala, as well as other nations in the region, suffering has been reduced and overall quality of life has improved. Not only will eradication of onchocerciasis in the Americas be a great success for the six endemic countries but it will also serve as an example for other public health initiatives.

The River Blindness Program began in 1996 in Guatemala after The Carter Center absorbed the River Blindness Foundation. As the most endemic nation for onchocerciasis in the Americas, Guatemala accounts for approximately 37 percent, or more than 191,000, of people at risk for the disease in the Americas as reported in 2002. The disease is endemic in a total of 518 communities in seven departments (states) in some of the poorest areas of Guatemala including: Huehuetenango in the north; Suchitepequez, Chimaltenago, and Solola in the west; and Santa Rosa, Escuintla, and Guatemala in the southwest. People living in these areas need to receive Mectizan® treatments twice a year to prevent the onset of river blindness.

In 2006, the Guatemala Ministry of Health concluded that onchocerciasis no longer exists in the Santa Rosa region of the country. The conclusion was based on a 2004-2005 study of entomological, ophthalmologic, and serological field studies completed by the ministry of health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and OEPA. The ministry of health decided, therefore, to halt ivermectin treatments in that focus in 2007 and maintain a post-treatment surveillance program there for at least three years. This is the first of the 13 foci in the Americas where such a decision has been made and is paving the way for other areas in the Americas preparing for similar withdrawal.

To eliminate a disease, every affected person in every village in every country must be reached and repeatedly treated twice a year with the medication to prevent river blindness Thus, local health promoters visit communities to distribute Mectizan drug treatments (donated by Merck & Co. Inc.) every six months. In addition to health education prevention efforts, Mectizan treatment is a key element in onchocerciasis elimination.

Read How Guatemalans Are Educating Their Neighbors To Prevent River Blindness

In 2002, Guatemala first reached the goal of reaching 85 percent of the eligible population with Mectizan treatments and continues to reach this goal each year. The national program provided 331,661 treatments in 2006, surpassing the coverage goal for the fifth consecutive year.

The Carter Center is the sponsoring agency for the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program, whose partnership includes the Pan American Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the ministries of health of affected Latin American countries. A regional coalition working to eliminate illness and transmission of onchocerciasis in the Americas by 2007, the program uses sustained, twice annual distribution of Mectizan® to combat river blindness. The Program Coordinating Committee provides representation for all of these partners and gives broad directives to a program office in Guatemala City, staffed through The Carter Center. To learn more about the Center's work fighting river blindness click here.

August 2007

Waging Peace

Monitoring Elections

A small Carter Center delegation observed Guatemala's 2003 electoral process, focusing on human rights and campaign finance issues relevant to the presidential, legislative, and mayoral elections. The Center's election project sought to heighten domestic and international attention to a broad range of issues, including concerns about voters' access to the polls, access to the media and public resources for all political parties, and significant pre-electoral intimidation and violence. In addition, Center observers examined the broader human rights environment, such as the lack of accountability for past and present abuses, persistent attacks against human rights defenders, and systemic discrimination against the indigenous population.

The Center found that the 2003 elections demonstrated the urgent need for full protection of all human rights; economic justice for rural and indigenous persons; legislative action, including campaign finance reform; and comprehensive civic education programs. These priorities are essential to the full implementation of the 1996 Peace Accords that ended 36 years of civil war in Guatemala and are necessary for the country's adherence to its international human rights obligations.

During the November elections, the Center noted significant problems with inadequate preparation among some election officials, disenfranchisement of many voters because of problems with voters lists, limited investigation and prosecution of election-related crime by authorities, and widespread incidents of vote buying and intimidation.

Problems were most pronounced, according to Carter Center observers, in the Western Highlands and other primarily indigenous areas characterized by high levels of poverty, weak institutions, and other lingering consequences of the armed conflict.

Election preparations for the runoff presidential election on Dec. 28 showed improvements. The voting process was much more efficient and without violent incidents, though voter turnout was much lower than during the November balloting.

The Center joined the international community in congratulating President Oscar Berger and Guatemala's newly elected congressional representatives and local mayors. After decades of devastating civil war and with little progress on implementing the Peace Accords, the new administration has an important opportunity to work with political leaders and civil society to make significant progress in fulfilling the longstanding aspirations of all Guatemalans.

"I am encouraged by President Berger's early public commitments to ensure the Peace Accords are implemented fully, particularly with respect to issues of impunity and equality in advancing the human rights of all Guatemalans," President Carter said at the time. "Guatemala's new leaders have the opportunity and responsibility to fulfill the aspirations of all Guatemalans for genuine equality and justice and the rule of law based upon national and international human rights standards."

The Center encouraged a strong role for independent civil society organizations in monitoring the performance of all state institutions. Such civic participation would build upon the unprecedented and constructive role of civil society observers during the 2003 electoral process and help deepen Guatemala's democracy.

In 1999, Carter Center staff also participated in the Organization of American States' observation missions to both rounds of the presidential elections. Election monitors observed election preparations, the pre-election campaign environment, voting, ballot counting, and postelection activities to assess the transparency of an election. The first elections since the signing of the Peace Accords, the 1999 elections were generally free, fair, and orderly, with a larger turnout of eligible voters than in recent past elections.

Honoring Human Rights

The Carter-Menil Human Rights Prize was awarded in 1986 to Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo, a Guatemala human rights group founded by relatives of the disappeared. The organization works to locate disappeared persons and reunite them with their families. In 1990, the prize was awarded to The Consejo de Comunidades Etnicas Runujel Junam, a group formed in 1988 by Mayan Indian peasants to monitor and defend human rights and fundamental freedoms.

"The citizens of Guatemala have for decades borne the brunt of grave violations of their rights and dignity with insufficient attention or assistance from the rest of the world."
-Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter

President Carter said at the time, "The citizens of Guatemala have for decades borne the brunt of grave violations of their rights and dignity with insufficient attention or assistance from the rest of the world. The growth of the CERJ illustrates once again the importance of individuals of conscience and commitment coming together when government no longer feels obligated to respect the rule of law." President Carter and Dominique de Menil established the $100,000 prize to promote the protection of human rights. It was awarded to individuals or organizations for their outstanding efforts on behalf of human rights, often at great personal sacrifice, enabling human rights activists to continue their work and focusing global attention on their struggles for justice.

Urging a Moratorium on Arms Sales

Although Latin America spends relatively less on defense than most other regions, expenditures on expensive weapons systems divert scarce foreign exchange from more effective investments, including education. They also compel neighbors to spend more on defense and, by doing so, generate international tensions. Concerned about an arms race in Latin America, the Carter Center's Council of Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Americas urged governments in the region to pause before embarking on major arms purchases. Between April 1997 and March 1998, 28 current heads of government and 14 former heads of government signed a written pledge to accept a moratorium of two years on purchasing sophisticated weapons. Among the signatories were Guatemala President Alavaro Enrique Arzu Irigoyen and former President Vinicio Cerezo.

Learn more about the Carter Center's Americas Program.

Election Reports

Postelection Statement on Guatemala Elections, Dec. 30, 2003
Carter Center representatives observed the second round of national elections in Guatemala on Dec. 28, 2003, in the departments of El Quiché, San Marcos, Totonicapán, Huehuetenango, and Suchitepéquez. The Center congratulates President-elect Oscar Berger and expresses the hope that his government will prioritize full implementation of the 1996 Peace Accords, particularly strengthening the rule of law within the framework of fundamental human rights.

Declaracion post electoral sobre las elecciones en Guatemala, diciembre de 19 del 2003
Este es el segundo informe difundido por la misión electoral del Centro Carter desde la llegada del equipo de observación el 20 de octubre de 2003.

Postelection Statement on Guatemala Elections, Dec. 19, 2003
This is the second statement of the Carter Center's electoral mission in Guatemala since the arrival of the observation team on Oct. 20, 2003.

Pre-election Statement on Guatemala Elections, Nov. 3, 2003 (English and Spanish)
A Carter Center election observation team, including four international observers, a human rights expert, and a campaign finance expert, established an office in Guatemala on Oct. 21, 2003, to begin monitoring the Nov. 9 presidential, congressional, and municipal electoral process.

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