Reports of attacks or killings of National Advancement Party (PAN) members and/or their families in Chacaj, Nenton department, between December 2001 and January 2002 [GTM42132.E]

Reports of attacks or killings of National Advancement Party (PAN) members and/or their families in Chacaj, from December 2001 through January 2002, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Please note that, as stated in GTM37892.E of 25 January 2002, Nenton (Nentón) is a municipality of the department of Huehuetenango, on the border with Mexico.

Further to GTM37892.E, which described Chacaj as a farm community (finca) in Nenton, a late-2001 news report on the international border area of Nenton describes Chacaj as a recently expanded village boosted by the illegal trade and migrants crossing the unchecked international border with Mexico through this locality (Prensa Libre 12 Aug. 2001).

Chacaj has reportedly become anarchic, without police or military presence and to an extent dominated by transient people; pedestrians can simply walk across the border, while vehicles have to pay between 15 and 25 Quetzales to a family that lives nearby and holds the keys to a gate along an unpaved road (ibid.). Although the report does not refer to crime in Chacaj, political or otherwise, it states that the border crossing has attracted a significant presence of drug traffickers, criminals escaping Guatemala, gun smugglers and others (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Reference


Prensa Libre [Guatemala City]. 12 August 2001. Pedro Pop. "Huehuetenango: Fronteras de la anarquía." http://www.prensalibre.com/pls/prensa/ detnoticia.jsp?p_cnoticia=9953&p_fedicion=12-08-01 [Accessed 27 Oct. 2003]

Additional Sources Consulted


Amnesty International Report 2002-2003. 2002, 2003

Country Reports 2001-2002. 2002, 2003

Misión de Verificación de las Naciones Unidas en Guatemala (MINUGUA). 12th and 13th reports on human rights violations (covering July 2000 to June 2002)

Guatemala Human Rights Update [Washington, DC]. Dec. 2001-Feb. 2002.

IRB Databases

Internet sites and search engines, including:

Central America Report [Guatemala City]. Searchable archives

La Hora [Guatemala City]. Searchable archives. 2001-2002.

Jennifer Harbury & Human Rights in Guatemala [Ann Arbour, Mich.]. Searchable archives

Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), Washington, DC. Urgent Action Archive, 2001

Prensa Libre [Guatemala City]. Searchable archives, 2001-2002

Resource Center of the Americas, Albuquerque, Minneapolis, Minn.Searchable archives, 2001-2002

Associated documents