• Text size  | | |
• Email this document
• Printable version

Guatemala: The reorganization of the Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre for Boys in San José Pinula; the names of the top officials within the Social Welfare Secretariat overseeing the reorganization; whether they were threatened or harassed by drug traffickers (1998-1999)

The following information was provided by the manager of human resources at Convenant House (Casa Alianza) in Guatemala City on 11 October 2000. Please note that Casa Alianza, a regional chapter of the US-based Convenant House, provides assistance and shelter to street children in Guatemala. Casa Alianza has a professional relationship with the Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre for Boys in San José Pinula as it has facilitated the transfer of some street children to the Centre.

The Centre is called the Centro de Tratamiento y Orientación para Menores de la Secretaría de Bienestar Social (Centre for the Treatment and Training of Minors of the Social Welfare Secretariat). The manager was aware that a reorganization had taken place within the Centre a couple of years ago, but was unable to provide any details. She was unaware of whether any official of the Social Welfare Secretariat (Secretaría de Bienestar Social), the government agency that manages the Centre, had been threatened or harassed by drug traffickers.

No additional information on the reorganization of the Centre could be found among the sources consulted; Country Reports 1993 states that the Centre for the rehabilitation of street children in San José Pinula was opened in August 1993 (1994, 456). In a July 1997 report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated the San José Pinula "Re-education Center for Boys" was intended, in theory, to house offenders on minor or first transgressions, but that in practice, it had incarcerated repeat or serious offenders. The report states that the Centre in San José Pinula, which had 24 employees, was the only centre of the five state centres for children in the country that offered vocational training, mostly in agriculture (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.

References

Casa Alianza, Guatemala City. 11 October 2000. Telephone interview with the manager of human resources.

Country Reports for Human Rights Practices for 1993. 1994. United States Departement of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

Human Rights Watch (HRW). July 1997. Guatemala's Forgotten Children: Police Vioence and Abuses in Detention. <http://www.hrw.org/hrw/reports/1997/guat1/> [Accessed 11 Oct. 2000]

Additional Sources Consulted

Central America NewsPak [Austin]. 1998-1999

Central America Report [Guatemala City]. 1998-2000

Guatemala Human Rights Update [Washington]. 1998-1999

IRB Databases

Latin American Regional Report: Caribbean and Central America Report [London]. 1998-1999

LEXIS/NEXIS

World News Connection (WNC)

Internet sites including:

Amnesty International

Casa Alianza

Centro de Estudios en Guatemala (CEG)

Cerigua Weekly Briefs [Guatemala City]. 1996-1999

Human Rights Watch

La Nación [San José]. Search Engine. 1995-2000

La Prensa [Tegucigalpa]. Search Engine. 1996-2000

Topics: Drug trafficking,