Guatemalan Child Murdered After Being Deported from the United States


“If I had stayed in Guatemala, members of the Salvatrucha gang would have killed me. I’ve seen them hit people with baseball bats, stones and even shoot them. I know they kill people. I know that if I go back to Guatemala they will torture me. They will kill me if I go back to Guatemala. They will kill me because I left the gang.”

It was with these words that Edgar Chocoy Guzmán, 16, begged the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Colorado, United States not to send him back to Guatemala – his country of birth, because the gang that he had once been part of would make him pay with his life for having abandoned them.

His pleads weren’t heard and on March 10th, 2004 he was released from jail and deported. Ten days later Edgar was found with fatal gunshot wounds and without his bike or the money he had been carrying. The thing that he had most feared had come true…

Edgar’s name joins a list of between 20 and 30 children and youth murdered every month in Guatemala City, with a population of barely three million people. Less than 5% of the murderers are ever convicted.

The death of his grandmother was what pushed Edgar to leave the house that day, in Villanueva, in the municipality of Guatemala, where he had been hiding.

“From the moment he arrived he said he did not want to leave the house because he was afraid. I would bring him his food so he wouldn’t have to leave. When his grandmother died he became very upset and said that he was going out to buy a juice, but he never returned. We searched for him everywhere, but nobody knew what had happened”, recounts his aunt, who did not want to give her name for fear of retaliation.

Edgar’s family only became aware of what had happened several days after the murder. Workers from a funeral home came to their house to tell them that Edgar had been buried as “XX” in a cemetery for the homeless. “I don’t want him to be buried like a dog”, added his aunt.

Casa Alianza Legal Aid Program in Guatemala is investigating Edgar’s murder because to date the Guatemalan Police have not interviewed the family or witnesses. The agency is also requesting a court order for the exhumation of Edgar’s body so he can be buried alongside his granny.

“Children have a right to life and to be protected from danger. When Edgar told the American authorities that he was going to be killed if sent home, it wasn’t a joke. In his case, sending him back to Guatemala was like sentencing him to death, just because they didn’t believe him”, commented Bruce Harris, Latin American Regional Director for Casa Alianza.

Casa Alianza has presented more than 40 legal affidavits in the last six months for cases of Central American children seeking asylum in the United States. They arrive to America without papers, fleeing the violence in their home countries. Asylum was granted in more than 90% of the cases.

Edgar traveled the 3,000 miles that separate Guatemala from the United States on foot or by jumping trains in order to save his life - not to become an American. According to legal documents, the police in Edgar’s own country could not - or would not - protect him.

“The police and the authorities in Guatemala cannot control the gangs. Neither can they protect the public from the violence that stems from the gangs. If I had told the police that the gangs were going to kill me, then they would have told me that it was my own fault for having been involved with them in the first place”, said Edgar during his statement to the US authorities.

Pro-bono lawyer Kim Salinas represented Edgar in his asylum hearing, fighting against his deportation. The Regional Director for Casa Alianza in Latin America, Bruce Harris, presented an affidavit regarding the lack of safety for former gang members in Guatemala.

“From my point of view, Edgar was sent to his death by our immigration system. It condemned him for his past and failed him in every possible way”, lawyer Salinas expressed.

Edgar looked for help to remove his “Salvatrucha Gang” tattoos from the Homeboy Industries charity in Los Angeles. The process was a painful one, but he didn’t care as long as it would save his life.

Edgar made one final plea to the American immigration authorities at his asylum hearing in Colorado, but that was ignored again...

“I’ve suffered at the hands of the gangs in Guatemala and I’ve suffered a lot here. I’m tired of suffering and of hiding my problems. I don’t want to go back to jail. I no longer want to be on the streets. I want to have nothing more to do with the gangs. I want a different life. If I gain asylum in the United States I want to live with my aunt in Virginia. I want to go to school, I want to work and I want to send money back to my grandfather who is very old. I only want a chance…”

But he didn’t get it…
 

For more information, please contact Casa Alianza Guatemala at +502-516-4568 or
For interviews with lawyer Salinas in Fort Collins, Colorado, please call 1-970-308-1184.