Movimiento de Jóvenes de la Calle – MOJOCA

13 calle, 2-41, Zona 1, Guatemala, Guatemala.  Cp. 01001

( 22327425 - 22519237 Email: mojocalle@gmail.com

Website: www.amistrada.net

Please send correspondence relating to the emergency to: mojocaemergencia@gmail.com

Guatemala, 7^th December 2011

Dear Friends,

With this letter, we, the girls and boys of MOJOCA, would like to extend our friendship to you and to wish you a very happy Christmas. At this time we remember the birth of Jesus, the hope and liberator of the poor and oppressed. We also hope that 2012 will be a happy and successful year for yourselves, for your family, and for the organization in which you are currently working.

We are writing to you because we are concerned about what may happen in Guatemala under the presidency of General Otto Pérez Molina, whose government will be inaugurated on the 14^th January 2012.  We do not know what his government is planning, but we fervently hope that he will not use violence to suppress street children, popular movements, and human rights organizations.  We are concerned because his electoral campaign was centred upon the security situation here in Guatemala.  He proposed a policy of mano dura – an iron first – and promised to put an end to delinquency within six months. He won the elections due to support from the capital’s citizens - 72% of which voted for Perez Molina in the second round.  The situation with insecurity and violence is a very real concern for the capital’s inhabitants who cannot be assured, when they leave their home in the morning, that they will be returning later that night.  We agree with the need to fight the criminal groups, hired assassins, narco-traffickers, multinationals and large landowners; those who exploit and violate the fundamental rights of the Guatemalan people. It is these same groups that perpetuate the poverty that exists today in Guatemala; they are the very source of insecurity.

We are worried because, while street children are not violent, they sometimes commit petty robberies in order to survive; as a result, they are often associated with delinquency.  However, these are just groups of poor and excluded children who aspire to live dignified and honest lives.  Indeed, with the right support many of these children have successfully been able to leave their lives on the street and to enter into society.

Our preoccupation and alarm has led us to prepare for the worst, even though we are still hoping for the best.  Indeed, we will wait to see how the new government acts before we judge it.  But, at the same time, we have to be prudent.  We are therefore writing you to ask whether you would be willing to send protest emails, if needed, on our behalf.  We would provide you with contact addresses at an opportune moment if and when President Pérez Molina initiates repression against us, the children and young women and men of the street. 

We have also decided to send an open letter to the incoming President and Vice-President above all so that they are clear that we, the children, girls and boys of the streets, are not alone; that we can count on the protection and support, not only of MOJOCA, but also of sister associations both here in Guatemala and in other countries around the world.  We think that our future leaders will be more prudent in the face of possible reactions from the international community, especially when their actions may threaten overseas aid.

Furthermore, we ask our sister associations in neighbouring countries of Honduras and El Salvador to support their own young nationals who live on the streets of Guatemala whom we have advised to return home before Pérez Molina assumes the presidency.  If you think you can help us with this, please let us know.

We also ask you to forward this letter to any associations and institutions that you think may be able to help and to participate in this initiative for international solidarity.  Please also forward this letter to individuals including politicians, scientists, cultural and religious leaders.  To international organisations, such as JOCI, JOCA, World Solidarity and other associations with ties to organisations in other countries, we ask that you forward this email – adding your own introduction – to as many associations as possible from other countries. 

Finally, if it were possible, it would be also very useful to raise awareness about what is happening here in Guatemala through other channels, particularly the mass media.

In anticipation of your reply, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your friendship and support.  If we may ever return the favour, please do not hesitate to ask.

Yours faithfully,

On behalf of the Management Committee selected by the girls and boys of MOJOCA,

Diana Pernilla –President;

Mario Tzun, Estefani Batén – Representatives of the street collectives;

Gustavo Poma – Representative of the collectives of the School of Friendship and Training Workshops;

Felisa Castro – Representative of the Casa 8 de marzo;

Manuel Nájera – Representative of the Casa de los Amigos;

Laura Lemus – Representative of the Quetzalitas, a support group for young women who have left the streets;

Sergio Pineda – Representative of Nueva Generación, a support group for young men who have left the streets;

Claudia Carrera – Representative of the Mariposas, an educational group for children of parents who have left the street;

Glenda López – President of the legal association, and;

Gerad Lutte – Pedagogic advisor and founder of MOJOCA with a group of young women and men of the street.