AI is concerned for the safety of a number of people, including the two men named above, following their arrest by the security forces in San Cristobal Verapaz, Alta Verapaz department. At least 150 people, many of them Pokomhi Mayans, were arrested after the beating of a foreign tourist rumoured to be involved in the kidnapping of Guatemalan children for adoption and the organ trade. The attack was reportedly instigated by people close to the security forces who then supplied lists of names to the police and army of people who had in fact nothing to do with the incident. AI is concerned about reports of beating and ill-treatment of detainees. Gilberto Moral Caal’s arrest is reportedly related to his trade union membership.
