Guatemala: Testimony of a police office, trial and sentencing of four other police officers in the beating and death on 4 March 1990 of a street child named Nahaman Carmona

Various sources reported the death of 13-year old Nahaman Carmona on 14 March 1990 and subsequent developments.

Amnesty International-USA provides the following account of the case:

On the evening of March 4, 1990, he [Nahaman Carmona] was sniffing glue with four other homeless boys in a city park when they were confronted by five police officers. Three hours later, Nahaman was taken to a city hospital in a coma. He had a ruptured liver, six broken ribs and bruises over 70 percent of his body. He died 10 days later.

What transpired that night was later related by the other boys, who were initially too afraid to speak up. Encouraged by Casa Alianza, the boys told how the police had first amused themselves by pouring the glue over the children's heads. When Nahaman resisted, they said, four of the cops took turns systematically kicking the child. The other cop, a woman, refused to take part in the assault, but neither did she intervene on Nahaman's behalf. Later, wracked by guilt, she stepped forward to corroborate the boys' story.

…Casa has provided legal aid to Guatemala's street children ever since Nahaman's killing - often in the face of overwhelming intimidation, including death threats and armed attacks on staff members. In July 1991, four unidentified gunmen in a blue BMW sprayed Casa's crisis center in Zona 1 with bullets after first loudly threatening to "shoot Bruce Harris, all the staff and all the children" in the building. Harris, a British expatriate, is the Director of Casa Alianza's Central American program, which was based in Guatemala City at the time. He was forced to flee the country with his family in 1993 after repeated threats. He now runs Casa's regional operations from neighboring Costa Rica, though he frequently returns to Guatemala (5 Jan. 1999).

The case was pursued by Casa Alianza, a regional branch of the United States-based Covenant House, which subsequently established a legal aid office for street children. Casa Alianza summarized the case in a 1 March 1999 press release as follows:

Nahaman, born in El Salvador, was murdered by the Guatemalan police on March 14th, 1990. In a historic case brought by Casa Alianza, the policemen were eventually jailed for 12 years and ordered to pay the equivalent of US$ 3,000 in compensation. A key policewoman who turned our witness fled to Canada after death threats against her. The same fate met three Casa Alianza staff members who are now living in Toronto.

The policemen only served six years of their sentence and are now free. The damages were never paid. Two years ago, Casa Alianza presented a civil law suit against the State of Guatemala because, according to Article 155 of their Constitution, the government is responsible for the damages  incurred if, as in this case, the state employee does not pay.

Initial negotiations for payment were blocked on orders of Guatemalan President Arzu who, a year ago, later changed his decision due to negative international pressure.

Thousands of letters from all over the world landed on the desks of Guatemalan government officials from members of Amnesty International who were indignant at the violence against street children. BBC television produced a powerful 60 minute program entitled "They Shoot Children, Don't They?" regarding Nahaman´s death and the violence inflicted upon abandoned children in Guatemala.

After an initial murder conviction of 20 years which was overturned on appeal, the policemen were sentenced to 12 years in a re-trial. They were originally detained on June 15th, 1990 and convicted one year later. All four were jailed in the Pavon Penal Farm on the outskirts of Guatemala City (1 Aug. 1997).

An Internet edition of Cerigua Weekly Briefs of 12 May 1992 states:

A relative of the key witness in the Nahaman Carmona murder case was kidnapped on May 2 in Guatemala City.Seventeen- year-old Reyna Mejia Martinez is the niece of police officer Vilma Arevalo who testified against four fellow police officers accused of kicking street child Nahaman to death. She was kidnapped just a week after a court re-sentenced the four policemen to between 12 and 18 years in prison.  Her abductors were driving a vehicle with tinted windows and no license plates.

Arevalo's sister was kidnapped and raped just weeks ago. Director Bruce Harris of the children's shelter Casa Alianza said "there has been no investigation of either the kidnapping of Vilma's sister nor the most recent incident. It seems to me that the authorities either have no interest in investigating or that they would rather cover things up."

The next issue of Cerigua Weekly Briefs stated that the husband of policewoman Vilma Arevalo and a Casa Alianza worker had been threatened with a machinegun from a vehicle while driving in a Casa Alianza car (18 May 1992).

Corroboration of the incidents reported in the Cerigua Weekly News could not be found among the sources consulted within the time constraints of this Response.

A number of reports on the case in English, including references to the eventual commitment of the Guatemalan government to pay compensation to the mother of Nahaman Carmona, can be found at the Internet Website of Casa Alianza, at .

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.

Amnesty International-USA, New York. 5 January 1999. Ron Lajoie. "Casa Alianza Offers hope to the Street Children of Guatemala." [Accessed 1 Sept.1999]

Casa Alianza/Covenant House, New York. 1 March 1999. "Guatemalan Government Still Not Paid Compensation For Death of Nahamán." [Accessed 1 Sept. 1999]

_____. 1 August 1997. "Surprise Release of Policemen Convicted of Murder of Guatemalan Street Boy." [Accessed 1 Sept. 1999]

Cerigua Weekly Briefs [Mexico City]. 18 May 1992. "Family of Key Witness Receiving Threats." [Accessed 2 Sept. 1999]

_____. 12 May 1992 (for the week of 3-9 May 1992). "Family of Key Witness Kidnapped, Casa Alianza Threatened." [Accessed 2 Sept. 1999]