Frank La Rue
PEOPLE PROFILE is published every Tuesday and describes the professional background of key people emerging in the political and economic scenario.
Who is Frank La Rue?
He is the new human rights minister in Guatemala. He is also a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and one of the most globally renowned human rights activists. He spent some time in exile from Guatemala and endured hard times with his family.
Why watch him?
He has the opportunity to salve some of the wounds Guatemala has suffered from its bloody political past. The new minister for human rights was responsible for the international committee investigating the genocide of more than 200,000 Guatemalans under the military dictatorship in 1999. He is widely respected both at home and abroad. He will work in tandem with a new UN-appointed commission, Comisión de Investigación de Cuerpos Ilegales y Aparatos Clandestinos de Seguridad (Ciciacs), to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those linked to 'illegal and clandestine security organisations' under the Guatemalan justice system.
Education:
He was born technically blind. He studied law at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, becoming an exemplar for those afflicted by the disability.
Public life:
In 1990, during his exile, he founded the Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH), with the aim of bringing massive and systematic abuse of human rights before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) as a way of breaking the silence and impunity in Guatemala. He also started a movement to defend truth and justice for victims of rights violations.
Timeline:
1975: Joins trade union movement as an advisor to the national workers' union (CNT), which was then the largest union of its kind in Guatemala.
1980: On 21 June 1980, a paramilitary group forced its way into the CNT headquarters, kidnapping 27 CNT leaders. They were never seen again. La Rue was compelled to work underground.
1980: Works with the Peace and Justice Commission of the Roman Catholic Church as the person responsible for education programmes.
1981: Armed men send out a clear message to La Rue by doing the rounds of his relatives' houses. He flees the country along with his family.
1982: Dedicates his life to the defence of human rights with a team of exiled Guatemalans, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú. He begins to lobby the UN System for Resolutions on Human Rights in Guatemala.
1993: After the failure of the attempted coup d'état of President Jorge Serrano, La Rue decides to return to the country after 12 years in exile.
1994: CALDH moves from Washington to Guatemala and becomes one of the most important institutions for the defence of human rights in the country.
2004: He is named minister of human rights by President-elect Oscar Berger.
Strong points:
He has great stature domestically and internationally as a human rights activist. He has an unparalleled chance to make a real difference to crack down on the perpetrators of human rights violations. He has the full backing of a committed new government and will work with an international body, the UN, to bring culprits to justice.
Weak points:
The powerful Guatemalan armed forces and death squads seem immune to human rights organisations. Despite the killings, kidnappings and shootings, it seems to take a lot to pass laws aimed at cracking down on clandestine security groups in Guatemala.
Prospects:
The Berger administration, unlike its predecessors, seems determined to make strides on the human rights front. The appointment of La Rue is a clear indication of this. However, the armed forces are traditionally untouchable. Flagrant violations of human rights are such that it is difficult to be more than guardedly optimistic about his success in shedding light on many of the human rights violations.