ICE removes former Guatemalan police officer wanted for activist's disappearance
MARCH 14, 2023
LOS ANGELES, CAHUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS, ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL
LOS ANGELES — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Los Angeles removed a former Guatemalan police officer accused of participating in the widely publicized, forced disappearance of a student leader and union activist in 1984. Officials removed Hugo Gómez Osorio, 63, to his home country of Guatemala on a flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations Unit March 8. Upon arrival, they turned him over to the proper authorities.
“Criminals seeking to evade horrific crimes committed in their home country will not find safe harbor here in the United States,” said ERO Los Angeles Field Office Director Thomas Giles. “Thanks to the collaborative professionalism between HSI, the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, and the dedicated men and women of ERO Los Angeles, Gómez Osorio has been returned to his home country of Guatemala to face justice for violating human rights.”
Gómez Osorio entered the United States without admission or parole by an immigration officer on an unknown date. On Dec. 9, 2010, the government of Guatemala requested Gómez Osorio’s arrest for the offenses of illegal detention, abduction or kidnapping, abuse of authority, forced disappearance and failure to comply with human rights.
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The HRVWCC is the only government entity focused completely on investigating global atrocities and the perpetrators of human rights violations and war crimes. Initiated by HSI in 2008, the HRVWCC leverages the knowledge and expertise of a select group of special agents, attorneys, intelligence analysts, criminal research specialists and historians who are charged with preventing the United States from becoming a safe haven for individuals who engage in the commission of war crimes, genocide, torture and other forms of serious human rights abuses from conflicts around the globe. Read more about the work of the HRVWCC online.
More:
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-removes-former-guatemalan-police-officer-wanted-activists-disappearance
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August 3, 2022
A Clash of Two Lives
HUGO IN LOS ANGELES
Pastor Hugo Gomez worked hard to earn a faithful following in his adopted Southern California community. After decades of sermons and helping church members get through all manner of crises, they say Hugo is a holy and honest man who preaches the Lord’s word, a genuine religious example for his church.
In Guatemala, human rights advocates say they know him for something completely different.
Long before he was a pastor in the U.S., Hugo worked for the National Police of Guatemala. Government files show that during his time in uniform, he was a police officer for what documents and witness testimony describe as a repressive government backed by the United States. His work during Guatemala’s civil war is years and many miles apart from the life he has lived in the U.S. since 1987.
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“To understand the violence Guatemalans experienced in the 80s, you have to look at how the U.S. trained and funded these forces starting in the 1960s,” says Dr. Alejandro Villalpando, professor of Pan African Studies and Latin American Studies at California State University, Los Angeles.
More:
https://www.palabranahj.org/archive/a-clash-of-two-lives