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19 January 2012

Human rights defender Mr Vidal Nahaman Cabrera Tuch was shot dead on a minibus on 17 January 2012 as he travelled towards El Xab village in Retalhuleu.

Vidal Nahaman Cabrera Tuch was an active member of the Juventud del Comité de Desarrollo Campesino - CODECA (the Youth branch of the Association of Farmers’ Development Committee) and worked on issues relating to wage conditions for campesinos, a just and dignified life for young people, land reform and nationalisation of electric energy in Guatemala.

Vidal Nahaman Cabrera Tuch was travelling on the minibus with his father and other passengers, when two unidentified males boarded at the San Josesito Colony. As the bus passed through La Toma the two males stood and announced that it was a robbery. One of the perpetrators got off the bus and walked directly to the window beside where Vidal Nahaman Cabrera Tuch was sitting and shot him twice in the head. The human rights defender was brought to the National Hospital of Retalhuleu where he died from his injuries.

The attackers did not steal anything from any of the passengers on the minibus and escaped immediately after the shooting. It was reported that one month prior to the killing, Vidal Nahaman Cabrera Tuch had received death threats.

Front Line Defenders believes that the killing of human rights defender Vidal Nahaman Cabrera Tuch is directly related to his legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights, and is gravely concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of other human rights defenders working with CODECA and involved in indigenous and land rights in Guatemala.

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