Rosalinda Pérez was a community leader in Tierra Blanca Caserío Barrio Nuevo, Jocotán Chuiquimula, a women’s rights activist and committed to justice.

Doña Rosalinda led a group of 33 women in the community, participated in the creation of the
Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas (UNAMG) (National Union of Guatemalan Women) and was President of Microcréditos (Microcredits), a self-managed development project. She leaves behind 9 daughters and sons.

On Wednesday 30 December at 2:30 PM, 5 men arrived at Rosalinda Pérez’s shop asking to buy a double litre of gasoline. The shop is located in the lower part of her home; she went to serve them and was shot point blank.

Witnesses say there were 9 shots, two direct shots to her and the others to destroy the things she had for sale. Nothing was taken and it is presumed to be a group of assassins hired to kill her.

Land conflicts in the Jocotán region have different origins but construction of the Hidroeléctrica Tres Marías has sparked the illegal accumulation of property in order to sell to the powerplant. There are 67 families and only 4 men in Tierra Blanca and, according to the information collected, the intention behind the assassination of doña Rosalinda may have been to stop the organizational processes that promote the empowerment of women, since the majority of leaders are women.

IM-Defensoras and the Red de Defensoras de DDHH de Guatemala (Guatemala Network of WHRDs) repudiates and condemns the assassination of WHRD Rosalinda Pérez, we sympathize with her family and community and demand the Guatemalan authorities that this crime not go unpunished.