Central American Writers Statement

Statement

We, the Central American writers participating in the “Encuentro de Escritores Centroamericanos” (Central American Writers Conference), held at the Sixth International Book Fair in Guatemala (FILGUA 2009), publicly express the following nationally and internationally:

1. With great sadness and astonishment we have learned about the ongoing legal prosecution against Raúl Figueroa Sarti, the Director of F&G Editores, one of the most prestigious and notable presses in Central America. The case against him involves an alleged violation of an author’s rights. F & G Editores is a small publishing house that has worked under adverse conditions during the last fifteen years. It has continued to grow and receive international recognition as a regional alternative in a Central American context lacking in publishing houses.
2. Given the regional difficulties that exist in terms of the production and distribution of books, the probable conviction of F& G Editores through its Director Raúl Figueroa Sarti, constitutes a strong attack not only against F & G Editores but also against the necessary relationship of trust that needs to exist between an author and an editor. This would gravely impact the development of Central American presses and, as a result, the creation of literary texts
3. It is unprecedented in a country like Guatemala, where impunity is the norm, where barely 2% of  criminal charges reach oral debate in court, that a publishing house be sentenced for an irrelevant matter and because of trusting in people’s verbal agreements.
4. We are in solidarity with F & G Editores and with Raúl Figueroa Sarti, with confidence that he will overcome his present difficulties with the same tenacity with which he has developed the press over these last 15 years, making it the publishing house it is today, and that it will continue to contribute to the distribution of Guatemalan and Central American literature.
5. Our confidence that the judicial authorities in Guatemala will know how to act according to the law, with common sense, and with truth, and that the judicial process that continues against F & G Editores and Raúl Figueroa Sarti will pass on in history only as a failed attempt to violate the liberty of creativity and the expression of thought.

In Guatemala, August 1, 2009.

Signed:

Otoniel Guevara, El Salvador

Luis Eduardo Rivera, Guatemala

Francisco Morales Santos, Guatemala, Premio Nacional de Literatura

Arturo Arias, Guatemala, Premio Nacional de Literatura

Marco Antonio Flores, Guatemala, Premio Nacional de Literatura

Dennis Escobar Galicia, Guatemala, Presidente Centro Pen Guatemala

Ana María Rodas, Guatemala, Premio Nacional de Literatura

Claribel Alegría, El Salvador

Aída Toledo, Guatemala

Enrique Noriega, Guatemala

Armando Rivera, Guatemala

José Roberto Cea, El Salvador

Roberto Quesada, Honduras

Lucy Cristina Chau, Panamá

Luis Aceituno, Guatemala

Alfonso Chase, Costa Rica

Rafael Cuevas Molina, Guatemala-Costa Rica

Santiago Molina, Nicaragua

Julie López, Guatemala

Ana Istarú, Costa Rica

Jacinta Escudos, El Salvador

Vanessa Núñez Handal, El Salvador

Eduardo Villagrán, Guatemala

Francisco Goldman, Guatemala-Estados Unidos

David Unger, Guatemala-Estados Unidos

Gina Serrano, Guatemala

Miguel Angel Sandoval, Guatemala

Mario Domingo, Guatemala

Denise Phe-Funchal, Guatemala

Carolina Escobar Sarti, Guatemala

Carol Zardetto, Guatemala

Javier Mosquera Saravia, Guatemala

Addional signatories after August 1, 2009

Margarita Carrera, Guatemala, Premio Nacional de Literatura
Máximo Ba Tiul, Guatemala
Ricardo Bada, Alemania
Gustavo Bracamonte, Guatemala
Nerissa Morán, Estados Unidos
Miguel Huezo Mixco, El Salvador
Rogelio Salazar de León, Guatemala
Tatiana Lobo Wiehoff, Costa Rica
María Mariotti, Suiza
Valme Blanco Santiago, Francia
César Indiano, Honduras
Uriel Quesada, Costa Rica
Juan José Guerrero, Guatemala
Jorge Mario Argueta, Guatemala
Sergio Ramírez, Nicaragua
Carlos Castellanos, Estados Unidos
Linda Russo, Estados Unidos
Oscar Castillo Rojas, Costa Rica
Vicente Antonio Vásquez Bonilla, Guatemala
Manlio Argueta, El Salvador
Víctor Muñoz, Guatemala
Marco Tulio Pinelo, Guatemala
Roberto Oliva, Guatemala
Roberto Quesada, Guatemala-Estados Unidos
Renée Avila, Panamá
Carlos Roberto Gómez, Puerto Rico
Eugenia Almeida, Argentina
Raúl De La Horra, Guatemala
Germán Jaramillo Duque, Colombia
José Chacón, Guatemala
Linda Goodman, Estados Unidos
Marta Casaús Arzú, Guatemala
Tania Palencia, Guatemala
Luis Cordón León, Guatemala
José Luis Perdomo, Guatemala
Carmen González-Huguet, El Salvador
Luis Argueta, Guatemala-Estados Unidos
Ana Rossetti
Teresa Coello, Guatemala
Rolando Duarte, Guatemala
Nancy Arroyave, Guatemala
Lester Godínez, Guatemala