Westerheyde

MEMORANDUM **

Herman Enrique Westerheyde (‘Westerheyde”) and his wife, Guadalupe Westerheyde petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) final decision dismissing their appeal from the denial of their applications for asylum and withholding of deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158 , 1253(h) (1994). We have jurisdiction under former 8 U.S.C. § 1105 (a), as amended by the transitional rules in section 309(c)(4) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. See Kalaw v. INS, 133 F.3d 1147, 1149-50 (9th Cir.1997). We deny the petition.

In their petition, the Westerheydes argue that the BIA erred in finding that they were ineligible for asylum and withholding of deportation. Westerheyde alleges that, because he received threatening letters in his capacity as a local leader of the Christian Democratic Party and because guerrillas coerced him into treating their wounded men, he suffered past persecution on account of his political opinion and has a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of his political opinion. Mrs. Westerheyde’s asylum claim is premised on her “membership in a particular…

dissenting.

I respectfully dissent. The majority holds that the repeated death threats received by Herman Enrique Westerheyde “are insufficient to support an objectively reasonable fear of future persecution.” Maj. Op. at 748 (quoting Lim v. INS, 224 F.3d 929, 936 (9th Cir.2000)). This holding directly conflicts with the law in this Circuit, which clearly instructs that multiple death threats, even when not accompanied by open confrontation or physical harm, are sufficient to show a reasonable fear of *749 future persecution. See Lim, 224 F.3d at 935 . A petitioner need not wait until there has been an execution in order to establish a reasonable fear of persecution. Because the evidence that Westerheyde introduced is sufficient to find that his fear of persecution if returned to Guatemala is objectively reasonable, I dissent.

In 1988, Westerhyde joined a government opposition party in Guatemala, the Christian Democrats. In 1990, he campaigned on behalf of the Christian Democrats’ candidate for the presidency and ran for local office as a member of that party. In 1991, four months after he and the other candidates lost the election, the major Christian Democrat leaders in…