Guatemala Human Rights Commission - USA
UPDATE Vol 15 No 6
March 15, 2003
This is a reprint of the regular newsletter published by the Guatemala Human Rights Commission - USA.
Please subscribe to the newsletter:
www.ghrc-usa.org
ghrc-usa@ghrc-usa.org
INSIDE...
GENOCIDE RULING IN SPAIN
UNION LEADER'S BROTHER KILLED
TEACERS STRIKE ENDS
GUATEMALA TO PAY EX-PAC
AGREEMENT FOR CREATION OF CICIACS
GENOCIDE CASE
MORE
MENCHÚ TO APPEAL GENOCIDE DECISION
Probe of Crimes Committed against Spaniards
3/3/03 - The Spanish Supreme Court has partially accepted an appeal by Nobel
Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchú and ordered a lower court to investigate
crimes committed against Spaniards in Guatemala, news reports said March
3.
Menchú filed a petition at Spain's National Court in 1999 urging it
to probe
the thousands of disappearances and killings during Guatemala's Civil War.
A
year later the same tribunal rejected the case saying the alleged crimes
could be dealt with adequately in Guatemalan courts. In December 2001,
Spain's Audiencia Nacional, a national court set up to hear high-profile
terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking cases, ruled there was nothing
in
Spain's penal code authorizing it to investigate the charges brought by
Menchú.
But Menchú appealed and
on March 3 the Supreme Court accepted her
argument, but only for Spaniards, National Radio said. Eight judges
voted
in favor while seven urged that the court should investigate all the crimes,
as Menchú had sought. Menchú approached the Spanish court following
its
attempts to indict former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet and members
of the Argentine military dictatorship for similar crimes in their
countries. Menchú, who won the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for work promoting
Indigenous rights, has accused Efraín Ríos Montt, a former
dictator of
Guatemala and current president of Guatemala's congress, and seven other
Guatemalan officials of genocide, terrorism and human rights abuses for
their suspected roles in some of the atrocities committed between 1976 and
1984. Her original case focused on the 1981 arson of the Spanish Embassy
in
Guatemala City in which 37 people died, the killing of four Spanish priests
by government forces in western Guatemala and the deaths of most of her own
relatives. The case has been supported by the London-based human rights
group Amnesty International and the International Jurists Commission.
(AP)
Menchú to Ask Court to Investigate
Genocide
3/5/03 - Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchú plans to appeal the Spanish
Supreme
Court's decision to investigate crimes committed against Spaniards by the
military dictatorships in Guatemala. Menchú maintains the Spanish
justice
system should also investigate the genocide of the Maya people.
Menchú's attorney, Carlos
Vila, told EFE March 5 in Madrid that the
constitutional court must decide if Spain has jurisdiction in cases of
genocide and torture committed in other countries when these countries fail
to act.
Vila said that since Spanish law
and the Geneva Accord on Genocide,
signed by Spain, establish jurisdiction in these cases, the Supreme Court
should not have restricted the country's investigations in Guatemala to
Spanish citizens.
"It's a step backward," the attorney
insisted, adding "we will
continue to gather evidence for a future trial before the Spanish court
specializing in human rights violations concerning the perpetrators and
masterminds of the murders at the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City and the
four Spanish priests," while the constitutional court deliberates on this
issue.
The Court limited investigations
to an attack on the Spanish Embassy
in Guatemala City on Jan. 30, 1980, and the murders of four Spanish priests
- Faustino Villanueva, José María Gran, Juan Alonzo and Carlos
Perez - by
military personnel.
Investigations center around retired
general Ríos Montt, the current
President of Congress, (head of state from March 23, 1982 to August 8,
1983); former president, Fernando Romeo Lucas García (1978 to 1982),
and
other high-ranking military officers. Montt expressed concern over
the
ruling, but stated that he had nothing to do with the assassinations, "The
judges will rule against criminals, I am not a criminal." (EFE)
STATE ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY IN MACK CASE
3/5/03 - Guatemala's Foreign Minister Edgar Gutiérrez met with the
president
of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights this week to take full
institutional responsibility for the 1990 murder of Myrna Mack Chang,
currently under review in the Court. The Foreign Minister's actions
demonstrate Guatemala's sincere and serious commitment to adhere to
international standards of human rights and the rule of law. The Government
of Guatemala voluntarily accepted the facts as presented before the Court
in
order to bring to justice those culpable and end the suffering of the Mack
family.
In accordance with Article 52
of the Court's Rules of Procedure,
Guatemala officially stated its decision to accept institutional
responsibility in case 10.636 of Myrna Mack Chang. During those proceedings,
Guatemala made clear that it accepted the violations that occurred in 1990
as alleged, and to undertake to investigate, identify, and prosecute those
responsible for this crime. Guatemala also stated on the record that it
would take all necessary measures to guarantee proper reparations. In order
to quickly move the case forward, Guatemala petitioned the Court to continue
proceedings in the case and move directly to the judgment and reparations
phases.
"We hope that the international
community will judge Guatemala not
by its past, but by its actions here today," said Ambassador Arenales, the
Guatemalan Ambassador to the United States. "The Government of Guatemala
has
accepted full responsibility for seeking justice in the Myrna Mack Chang
case. Our intent is to bring the perpetrators of this brutal crime to
justice and bring relief to the long-suffering members of the Mack Chang
family. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mack Chang family. The
Portillo Administration is determined to strengthen the rule of law in
Guatemala and to also provide security for all its citizens."
DATE SET FOR HARRIS CASE
3/7/03 - The Guatemalan trial date for the defamation case against Bruce
Harris, the Regional Director for Latin American programs of Casa Alianza,
has been changed from March 7 to March 18, 2003.
The case against Harris, brought
by Susana Luarca de Umana, is in
response to comments he made against the adoption lawyer in a press
conference held together with the Guatemalan Attorney General in 1996 which
focused on questionable international adoptions.
FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
CALDH WORKERS INTIMIDATED
3/7/03 - MARIO MINERA and HECTOR AMILCAR MOLLINEDO CACEROS, members of the
Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH) have reportedly been threatened
and followed by unidentified individuals . Amnesty International is
concerned for their safety and that of other human rights defenders working
for CALDH.
On March 5, Mario Moreira was
waiting at a bus stop near the CALDH
office in Guatemala City when he was approached by two unknown men. One of
the individuals held a knife close to Mario Minera's back and demanded
money. Mario Minera gave the men approximately Q300 (almost $50). One of
the
men then told him "It's you people who go around intimidating others, now
you're the ones who'll be scared". This comment was taken as a threat to
the
CALDH staff.
Two days earlier, on March 3,
Hector Amilcar Mollinedo Caceros, the
administrator of CALDH's Legal Department, noticed three unidentified men
openly observing him as he left the CALDH office. After several minutes he
realized one of these men was following him. While seeking refuge in a
market he noticed that another individual was staring at him in an
intimidating manner.
Amnesty International is concerned
that CALDH staff are being
threatened and attacked by or with the complicity of the official security
forces. This may be an attempt to intimidate them into stopping their
preparation of a legal suit accusing ex-members of two military high
commands of the 1980s of genocide and other crimes against humanity, as well
as other anti-impunity initiatives. (Amnesty International UA 68/03)
CERIGUA REPORTER THREATENED
3/7/03 - On February 23, ISABEL ENRÍQUEZ, a reporter from the news
agency,
Center of Information on Guatemala (CERIGUA), was attacked by two men as
she
approached the CERIGUA offices in Guatemala City. The attackers demanded
her
keys which they stole as well as her bag. They also hit her in the stomach.
The week prior to the attack against Isabel Enríquez, two other CERIGUA
journalists were also assaulted. A reporter in the CERIGUA outpost in Baja
Verapaz had his bag stolen and unidentified men in Guatemala City demanded
the keys from the CERIGUA administrator.
CERIGUA was founded on August
8, 1983 and since then has reported
extensively on the human rights situation in Guatemala, and has been subject
to constant intimidation. In February 2002 a CERIGUA journalist while
reporting in Santa Cruz del Quiché was threatened by unidentified
men who
stole his cassettes and money and told him to leave the area or they would
kill him. In July 2002 the regional outpost in Jutiapa was raided and a hard
drive containing important information, stolen. (Amnesty International
UA
66/03)
PRENSA LIBRE REPORTER ATTACKED
3/7/03 - On the morning of March 2 several
intruders broke into the house
of
columnist Marielos Monzón who writes
for the Guatemalan newspaper
Prensa
Libre. The intruders searched her belongings
but only stole radio parts from
the family's two cars, in an apparent attempt
to make it appear a common
robbery. However, prior to the break in she
had received several silent
telephone calls. She received 17 further
anonymous phone calls while the
police were at her home investigating the
scene.
The recent break-in at Marielos
Monzón's home is the latest in a
series of threats and intimidation against
her. Several incidents of
intimidation have come immediately after
the publication of her columns.
In
December 2002, hours after her article on
the disappearance of indigenous
leader Antonio Pop Caal was published, she
received an anonymous telephone
call. The caller threatened that unless she
stopped writing about the case,
she would meet the same fate. Antonio Pop
Caal's decapitated body was found
on December 17, 2002 in a well. Following
the publication of two articles
she received anonymous telephone threats
to her mobile and home phones. The
articles concerned the fate of three members
of the Azmitia family who
"disappeared" in 1981 as well as the Mack
case. (AI UA 66/03)
CONIC LEADER REPORTS THREATS
3/8/03 - Juan Tiney, head of the National
Indigenous and Campesino
Coordinating Committee (CONIC), reported
that he has been the target of
threats and said that he holds the government
responsible for anything that
happens to him or his family.
Tiney stated that his home in
Guatemala City was surrounded by 20
agents from the National Civil Police (PNC),
without an order from the
Public Prosecutor's Office (MP). His
car was also searched and the
radio
was taken. Tiney commented that he,
along with others fighting for
campesinos' rights, has asked the authorities
to resolve the problems caused
by lack of access to land.
ATTEMPTED MURDER OF COLOTENANGO MAYOR
3/8/03 - The mayor of Colotenango, Huehuetenango,
ARTURO FEDERICO MÉNDEZ
ORTIZ, escaped unharmed after an attempt
on his life. However, deputy
mayor
Andres Pérez Morales was wounded during
the ambush in the village
of
Oratorio in San Rafael Petzal.
According to the National Civil
Police (PNC), a bullet struck Pérez
Morales in the chest and he was taken by
the town councilman to the
emergency room at the Huehuetenango National
Hospital.
The town officials were on their
way to attend to some business in
the area, but when they arrived at the village
of Oratorio a group of armed
men opened fire on their vehicle.
The mayor, of the leftist Guatemalan
National Revolutionary Unity
(UNRG) party, and the deputy mayor were able
to dodge the bullets and
quickly drove to the hospital, where they
were given first aid treatment,
according to the police report.
The San Rafael PNC stated that
they arrested José Sánchez,
and
Roberto, Francis, and Francisco Sales Sánchez,
who are accused of
attacking
the officials.
ANN CONDEMNS MURDER OF CHIQUIMULA LEADER
3/8/03 - The New Nation Alliance party (ANN) condemned the murder of the
ARNULFO GUTIÉRREZ MEJÍA, leader of the Department of Chiquimula
Executive
Committee and the Municipality of Olopa Executive Committee. They attribute
the murder to the paramilitary groups that are operating in the eastern
region.
Gutiérrez was wounded by
shots fired by unknown men on March 6,
while he was working on a coffee farm in the village of Guayabo in the
municipality of Olopa. He was taken to the hospital where he died 24
hours
later, according to reports.
ANN spokesman Ricardo Saenz said
that Gutiérrez had been the target
of numerous death threats and an attempt on his life during the past few
months. The victim had reported these acts of intimidation to the Public
Prosecutor's Office (MP). According to Saenz, Gutiérrez's relatives
accuse
former military officer Cristobal Méndez, and Javier and Fidelfio
Gutiérrez
of the murder.
Saenz added that on February 28,
Pedro Villagrán, a departmental and
municipal leader in Jalapa, was also the target of an attempted murder when
unknown men threw a fragmentation grenade into his home. The grenade
did
not explode.
UNION LEADER'S BROTHER KILLED
3/9/03 - The brother of Moises Fuentes, leader of the National Teachers'
Assembly of Guatemala, was kidnapped and killed last week. Reports
of the
death were withheld out of respect for the family. The body of the
42-year-old victim, who worked as a bed salesman, was found on March 5 in
a
rural area of the Department of Mazatenango, 124 miles southeast of
Guatemala City.
The police report says he was
found dead in an abandoned house with
his hands and feet bound, and appeared to have been shot "execution-style."
The union leader said the crime could be linked to the ongoing teachers'
strike protest, noting that the assailants "did not steal anything, they
just kidnapped and killed him."
"Regardless of the motive," Fuentes
said, "it has to be
investigated, it cannot be one more crime committed with impunity."
Fuentes
is one of the ten representatives of the teachers who had been on strike
for
50 days to press their demands for better pay and increased funding for
education.
WOMEN'S RIGHTS
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY COMMEMORATED
3/8/03 - Hundreds of women, men, and children from all over Guatemala
marched through the main streets of the capital's historic center in
commemoration of International Women's Day. They were also demanding
that
the Interior Ministry formulate a plan to stop the violence and include more
women in participatory politics.
Lorena Robles, spokeswoman for
the March 8 Coordinating Committee,
said that a plan created by the Interior Ministry to stop the violence is
one of the main demands this year, because many of the attacks have been
directed at women.
Robles explained that another
of the group's demands is that
political commissions be made up of at least 30% women, so that women can
be
guaranteed an active and effective political role.
RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
GOVERNMENT FAILS TO PROVIDE STUDENT MEALS
3/3/03 - The social audit report carried out as part of the widespread
education campaign shows that in the year 2001, only 56 out of 414 schools
received funding for school meals in January, while the rest had to wait
until February or even until May in some cases. That year, representative
Nineth Montenegro denounced the transfer of Q45 million from the education
budget to that of the Presidential High Guard (EMP), which was explained
officially by claiming that the transfer made it easier to pay the
providers.
TEACHERS REACH ACCORDS, END STRIKE
3/12/03 - Guatemalan teachers accepted a raise of about $20 a month
and
agreed to return to the classrooms March 12 but warned that mass
demonstrations would resume if the government did not concede to other
demands.
"We've resolved one conflict,
but the government is creating another
one that could provoke more serious protests,'' said Joviel Acevedo Ayala,
a
union leader. At issue are notices sent by the government to an estimated
10,000 striking teachers warning that they had participated in an "illegal''
work stoppage and could lose their jobs if other infractions are committed.
"Those are intimidation tactics,'' Acevedo said. Additionally, President
Portillo is proceeding with the implementation of a plan known as PRONADE,
which would devolve the management of the education system, including hiring
and monitoring the teachers, to parent committees. Teachers unions
are
concerned that this is the first step towards privatizing education.
In an effort to make up for lost
school time, teachers agreed to
work an extra hour each day for the rest of the year. The government
has
promised to put $64 million in the country's education budget to pay for
the
new salary increases, as well as student scholarships, supplies and
subsidized transportation for students. Teachers will also be involved
in
negotiating the 2004 education budget.
During the 50-day strike, which
they began on Jan. 20, teachers
blocked border crossing points with Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador and
cut
off routes to the country's Pacific and Atlantic ports, as well as the
capital's La Aurora international airport. They also held peaceful
sit-ins
the Labor, Finance and Education Ministries and demonstrated on the steps
of
Congress and the presidential palace, where they received widespread support
from parents, farmers, public health employees and many other sectors.
The
government responded by deploying the army to protect these buildings.
(From EFE and Miami Herald)
FREEDOM OF PRESS
COMMUNITY RADIO ASKS FOR INT'L SOLIDARITY
3/5/03 - As a result of a campaign in the country's media and a lawsuit
filed against community radio stations, the Mujb'ab'l Yol Association called
for support from community radio broadcast organizations around the world,
wherever popular radio stations broadcast.
According to a Mujb'ab'l Yol information
pamphlet, the National
Radio Broadcast Chamber , after beginning a media campaign against popular
radio broadcasts, filed a lawsuit against 341 radio stations that it
believes to be "pirate stations" and demanded the arrest of the managers
of
those transmitters. It accuses the managers of falsifying their operation
licenses.
The group asked that international
organizations show solidarity
with the community stations by putting out alerts and lodging complaints,
which can be sent to organizations working for freedom of speech on the
different continents, as well as to the President of the Republic of
Guatemala and the Executive and Judicial Branches, to ask them to disallow
suit on part of the country's telecommunications.
The community broadcasters are
backed by the Identity and Rights of
Indigenous Peoples Accord, which emphasizes the concession of radio
frequencies for communities; six years after the accord was signed, it has
still not been put into practice. The telecommunications law has not
been
reformed; on the contrary, pressure by business leaders and the
Telecommunications Superintendent's Office (SIT) is mounting. The SIT
imposes fines between $10,000 and $100,000 on whoever uses the frequencies
without authorization.
HEALTH RIGHTS
AUTHORITIES EXPECT SCARCITY OF WATER
3/5/03 - Eddy Sánchez, the director
of the National Seismology, Vulcanology,
Meteorology, and Hydrology Institute (INSIVUMEH),
confirmed that a period
of
drought has begun that will last until April,
as a consequence of the lack
of rain in 2002.
He recommended that municipalities
and communities in the interior
of the country join efforts to maintain proper
water use during the next
eight weeks, with the hope that the 2003
rainy season will be better than
last year's, in order to make up for the
loss of water.
DOCTORS STOP SERVICES IN CUILAPA HOSPITAL
3/11/03 - The doctors of Cuilapa National
Hospital in Santa Rosa partially
stopped services on March 10. They
are protesting the two-month delay
in
their pay and the poor condition of the hospital's
laboratory and blood
bank. Franco Zanotti, secretary general
of the physicians' union, confirmed
that outpatient care was halted due to lack
of medicine and supplies, and
surgeries will be done only in cases of emergency.
The service shut-down is going
on despite the fact that hospital
representative Carlos Enrique Díaz
promised to arrange a meeting between
the
doctors and the Minister of Health, in hopes
of finding a solution.
When asked to comment, Díaz
and Ministry of Health spokeswoman
Marina Méndez denied that there was
a shut-down of medical services,
and
said that it was just a small problem that
was already resolved. However,
dozens of patients had problems seeing a
doctor.
RIGHT TO JUSTICE
GUATEMALA TO PAY EX-PAC
3/3/03 - Faced with escalating protests by former Civil Defense Patrollers
(PAC) who aided the army in Guatemala's long civil war, the government said
it intends to pay each trooper some $670.
President Alfonso Portillo said
the payment will be made in three
parts. When the government has the funds, will be distributed to some
250,000 former PAC members although 580,000 are petitioning compensation.
The former paramilitary have been
demanding since mid-2002 that the
Portillo administration pay $2,600 in compensation to each ex-patroller.
Human rights activists have rejected the demands made by the former PAC
members, whom they accuse of having committed atrocities during the civil
war. Human rights groups and the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office (PDH)
expressed its disagreement with the government's decision to provide
compensation to former PAC members. PDH Sergio Morales declared that the
former paramilitary members were part of the armed conflict, not victims
of
it. He said that instead of paying them, the government should promote
productive projects for this group.
Ex-PAC Reject Portillo's Payment Offer
3/5/03 - Former PAC members in Petén and the western regions announced
that
they will stage massive rallies to demand compensation of $2,600 for each
person.
The former PAC paramilitary members
of the Peace and Harmony group
are threatening to take over the Anacleto Maza airport and the Pereko
refinery, and groups from Colomba Costa Cuca, Quetzaltenago have stated that
they will block highways. Both groups reject the $670 offered by President
Portillo.
PUBLIC DEFENSE OFFICE SUFFERS COLLAPSE
3/4/03 - The contracts of 250 public defenders have been suspended as of
March 3 due to a budgetary deficit. Mario Reyes, coordinator of the
Public
Defender's Office, stated that only 95 lawyers remain to handle the enormous
workload.
REMAINS OF MASSACRE VICTIMS BURIED
3/5/03 - The skeletons of 36 people were buried in Cemetery Number 2 in
Rabinal. Heartbreaking testimonies, pain, and weeping accompanied the
identification of the remains as well as their burial.
The victims' relatives accused
the army and the Civil Defense
Patrols (PAC) as responsible for the massacres that took place during the
internal armed conflict. These skeletons were found in 2002 in the
communities of Buena Vista, Chichupac, La Ceiba, and Pacux.
The relatives demanded that those
responsible for the massacres be
punished, because they did not respect the physical integrity of hundreds
of
campesinos, stated Juan de Dios García of the Association for the
Comprehensive Development of the Maya Achí Victims of Violence (ADIVIMA),
an
organization in charge of exhumations of clandestine cemeteries.
INCREASE IN THREATS AGAINST JUDGES
3/10/03 - The Judicial Body (OJ) believes that during this election year
the
harassment and violence against judges will increase. Just in the first
two
months of the year, the number of attacks on judges has already reached 30%
of the total number of attacks in 2002. Carlos Larios Ochaita, president
of
the OJ, stated that if the trend continues, there could be 200 cases of
harassment. Luis Ramírez of the Comparative Studies in Penal
Sciences
Institute said that the level of violence will depend on the way the PNC,
the Public Prosecutor's Office, and the judges confront the powers operating
in the country that are behind these illegal acts.
AGREEMENT FOR CREATION OF CICIACS
3/14/03 - On March 13, chancellor Edgar Gutiérrez, representing the
Guatemalan government, and Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales signed the
agreement that will create the Commission to Investigate Illegal Bodies and
Clandestine Security Apparatuses (CICIACS). The Commission is set to
begin
operations on Sept. 13, 2003.
According to the agreement, the
decisions made by CICIACS will be
binding and carried out by the Public Prosecutor's Office. The Commission
will also investigate the Interior Ministry, the Presidential High Guard,
and the Public Prosecutor's Office as government entities that are possibly
involved with clandestine groups. The government has also proposed
that the
Commission investigate private security groups to discover any connections
with criminal activity that may exist.
CICIACS will be in place for a
year from the time of its
establishment, with the possibility of extending its duration. It will
be
created by a Congressional decree after an agreement between the government,
the United Nations (UN), and the Organization of American States (OAS),
similar to that which created the United Nations Verification Mission in
Guatemala (MINUGUA).
The government, represented by
Gutiérrez, has finally accepted the
Human Rights Ombudsman's Office's (PDH) proposal that CICIACS be made up
of
three members: a representative of the UN Secretary General, a
representative from the OAS, and a distinguished citizen named by the
Guatemalan government from a list provided by the PDH.
Financial support for the Commission
will come from a fund that will
be specially created for it, allowing donor countries to donate money for
its operation. CICIACS will be formed after negotiations and a consensus
among Gutiérrez, Morales, human rights organizations, and Chilean
facilitator José Miguel Vivanco.
SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS
STEEP INCREASES IN FUEL AND ELECTRICITY
3/14/03 - The price of diesel will go up Q1.27, raising the cost to Q14 a
gallon. The electric industry has also announced that in June there
will be
a "significant" increase in the price of electricity. Both increases
will
have direct effects on production costs. In the area of transportation,
an
increase in value of 30% to 40% is expected. One of the options to
deal
with the increase is to stop charging tax on diesel fuel until the world
price of crude oil stabilizes. Another possibility is to switch to
a plan
of Daylight Savings Time.
PEACE ACCORDS
CAAP PROPOSES EXPEDITED PASSAGE OF LAWS
3/6/03 - According to the group's representatives, the Peace Accords
Accompaniment Commission (CAAP) presented their Prioritized Legislative
Agenda to the Congress of the Republic. This document proposes the
expedition of the passage of laws set out in the Peace Accords, which would
help the country escape current social conflicts and political insecurity.
The proposal is made up of ten
laws and four bills. The legislation
includes laws regarding: the National Retribution Plan, access to
information, the regulation of weapons and ammunition, the regulation of
private security companies, the passage of the Classification and
Declassification of State-held Information Law and reforms to the
Telecommunications Law; the establishment of a land ownership information
public registry, a Presidential Secretariat of Administrative Affairs and
Security, and a civil service; and the penalization of sexual abuse and
harrassment.
SAAS PROMISES EMP DISMANTLED BY OCTOBER
3/13/03 - The director of the Secretariat of Administrative Affairs and
Security (SAAS), Ricardo Marroquín, stated that the Presidential High
Guard
is planned to be dismantled by October 2003. Upon its dissolution,
the SAAS
will remain as the sole Presidential security detail, a notable goal of the
1996 Peace Accords.
The first phase of the EMP dismantling
began in December 2002 when
25 percent of that force was let go, either to other security forces or to
retirement. By April, Marroquín expressed that staff will be
reduced by an
additional 50%.
NOTEWORTHY
GUATEMALAN TROOPS CARRY OUT BORDER PATROLS
3/7/03 - Mexican and Guatemalan troops have been carrying out joint patrols
on either side of their common border in a bid to stem the flow of illegal
activity through the permeable frontier.
"Borders are weak points that
are particularly vulnerable to
attempts at destabilizing a country's security, Mexican Prosecutor General
Rafael Macedo said late March 6, confirming that the patrols had become
operational.
Macedo said that relations with
Guatemala were "tremendous" and
government prosecutors from the two countries will continue working together
and seeing results in other areas such as drug trafficking, arms running
and
money laundering.
The lack of official crossing
points and controls, corrupt agents
and the quest for the American dream have turned the Guatemalan - Mexican
border area into a bridgehead for traffickers specializing in getting
immigrants across the frontier.
Mexico and Guatemala have a common
border of more than 620 miles
with only three official crossing points, but is full of unpatrolled holes
through which it is easy to slip over into one or another country.
Until
the mid-1990s, nearly all immigrants using Mexico as a conduit to enter the
United States were Guatemalans. Now they represent less than 30 percent,
with Asians accounting for the majority and mafias of professional smugglers
running the show. (In part from EFE)
COMPANIES WILL NOT ACTIVATE STOLEN PHONES
3/13/03 - Cellular telephone companies Comcel, Bellsouth, Telefónica,
and
PCS agreed not to reactivate phones that have been reported stolen.
The
agreement was the result of a campaign by the Catholic and Evangelical
Churches, which began after several phones were stolen in violent attacks.
The agreement also mentioned launching
a an awareness campaign, so
that people do not buy black market telephones.
GENOCIDE CASE AGAINST MONTT AND LUCAS GARCÍA
March 15, 2003 - Special Report by Esther Cervantes
On 3 May 2000, Guatemala's public prosecutors (MP) were presented with a
demand that they open criminal proceedings against former dictator General
Romeo Lucas García and his military high command for war crimes, genocide,
and other crimes against humanity. The demand was presented by the
Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), representing survivors
of
ten massacres committed during the Lucas García's régime, and
the Center for
Legal Action on Human Rights (CALDH), which is providing legal support to
AJR. After this trial balloon - Lucas García has been absent from
Guatemalan
politics for years - was launched with less than the feared backlash, a
similar demand was filed against Efraín Ríos Montt on 6 June
2001.
These are incredibly risky and
courageous actions, given the
political context. Although Guatemala has been, since the end of 1996,
formally at peace, personal security in the country is far from guaranteed.
Politicians and military officers - including Ríos Montt - that planned
and
participated in the violence of the 1980s still occupy positions of power
in
Guatemala. The army consistently violates the demilitarization accord,
padding its budget with funds for development projects that it has no
mandate to administer. And in 2002, as an opening salvo in his underdog bid
for re-election, President Alfonso Portillo all but invited the open
reorganization of paramilitary squads that were outlawed in 1996.
Despite the danger, members of
AJR are fiercely determined to see
the cases through. "If we remain quiet," one man said, "that is injustice,
because we are doing nothing for our loved ones who died. If we do not
demand justice, we are perpetuating injustice."
The cases represent the only attempt
to date to use Guatemalan
institutions to address the crimes of the entire counterinsurgency. Other
cases, such as the Gerardi and Xamán cases, have used those institutions
to
address particular instances of state violence. By contrast, the Commission
for Historical Clarification (CEH) established by the peace accords,
addressed the entire conflict, but did so outside of the existing Guatemalan
justice system. AJR and CALDH both hope that their institutional approach
will help strengthen that system.
In part, perhaps, flaws in the
CEH that have led to these current
cases. Unlike the prototypical Truth Commission - that of South Africa -
the
CEH did not have the power to name perpetrators, nor to bring them before
its panel. This left those who lost loved ones to the violence unable to
pose directly what Antjie Krog calls, in Country of My Skull, "the hardest
of all the questions: How is it possible that the person I loved so much
lit
no spark of humanity in you?" The members of AJR keenly feel this injustice.
"We just," said one woman whose husband and oldest son died in a massacre,
"want them to realize what their decisions did, what they really caused."
The members of AJR have a dual
role in the cases that they are
pursuing. They are, first of all, eye witnesses to the crimes: survivors
of
the shootings, beatings, stabbings, and fires that were meant to destroy
their lives and did, in fact, take the lives of many of their relatives.
They are also what is known in the Guatemalan legal system as adhering
plaintiffs. This means that they, and their legal counsel at CALDH, are
allowed to work with the MP in investigating and, eventually, trying the
cases. They also have the right, if the MP does not perform to their
satisfaction, to appeal to a Guatemalan court for intervention. Should this
remedy be tried and fail, they also have recourse to the Interamerican Human
Rights Court.
With the cases dragging into their
third and second years,
respectively, of initial investigations by the MP, many of the witnesses
have begun to express disappointment. They are, after all, risking their
lives for processes that seem stalled. CALDH has, however, maintained a
close working relationship with the MP, and they still have confidence in
the cases. In CALDH's ideal scenario, they would be able to begin the trial
against Ríos Montt before the presidential elections at the end of
2003, but
such timelines are fragile. Meanwhile, the witnesses continue to wait, and
to hope for justice.
In CALDH's ideal scenario, they would be able to begin the trial against
Ríos Montt before the presidential elections at the end of 2003, but
such
timelines are fragile. Soon after the Ríos Montt case was filed, CALDH
went
on record as anticipating the start of a trial by mid-2002.
It may prove crucial, though, that a trial against Ríos Montt start
this
year. 2003 is an election year in Guatemala, and Ríos Montt makes
no secret
of his ambitions. The minor fact that his candidacy would violate the
Guatemalan Constitution, which prohibits anyone who has participated in a
coup d'état to serve as president of Guatemala, seems not to matter
to Ríos
Montt and his party, the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG). They claim that
the constitutional provision is not retroactive, but this makes little
political or legal sense, and his previous attempt at candidacy, in 1990,
was denied by three legal fora. At the least, a Ríos Montt candidacy
would
further delay the genocide cases, as CALDH would turn its resources to the
inevitable fight to enforce the Constitution.
At the worst, a new Ríos
Montt presidency would be disastrous. If he
wins, a CALDH lawyer told me, the cases are lost. The Guatemalan judicial
system, though independent in name, is far too weak to continue trying to
prosecute a sitting president, especially with the power that Ríos
Montt
still has.
Most of the witnesses fear even
worse consequences of a return of
President Ríos Montt. They do not believe that they would be spared
retribution for their action. If he comes back, he'll finish what he
started, they say. We will all be killed. One woman related her sister's
image of Guatemala as a tiger with hidden claws. "You feel safe right now,"
she said, holding her hands behind her back, "but you never know when it
will get hungry again." Then she yelled as she struck out, "RRRRR!"
Whether or not Ríos Montt
runs in this year's campaign, members of
AJR, and poor Guatemalans in general, express notable apathy about electoral
participation. The two strongest parties in Guatemala are the FRG,
representing old wealth and the military, and the National Advancement Party
(PAN), representing new wealth. A law student from a Quiché village
summed
up the difference between the two this way, "I suppose it depends on whether
you'd prefer that they kill you right off, or that they exploit you to
death."
This situation makes actions like
AJR's all the more important in
Guatemala. When electoral politics seem so meaningless, an active civil
society is a sign of hope. It means that the people have not given up. They
continue to act for change in the ways that are available to them.
Additionally, the genocide cases, like other Guatemalan cases that have
prosecuted or are prosecuting military officials for their past crimes, can
help open more space for grassroots political participation. According to
a
lawyer at CALDH, even if the cases win nothing else, they have helped put
the military on the defensive, have forced it to give some ground to the
people.
A new Ríos Montt presidency
could indeed crush this one victory that
the cases have won to date, and preclude any others. This year's elections
in Guatemala bear watching.
THE MAN BEHIND THE MASSACRES
General José Efraín Ríos Montt began his army career
in 1946 as a Cadet. He
rose up through the ranks to reach Brigadier General in 1972, while
developing his political aspirations. He served for four years as Army Chief
of Staff between 1970 and 1974 and is accused of having orchestrated the
massacre of over one hundred peasants as early as 1973.
In the 1974 elections, General Ríos Montt stood as presidential candidate,
fronting a coalition, which included the Christian Democratic Party. He won
the election but lost the recount to the official army candidate, General
Kjell Laugerud. In 1978 he became an evangelical minister in the Church of
the Word and retired from active service. With the help of Lucas_ opponents
within the armed forces (many of them having been excluded from his corrupt
land and finance circle) Ríos Montt finally achieved his wish to be
President by deposing Romeo Lucas García in a military coup in March
1982.
His arrival was welcomed by many Guatemalans and by foreign governments
hoping for a less corrupt and more humane military regime. That hope was
misplaced.
Rios Montt_s short reign came to an abrupt end in August of 1983 when he
was
ousted in another military coup. His political interests continue today and
as General Secretary of the populist Guatemalan Republican Front party (the
FRG), which he founded, he recently gained his current post of President
of
the Guatemalan Congress. (from www.justic
<http://www.justic>eforgenocide.org)
Esther Cervantes is currently writing her thesis for a master's degree from
the LBJ School of Public Affairs, part of the University of Texas at Austin.
In 2002, she worked as a NISGUA-GAP human rights accompanier with witnesses
to the Lucas García case.
The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA, based in Washington D.C., has
been on the forefront of the struggle for
peace and human rights in
Guatemala since it was founded in 1982.
GHRC/USA is a nonprofit,
nonpartisan, humanitarian organization committed
to monitoring, documenting
and reporting on the human rights situation
in Guatemala.
Information in the Update that
is not gathered directly is culled
from various sources including ; the Guatemalan
Human Rights Commission ,
Casa Alianza, Amnesty International, Associated
Press, Reuters and the
Guatemalan Press, including Cerigua, La Cuerda,
Incidencia Democratica,
Prensa Libre, La Hora, Guatemala Hoy, Siglo
Veintiuno, and Patrullaje
Informativo.
*Dates written before the text indicate when
the incidents were reported.
Editor: Max Gimbel (mgimbel@ghrc-usa.org)
Assistant Editor: Helen Winder
ISSN #1085-0864
* For UPDATE subscriptions, contact GHRC/USA at 202-529-6599,
ghrc-usa@ghrc-usa.org or go to our website, www.ghrc-usa.org. Receive a
hard copy subscription of 24 issues per year
for $35 or an electronic
version for $20. 100% of proceeds support
the efforts of GHRC/USA*
3321 12th Street NE Washington DC 20017
Tel - 202-529-6599 Fax
- 202-526-4611
www.ghrc-usa.org ghrc-usa@ghrc-usa.org
Back to Top of Page