NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5356

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From: Christic Institute <[e-mail]>
Subject: Rapid Response Alert, 7-24-92
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/* Written  6:49 pm  Jul 24, 1992 by nisgua in cdp:carnet.alerts */
/* ---------- "Rapid Response Alert, 7-24-92" ---------- */





NISGUA -- The Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala.
1314 14th St., NW  Washington, DC.
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
e-mail:  nisgua


                      RAPID RESPONSE ALERT
                          JULY 24, 1992
                      RIOT POLICE VIOLENTLY
                     DISPERSE LAND ACTIVISTS



     On July 21 in Guatemala City hundreds of riot police
violently dispersed a legally sanctioned demonstration that had
been staged by approximately 700 campesinos from Cajola,
municipality of Coatepeque, department of Quetzaltenango.
According to press reports, the police used batons and teargas
and injured at least 11 people, including a year-and-a-half-old
baby.  The dispersal took place at about 4:45pm.

     The campesinos, who are indigenous Mayans of the Mam ethnic
group, had gathered at the Central Park, a large plaza flanked by
the National Palace and the Municipal Cathedral, in order to
press their claim to the plantation called "Pampas del
Horizonte."

     The rally at the Central Park followed a march begun at
about 9:00am near the Guatemala City suburb of Mixco.  From the
beginning the marchers noted that persons unknown to them had
infiltrated the march in an effort to intimidate them.  When the
marchers entered Guatemala City the police tried to block their
path by allowing heavy vehicles to cross the route of the march,
but the marchers continued.  Upon arriving at 15th street in the
capital they were confronted by a large group of riot police, at
which point the Adjunct Human Rights Procurator, Mar!a Eugenia de
Sierra, intervened, urging the police to use moderation and
verifying the validity of the document authorizing the march.
The marchers also received support from FENASTEG, the state
employees union federation.

     Once arriving at the plaza the marchers were surrounded by
the police who sought to prevent the entry of members of popular
organizations who were trying to lend support to the campesinos.
While the petition the campesinos carried was being delivered to
the National Palace the police, commanded by Mariano Carpio,
Third Chief of the National Police, began their attack, launching
teargas and beating the campesino families, including women and
men, elderly persons and children.  The police chased some of the
marchers into the adjacent streets, continuing to beat them as
well as people who were trying to help them.

     Following the violent dispersal some of the campesinos took
refuge in a facility of the University of San Carlos, where they
received assistance from a number of unions.  The eleven injured
were taken to the San Juan de Dios hospital.  Another 20 people
were treated at the hospital for the effects of the teargas.
Some marchers were detained by the police, and their whereabouts
remains unknown.  According to some reports several persons were
"disappeared," including NATALIO GONZALEZ, 55.

     The assault on the demonstrators was condemned by the Human
Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala and the Human Rights
Procurator, Ramiro de Leon Carpio, as well as by CERJ and a
number of unions including STINDE.  CERJ called the brutal
dispersal a "vile and criminal act."

     The day after the violent attack by police four high school
students were captured during a protest against the treatment of
the campesinos:  BYRON LUNA, GERMAN SANDOVAL, JULIO ADOLFO
VILLATORO, and VICTOR MANUEL LEMUS.

Background:

     The claim of the Cajola campesinos to the Pampas del
Horizonte plantation goes back to a 1910 land title granted to
the community of Cajola by then President Manuel Estrada Cabrera.

Despite this title, the campesinos state that the plantation,
comprising some 3,500 acres, was acquired through illegal
encroachment, in violation of boundaries delimited in 1950, by
Mariano Arevalo Bermejo, who owns a neighboring estate.  Arvalo
is the brother of the reformist former President of Guatemala,
Juan Jose Arevalo.

     In May 1989 the campesinos occupied the finca, but the
following September an appeals court at Arevalo's request ordered
the campesinos off the property.  Having nowhere to go, the
campesinos occupied a piece of land by the side of the highway,
hoping that the government would respond to their plight.  The
families stayed there for 11 months, during which time 20
children died of malnutrition.  Finally, in January, 1991, the
governmental "Institute for Agrarian Transformation" granted 79
families property on the Santa Ins finca, located in the
department of Retalhuleu.

     A year later, however, the campesinos again asked the
government to grant them property on the Cuantuco and Pampas
fincas.  In May 1992 500 families again occupied the land of the
Pampas del Horizonte plantation.  On June 15, 1992 they were
pushed off the property, but they returned a few days later.


     In recent months a number of violent attacks on campesinos
seeking land have been carried out by police. In April 1992
hundreds of villager from San Jorge la Laguna, Solola, were
evicted from the property of the Finca Jaibal, facing Lake
Atitl n, which they had occupied.  Historically, the area of this
finca had belonged to the Cakchiquel people.  Police and soldiers
used teargas and firearms, injuring in the process some 30
persons.

     A similar eviction of demonstrators from the Central Park
took place in June.  A group of farm workers who had camped in
the Central Park for months protesting massive layoffs on the
southern coast plantations were violently dispersed on June 21.
Some of the farm workers were rubber plantation workers also from
Coatepeque, Quetzaltenango.

Sources:  Oficina de Derechos Humanos, Arzobispado de Guatemala;
Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA; Prensa Libre; Siglo XXI;
EAPS.




Activate Your Rapid Response Network To:

Denounce this violent act by the police.  Call for an
investigation and for the prosecution of the commanding officer,
Mariano Carpio.  Ask that all detained activists be released and
that an investigation into the disappearance of Natalio Gonz lez
be begun.  Request that authorities recognize the legal title of
the campesinos to the Pampas del Horizonte finca.

Send Messages To:

Ingeniero Jorge Serrano Elias
Presidente de la Republica
Palacio Nacional
Guatemala, Guatemala
Telex:  305-5331 CAPRES GU
Fax:  [phone]
      or 502 2 519702
Telephone:  [phone]

Lic. Fernando Hurtado Prem
Ministro de Gobernacion
Despacho Ministerial
Oficina No.8, Palacio Nacional
Guatemala, Guatemala
Telex:  305-5085 MINGOB GU
Fax:  [phone]
Telephone:  [phone],
 or 502 2 22266 (ext. 500)Note:  Pre-arranged telex messages can
be sent via ATI (800-888-
5284),  FAXNET (800-831-2202) or Worldlink (800-827-2831).  Send
message "NISGUA #23."

Text of Telex Message "NISGUA # 23":

Condeno el desalojo violento de los campesinos de Cajola del
Parque Central.  Exijo que se investigue la brutalidad por la
policia.  Exijo que se castigue al Tercer Jefe Mariano Carpio.
Ruego que se guarantice la seguridad de los estudiantes
detenidos, BYRON LUNA, GERMAN SANDOVAL, JULIO ADOLFO VILLATORO, y
VICTOR MANUEL LEMUS.  Exijo que se investigue los informes de
desaparecidos, especialmente NATALIO GONZALEZ.  Pido urgentemente
que se reconozca el titulo de propiedad de la finca Pampas del
Horizonte que posee el pueblo de Cajola.

English Translation (note:  please send Spanish version):

I condemn the violent displacement of the campesinos from Cajola
from the Central Park.  I urge that the brutality by the police
be investigated.  I urge that the Third Chief Mariano Carpio be
punished.  I ask that the security of the detained students,
BYRON LUNA, GERMAN SANDOVAL, JULIO ADOLFO VILLATORO, and VICTOR
MANUEL LEMUS be guaranteed and that reports of disappearances be
investigated, especially that of NATALIO GONZALEZ.  I urgently
request that the deed to the Pampas del Horizonte plantation held
by the people of Cajola be recognized.

Copies of all messages should be sent to:

UNSITRAGUA
11 Calle 8-14, Zona 1
Oficina 34
Guatemala, Guatemala.