NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5444

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Guatmala Human Rights UPDATE#30, July 24, 1992
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/** reg.guatemala: 159.0 **/
** Topic: Human Rights UPDATE#30, July 24, 1 **
** Written  4:06 pm  Jul 29, 1992 by ghrc in cdp:reg.guatemala **
                  GHRC/USA Human Rights Update*
                      PEACENET Version #30
                          July 27,1992

DISAPPEARANCE

MARITZA URRUTIA (33) was abducted on July 23 in Zone 13 of
Guatemala City by three armed men who covered her mouth, took off
her shoes and forced her into a white car with polarized windows.
Urrutia had dropped off her four-year-old son at nursery school
minutes before.  Since the abduction, there have been cars with
polarized windows parked in front of the Urrutia family home.
Urrutia, who formerly was a student at the University of San
Carlos (USAC), was working for a psychologist doing aptitude
testing.  Students at USAC occupied the offices of the History
department in protest and denounced the kidnapping as a political
act.  Urrutia was in exile during most of the 1980s, returning to
Guatemala either in late 1988 or early 1989.  A writ of habeas
corpus was filed on her behalf, and there is serious concern for
the safety of her family.

CASE UPDATES

NATIONAL POLICE ATTACK CAMPESINOS  At 4:45pm on Tuesday, July 21,
the Guatemalan Police reportedly kicked, clubbed and used tear
gas to evict more than 500 families from the plaza in front of
the National Palace.  The demonstratorsDmen, women and children,
from Cajola, QuezaltenangoDwere peacefully demonstrating for the
return of the "Pampas del Horizonte" finca (ranch or plantation)
which had been systematically taken from them.
     The villagers were evicted as they attempted to occupy the
square following, a march for which they had obtained
authorization.  Earlier, National Police in riot gear had
reportedly blocked the campesinos' (peasants, farmers) access to
the plaza, but demonstrators were allowed to proceed after Lic.
Maria Eugenia de Sierra, Assistant Human Rights Procurator,
verified the validity of the authorization.
     As the marchers reached the plaza, riot police attacked the
demonstrators, beating anyone in their path and firing teargas
into the crowd.  Children and the elderly were reportedly among
those kicked and beaten with clubs.  Many of the injured were
taken to the emergency room of the General Hospital.  An
unspecified number of protesters was arrested, including NATALIO
GONZALEZ (55) who is believed to be disappeared. (For more
background information see PEACENET Update #25)

HOMELESS PEOPLE OCCUPY HILLSIDE IN GUATEMALA CITY  On July 16,
approximately 3,500 homeless people, over 50% of them children,
occupied a muddy hillside at the end of Petapa Avenue, outside
Ciudad Real II, Zona 12, Guatemala City.  The leaders of the
demonstration said that they were protesting the desperate need
for housing.  The protesters said that if the government
attempted to remove them by force, as they did on March 20, they
would not leave.  They declared that they were prepared to die in
order to hold their ground. (See PEACENET Update #13)

CHOLERA OUT OF CONTROL IN JOCOTON  The head of the health center
in the municipality of Jocoton, Chiquimula, Dr. Julio Cesar
Peralta, sighted extreme poverty and illiteracy as the principal
causes of the cholera epidemic in his municipality.  In the past
3 months alone, 1,820 people have been infected with cholera in
Jocoton, of whom 77 have died.  Dr. Peralta announced that 95% of
the 33 towns in the municipality of Jocoton were infected with
cholera, adding that bad roads made it impossible to transport
the sick to the health center.  According to Dr. Peralta, several
sick people have died walking to the health center to seek
treatment. (SEE PEACENET Update #29)

EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS

The body of campesino ALBERTO ALMAZAN (38), was found on July 21
on a road near San Agustin Acasaguastlan, El Rancho, El Progreso.
The victim's body was in an advanced state of decomposition and
had several bullet wounds.  Relatives of Almazan reported that he
disappeared on July 15.


MEMBER OF CONDEG KILLED  In the early morning of July 12, men
claiming to be acting on official capacity, entered the house of
MARCO ANTONIO DIAZ in Crique Grande, Izabal and shot him in the
chest, killing him.  The assailants also threatened Diaz's wife
and said they would be back for another man, MARCO ANTONIO
GUERRA.  Neighbors believe that the killing was carried out by
local Military Commissioners.  Marco Antonio Diaz was a member of
the National Council of Displaced Persons (CONDEG).

OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

PRIEST TEMPORARILY DETAINED   At 9am on July 16, Brazilian priest
ALDO PASQUALOTTO was detained by members of the Hunapu (joint
army-police security force unit) at 7th Avenue and 9th Street,
Zone 1, Guatemala City.  The agents asked Pasqualotto for his
identification papers.  After Pasqualotto handed over a copy of
his passport, residence permit and social security card
(identifying him as a member of the clergy),   the officials
claimed to be unsatisfied and further interrogated the priest,
questioning him about his activities, his reasons for being in
Guatemala, and the length of time he planned to be in the
country.  Pasqualotto was set free after being forced to pay the
men 200 quetzales.

SALVADORAN MERCHANT KIDNAPPED  Salvadoran merchant NOE HERNANDEZ
TREJO was abducted by several armed men on July 17 as he was
leaving the Area Terminal in a taxi.  Otto Anibal Ceron Garcia
and Rodolfo Rivas Gonzalez, who were with Hernandez when he was
abducted, reported the kidnapping.

TUNAJA VILLAGERS CONTINUE TO RECEIVE THREATS  The Mutual Support
Group (GAM) reported on July 20 that villagers in Tunaja,
Zacualpa, El Quiche are under continuous death threat from
military commissioners in the area.  Commissioner Santos Coj
Rodriguez, alledgedly behind several killings in and around
Tunaja and reportedly responsible for the existence of
clandestine cemeteries in the area, is the person most often
sighted as the author of the threats. (SEE PEACENET Update #24)
Villagers believed to have ties to the security forces have been
spreading the rumor that Santos Coj and members of the army are
going to committ a massacre in the area on July 31.

ARMY INCREASES BOMBINGS OF CIVILIAN POPULATION   Between July 1
and July 16 the army fired 22 howitzer shells and three mortars
grenades on small farms in the village of Union Cuarto Pueblo, El
Quiche.  The shells destroyed vast expanses of cultivated land
and endangered the lives of local villagers.

OTHER INFORMATION

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND NEAR ANTIGUA  The Mutual Support Group for
Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM) report that human bones were
found at the bottom of a ravine in the area known as "Cuesta de
las Canas," on the road to Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez.  The
remains were discovered during an attempt to retrieve the bodies
of Mexican artists who had died in an automobile accident on July
20 at this site.  GAM has called for an investigation into the
uncovered remains.

TURIN, ITALY GRANTS HONORARY CITIZENSHIP TO RIGOBERTA MENCHU  The
Committee in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala of Turin
reported on July 16 that government leaders of that city granted
honorary citizenship to Nobel Peace Prize nominee Rigoberta
Menchu Tum.  The city also offered it's support for her
candidacy.

GROUPS IN GUATEMALA SUPPORT MENCHU'S CANDIDACY FOR NOBEL PRIZE
During a four-day visit to Guatemala by Nobel Peace Prize nominee
Rigoberta Menchu, groups of refugees, university students, high
school students, union leaders, journalists, Catholics,
evangelicals, government representatives and campesinos,
expressed support for her candidacy.  Menchu, a Guatemalan
popular leader in exile, visited Guatemala from July 11-16.  In a
newspaper article, supporters said that the work Menchu has
carried out in favor of peace, respect of human rights and
democracy in Guatemala merited her being awarded the peace prize.
(SEE Peacenet Update #28)

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DEMAND MORE TEACHERS   On July 16, students
from the Rafael Aqueche Institute, located at 9th Street and 2nd
Avenue, Zone 1, in Guatemala City stopped traffic and burned
tires near their school to call attention to their demands for
more teachers.  The students had asked the Education Ministry to
fill five open positions more than six months ago, but the
Ministry has not yet responded.    The protest ended when the
National Police arrived at the scene.

MORE THAN 15,000 WORKERS MARCH IN QUEZALTENANGO  On July 17, more
than 15,000 workers from 40 labor organizations marched in
Quezaltenango to repudiate the Congress's repeal of the Law on
Economic Compensation for Time Service.  (SEE Peacenet Update
#29)  They also criticized the government's new modernization
plan and the expansion of the Value Added Tax which caused
increases in the price of all basic goods during the first two
weeks of July.

RETURNING REFUGEES PRESSURED TO PARTICIPATE IN CIVIL PATROLS
About 78 families of returned refugees from Honduras, now living
in Yalpemech, Chisec, Alta Verapaz, have reported that the army
is pressuring them to join the civil patrols.  The former
refugees point out that article 34 of the Constitution states
that no one is obliged to participate against his will in the
patrols.

GUATEMALAN EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE SAYS CONDITIONS NOT RIGHT FOR
REFUGEES' RETURN   The president of the Permanent Commission of
the Episcopal Conference of Guatemala, Monsignor Gerardo Flores,
declared on July 17 that conditions in the country were not
propitious for the return of Guatemalan refugees in Mexico.  He
pointed out that the refugees who return will be confronted with
the relentless violence and extreme poverty which affects the
vast majority of the population.  He also said that the problem
of land, which directly affects the returning refugees, continues
to be a central issue in Guatemala and has little hope of being
solved.

ARCHBISHOP DENOUNCES UPSURGE IN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS   In its
biannual report presented July 21, the Guatemalan Archbishop's
Human Rights Office reported that during the first half of 1992
there were at least 399 murders out of a total of 500 incidents
reported.  The Archbishop's report was critical of the security
forces, particularly the Hunapu force which was responsible for
the attack on USAC university students in April 1992.  The report
stated that psychological repression also exists in Guatemala,
mainly against journalists who are afraid to publish stories
about the army and drug-trafficking cartels.

CENTRAL AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARIES CALL FOR AN END TO HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS IN GUATEMALA  In a communique published July 21 in
Managua, Nicaragua, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front
(FMLN) of El Salvador, the Sandinista National Liberation Front
(FSLN) of Nicaragua, and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary
Unity (URNG) called for the cessation of human rights violations
and the impunity with which the Guatemalan security forces
operate.  The document was signed by commanders Rolando Moran of
the URNG and Francisco Jovel of the FMLN, and by Daniel Ortega
Saavedra, Secretary General of the FSLN.  They stated that
"without peace in Guatemala the consolidation of a firm and
lasting peace in the entire region is not possible."  They
demanded that the dialogue for a solution to the armed conflict
in Guatemala include a broader participation by the country's
civilian sectors.

The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA monitors the human
rights situation in Guatemala and provides information to various
constituencies in the United States and to a limited extent
abroad.  Information in the Guatemala Human Rights Update is
compiled from a variety of international sources including: the
Comisi"n de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala/Mexico (Guatemalan
Human Rights Commission/Mexico), Americas Watch, Amnesty
International.  Information is also gathered from reports and
alerts from groups in Guatemala including: the Archbishop's Human
Rights Office, the Council of Ethnic Communities Runujel Junam
(CERJ), labor unions, the University Students Association (AEU),
the Conference of Religious of Guatemala (CONFREGUA) and the
Mutual Support Group of Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM).

* Every two weeks, two PEACENET Updates are combined to form the
Guatemala Human Rights Update, which is mailed first class to
national and international organizations and individuals.  That
publication includes all the information in the PEACENET
versions--with infrequent addenda and corrections--and a list of
suggested actions.  To subscribe to the Guatemala Human Rights
Update send $30 (yearly subscription) to GHRC/USA at: 3321 12th
Street NE, Washington DC, 20017.  Or call [phone] or fax
[phone] for more information.

** End of text from cdp:reg.guatemala **